The first SEO to come along says, "You can rank well for anything as long as you have enough PageRank." He goes off and works like mad acquiring backlinks, and eventually ranks in the No. 9 spot on Page 1 at Google. The second SEO to come along says, "No, it's all about anchor text." So he goes off and toils mightily to get enough anchor text, and eventually ranks in the No. 8 spot. The third SEO to come along says, "No, it's all about relevant keywords," and spends weeks using spreadsheet data to edit his content. His site comes in at the No. 7 spot. The fourth SEO to come along says, "Hey, I think I'll do all three!" and proceeds to do just that. Lo and behold, his site gets banned by Google AND his AdSense account is disabled. Welcome to the wonderful world of SEO and trying to suck traffic from Google! It's not an art and it's not a science - it's more like voodoo! Nobody has any clue what they are doing because sites are ranked in the serps by Google's whimsy. I think the mistake many people end up making is to think this: Google is this humongous search engine and it controls so much traffic, now if I just do the right thing, Google will send me some of that traffic and I'll be rich! And they then go out to try and please Google in some manner or fashion in the hope of clawing their way up the ranks. This is, of course, very hard - not only because there are at least 5,000 guys who had the same bright idea (and that's only in Minnesota - there's another 50,000 in India), but because it fundamentally contravenes the way Google works. What does that mean? Let's say you decide it's too hard to compete with the Minnesotans and the Indians, and you say "To hell with Google!" and you go off and work like a demon creating a site that develops a traffic stream entirely independent of Google. How would that work? Well, the site would have to have something interesting and unusual enough to make people tell each other about the site - in other words, it would have to be viral on some level. It would have to be easily remembered by the people who do visit it, so they don't have a hard time telling other people about it - so it would need a propagation vehicle in the form an identity and a brand. Lastly, since Google won't be sending you any traffic, you have to make sure that those precious few people who do know about your site keep coming back - so you build a loyal audience by making the site evolve or grow in some way or another. If you do all that, you'll get a strong traffic stream entirely independent of Google - and you'll also find yourself in the No. 1 spot at Google. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the Google Paradox: by the time you get it, you won't need it anymore. First published here. BTW I was inspired to write this post by a totally asinine thread which, although infantile, is entertaining when viewed as a metaphysical argument between two proponents of different religions.
Best post i've read in months! Branding is the key. Think of twitter, facebook, myspace, and the list could go on. Short names that can easily be passed virally, and are each branded and known well.
very good post indeed and the key point is actually building something that people can tell others and get some kind of viral effect. that makes you also the google star. but yes this is quite hard, needs dedication but at first you need a really good idea that must make your visitors, hey this is a great site.
So let's see, it sounds like you are saying "Don't bother trying to cheat the system by focusing on increasing your rank. Instead, go build a great website and eventually G will recognize that greatness ranking you #1." No offense intended, but lots of people here have been preaching that sermon for a very long time. It is of course very true. /*tom*/
Yeah a lot of people have been preaching it but I like the way he puts it. Very entertaining. The #1 rule with websites (that will ALWAYS be the #1 rule) is build a site people actually like.