If SEO Isn’t for Real, Why Does Google Do it For its Own Websites?
Recently Google lifted the curtain a bit on it’s own thinking about Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. In a recent article published on Google’s “Think With Google” blog, Sean O’Keefe of Google described the company’s commitment to organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Website Managers at Google Are Doing SEO — And it’s Helping them Succeed
Every few months, it seems, I read a post somewhere that proclaims that SEO is dead, or a sham, or useless. So it was gratifying to see that one of the organizations that does NOT buy into that assessment of Search Engine Optimization is Google.
“…when done well, SEO can provide an important — and cost-effective — strategy for organic growth.”
Some of what Google had to say about its own SEO is very important for small business owners. Here are the key points you can learn from this revealing Google post:
- You can start small and still see improvements over time
- Don’t be afraid to experiment with your own website
- Google Search Console is a critical resource for helping you succeed in Google Search
- Improving content can lead to dramatic increases in the number of times your website appears in search results
- Duplicate content is confusing to users and search engines: eliminate duplicate and near duplicate pages and consolidate your content
- A winning SEO strategy needs to be holistic in its approach
- Even Google doesn’t always get SEO right, so be flexible in your implementation of it (it also might help you be realistic about what your SEO agency can accomplish)
The big thing that is obvious from this article is that Google doesn’t dismiss SEO, it actively embraces it as a way to market those sub businesses that are all part of Google’s successful business model. O’Keefe even represents some of their results graphically, as shown below.
Believe it or Not: Google Websites Have to Earn Their Way by Search Engine Optimization
We learned that Google’s many thousands of marketing websites don’t get preferential treatment in search. This means that they have to pay attention to, and implement, SEO best practices. Google staff have seen measurable business improvements as a result.
The implication for you as a small business owner is clear: you are not wasting your time by applying SEO to your own business website.
There are two ways we can help, even if you don’t have the budget to hire us to manage your SEO for you:
The Value of an SEO Audit
We offer comprehensive SEO audits. This is an overview of your website with a view to identifying your search engine optimization challenges and areas where you need to improve. Then you or your team can take the areas identified and work on them strategically and more efficiently that just trying to “do everything.”
It’s Easy to Educate Yourself About SEO
We offer a wide range of SEO education and training, not only through the posts you find on our blog and newsletter, but more effectively at the Horizon Web Marketing Academy.
We have now added a monthly subscription option to our Academy, so for $29 per month you can access hours and hours of SEO training, all of it geared to business people who need to engage with SEO, but who don’t have the time or desire to become “SEO geeks.”
Either way, or even if you try to self-educate by binge streaming the thousands of SEO videos on YouTube, don’t give up on Search Engine Optimization.
Do like Google does, do SEO for business results.
Ross Barefoot got his start in small business managing an importing company in the bicycle industry. While there, he tried his hand at programming to find more effective ways to track, market and sell his company’s range of bicycle parts. He loved the web marketing side of things so much he became a professional web developer in 2001, starting a website design business in Western Colorado. He took his first SEO certification course from the Search Engine Academy in 2002, followed it up with another in 2004, and decided to jump full time into SEO training and consulting in 2011, becoming a Master Certified Instructor with the Search Engine Academy, where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Today, Ross is CTO, trainer and chief SEO strategist at Horizon Web Marketing (www.horizonwebmarketing.com), a full-service digital marketing agency based in Las Vegas.
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