Why SEO Software Isn’t Always The Answer
by Danny Brown on December 7th, 2007
There seems to be a groundswell at the moment, when it comes to small businesses and their Internet presence. That groundswell is the opinion that to have any kind of success online, you need to buy specialist Search Engine Optimization (SEO) software to help with your web presence. Many companies have bought into this belief, and shelled out hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the process. Yet it’s money that could have been spent in a far more productive manner.
Although there’s no denying that an SEO software package can and indeed does offer a decent service, it’s nothing like the people selling it would have you believe. It may get your website URL placed in “thousands” of search engines, but many of them are ones that no one has ever heard of. And SEO software may offer you tips on what keywords to use to get your website and business noticed, but again these could be out-of-date and useless by the time your website has gone live on the relevant search engines.
The Real SEO Software
If you really want your website to succeed, you definitely need to have the right SEO tactics to get it ranked in the search engines that matter (Google, Yahoo, MSN). However, speak to the majority of the SEO professionals and search engine marketing specialists, and they will tell you that an SEO software package is not the way to go.
Indeed, if you look at Google’s FAQ section, the search engine giant even states that you should “avoid submitting your site to thousands of search engines… The results would not be in a way you would consider positive.” If this is coming from the search engine that every company owner would give his or her right arm for first page ranking in, perhaps it’s time to listen.
With more than 90% of all web traffic coming from Google, MSN and Yahoo, there’s no real need for your site to be placed with thousands of other search engines anyway. Instead, you should hire an SEO professional or company to help you out, or even learn about the process yourself.
The Wording is Key
If you’ve already got a website, or are in the process of setting one up, you’ve probably heard the term “keywords”. These keywords, along with Meta titles and descriptions, are amongst the top tactics to get any website noticed. Keywords are words or phrases that people type into a search engine to find a particular product or service. So if your company were “Bathroom Tiles and Mirrors”, your keywords would be based around “bathroom”, “tiles” and “mirrors”. The Meta title and description are what you see just under search result headlines.
Whereas SEO software will just give you the standard keywords for your business, a good SEO professional can advise of latent keywords – these are combinations of different keywords that lead to far better placement on the likes of Google.
SEO is Not Quick
Many advertisements for SEO software claim to get you listed in search engines “quickly.” What you absolutely must know about SEO is that it’s not quick – it’s an ongoing process. No software out there is going to get you first page search engine placement in a week – and if they do, then it’s probably on all those “thousands” of search engines that no one uses.
So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on an automated SEO software system that may or may not get the results you’re looking for, you will get far better results employing the services of an SEO specialist. They will cost a little more normally, but the difference in results can very often recoup that cost in no time.
