Sports equipment might seem like a strange place to start a blog on SEO but in this instance, it works as the perfect analogy. In recent years, a new ‘must have’ product has taken the sporting world by storm. It’s a product that claims to increase sporting ability through the use of holographic technology and has, as a result, found its way on to the wrist of some of the world’s top sporting professionals. I refer of course to the fad of the “balance band”; each going by some variation of the same name, each attracting the endorsement of some sports star or celebrity and each claiming to contain that key ingredient so vital for success.
However, despite all of the endorsements, including that of the NBA, the market leader, Power Balance have admitted publicly that all of the claims associated with their product are, in fact, bullshit! Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, a panelist on Dragons Den’s American cousin Shark Tank, launched a scathing attack on the NBA’s endorsement of Power Balance and went so far as to film a video showing him binning a box of Power Balance bands in the Mavs locker room. As the old saying goes: “A fool and his money are easily parted.”
How is this related to SEO I hear you ask? Well, after much research and head scratching here at LSI HQ, we are asking ourselves whether search engine optimization (SEO) might be the internet equivalent of the Power Balance band.
There is no doubt that people are paying top dollar for companies offering their services as experts in SEO – in the UK alone last year, the industry was valued at more than £500m – but the question that continues to arise and that no one seems to be capable of answering is this: “How do we know we are getting value for money?” There is no debating the value of strong SEO, which can often help an inferior product sell infinitely more than it’s poorly marketed rivals, but how can an SEO campaign be effectively measured? How do we know which, if any, of the SEO measurements put in place are having a positive impact? It seems akin to taking a bunch of pills to cure an illness and not knowing which one really made the difference, if any. How do we know which of our keywords are working and which are not? Do keywords even matter any more? In a completely unregulated industry, which is coming under increasing scrutiny and in which people can easily be duped, one must tread carefully.
Certainly, even if SEO was important and effective just a few years ago, Google are taking continual measures to minimize the effectiveness of “traditional” SEO methods, thereby making their Adwords tool all the more attractive to those with a budget for this kind of marketing. Those employing heavy use of SEO will have to adapt their strategy accordingly. This should be seen as a victory for those who are creating great content, as they should in theory, see their pages rank higher in Google searches and ,surely, this is a good thing.
All this only points to one conclusion: the SEO industry needs to adapt or die. The industry must agree to some sort of regulation. There needs to be an accepted set of metrics that can be used to show the effectiveness (or not) of SEO strategy. The industry must also accept that the days of deceiving search engines are numbered. Google must be commended for their work on this front, aiming to create a level playing field where content wins. Until someone can convince me that SEO matters, we will rely on great content and real news to make sure our voices are being heard above the noise. This fool will hold on to his money for now, thank you very much.
– Peter