Why Google is a Tactic not a Strategy

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Do you live and die by your ranking in Google? If so, you might want to reconsider what you're doing -- and not doing -- to promote your website.

If you spend any time on search engine optimization forums like Jill Whalen's HighRankings.com Forum or the Search Engine Watch Forums, you'll tend to see a lot of questions from people whose sites have lost ranking in Google. These are people who are often desperate for advice because a lost position in Google means lost revenue for them or their clients. Indeed, I have posted a few of my own questions about why a client's site is here today and gone tomorrow. As an SEO, it is my job to evaluate and diagnose problems that are hindering my clients' search engine positioning. However, I also have a lot of experience with online marketing, and lately something in my subconscious keeps jumping up and down trying to get my attention.

Each time I read posts from desperate webmasters, marketers and business owners about how their site has been nailed by Google, resulting in a devastating loss of traffic, leads and/or sales, I have to shake my head and wonder why they are so dependent on Google in the first place.

I'll be the first to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with Google. Let's be honest here. If it weren't for Google and the other search engines, I would be in an entirely different line of work. Yet I have always resisted the urge to focus solely on SEO as a Web marketing strategy. Focusing on one tactic such as SEO is bad enough, but focusing on one search engine as the source of your sales-based referrals is suicide for two reasons:

1. Google could go away tomorrow and then we'll all be rubbing up against Yahoo or MSN for attention.
   
2. Google's first priority is Google, not your business. Algorithms change, rules change, sites get dropped, people get hurt. It happens, and you should have a backup plan for when it does.

Next: What is a strategy, anyway? >>
 

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