"Heresy alert," writes Jason Amunwa at The Zest blog. "I've been struggling with a dark secret recently; you see, I realized that I really dislike SEO.

"To me it's like health insurance: I hate dealing with it, I intensely dislike paying for it, and its benefits are difficult for most people to understand."

Amunwa isn't shy about his disdain for SEO, and provides reasons like these:

• It games the system, so "the most-linked, most-strategically keyworded" content takes precedence over "the truly best, most thoughtful, authentic" content.
• It aims at a constantly moving target, subject to the whims of Google's secretive, ever-changing algorithm.

You might share his frustration. But you might also agree with the reasons Amunwa still maintains a healthy respect for SEO:

• It puts your content in front of the right eyes and delivers largely qualified traffic to your site. "You know they're looking for whatever it is you've keyworded into your content," he explains.
• It has leveled the playing field for smaller companies, since a knowledge of algorithms and a commitment to optimization have mattered more than budgets.
• It gives your content a long shelf life. "Even if your content doesn't rank right now," he notes, "you never know what algorithm changes could turn you into an overnight page 1 superstar."

→ end article preview
Read the Full Article