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:
- Google could go away tomorrow and then we'll all be rubbing up against Yahoo or MSN for attention.
- 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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