Is it a big surprise that a Google search for “search engine optimization” (exact phrase in quotes) returns about 32,700,000 results? Not to me. For every legitimate firm who does SEO the right way, there are hundreds looking to make a fast buck from those who don’t know better.
The two big trends in SEO:
- Opportunistic Mentalities: The average small non-profit knows very little about SEO. But they want so desperately to get their non-profit at the top of a Google search. Lack of SEO knowledge combined with an opportunistic mentality equals potential sucker – the perfect client for most drive-by SEO “consultants”.
- Competition: Search Engines all have competitors (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Technorati) who are increasingly vying with one another to present the most valuable, differentiated search results.
Being opportunistic (and lazy) by nature, many drive-by SEO firms focus on “trick” tactics:
Link Farms - Search engine results are influenced the number of inbound links. The assumption here is that users have placed such a high value on the relevance and quality of a website, they they create a link to it on their own website. Daisy-chaining websites together to artificially inflate search engine rankings is a short-term strategy doomed to fail.- Keyword Stuffing -Overpopulating certain portions of a Web page with particular keywords in the hopes of influencing search engine results will also fail. Google is very good at parsing out ”natural” content from computer-generated gibberish.
- Cloaking - This practice involves delivering different (high-ranking) website content to the search engine spiders than is delivered to human users.
The solution?
Working with search engines instead of trying to exploit them is the only approach that works in the long term. Even an ethical and honest approach to CSS and HTLM structure can’t help content that has little or no value for Google users.
The best search engine optimization strategy is have the same goal as Google:
Present the most valuable, differentiated content to your users.
If you liked this, you should read these:
SEO Resource Assessment for Small Non-Profits
Why Your Non-Profit Needs Google Analytics
The “Rules of The Road” For Non-Profit Social Media
