Pink Elephants or Puce Pachyderms?
Let’s say you sell adorable little pink elephants – and you’d like to be at the top of Google search results. So, you hire a “web marketing expert” for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) advice.
STOP!
First, think about how people really will look for you, then what they’ll find when they get there (the best SEO in the world is worthless if your site is broken.)
One of the SEO snake oil practices is telling you they can “guarantee top rankings!” They look for the number of times a particular keyword or phrase was searched for within the last month and the number of search results according to Google. They then tell you that the lower the search results, the better chance the keyword will be successful for you. So, they recommend “puce pachyderms” That’s right, pick words that don’t get used often, and, by golly, your site will do great!
This wacked keyword advice was actually given by a local “web marketing expert” in a recent article. …and people wonder why I’m so grumpy about the word, “expert.”
Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, emarketing, keywords, SEO
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Well, there’s a grain of truth floating around in that mess. Those “long tail” keywords that are searched less often can be useful, if they are very accurate – but you DON’T want to optimize your site around them. They’re best addressed with sponsored search advertising, so that the small number of people who are searching for odd phrases that suggest that they are ideal customers see your ad, while the site is optimized – hopefully by creating great, relevant content – on broader and more popular terms.
Oh yeah, that’s the hard way to do it (vs the “top rankings now! we promise!” approach). You know, the one that actually builds a long term useful search position because you’re – gasp – helping prospects.
Mary – You’ll be pleased to know that when you search on “puce pachyderms” you top the list.
Well, whooo-hooo! I’ll soon get a flood of business from people looking for marketing consultants who grok puce pachyderms!
John – you’re right. My big peeve is people that talk about keywords as if they’re some mystical, magical all-encompasssing answer. Doesn’t do you much good to have even GREAT keywords if you forget about the people who will be reading your site.