Tech Lover 9

There is often a misunderstanding (due in no small part to SEO sales people) in what a search engine optimization campaign can realistically accomplish. As stated multiple times, elsewhere on this site, search engine optimization is not magic, nor is it an exact science where an action will have a specific and completely predictable reaction. With this in mind, no search engine optimization company can produce high rankings for its clients by simply offering directory submissions, and half-witted articles written by college dropouts who hire out their writing skill so unscrupulous SEO companies for pennies per word.

The below table will provide a means of quick reference as to what SEO can reasonably accomplish, and what it cannot.

Things SEO Can DO	Things SEO Cannot Do
Improve the search engine friendliness of your website.	Make your website irresistible to search engines so that it will rank for any keyword you desire.
Improve your website’s ranking for a well-researched group of keywords over a period of months or years.	Improve your rankings for the most competitive keywords in your industry within a few weeks.
Improve your website's rankings by utilizing a well planned and executed search engine optimization campaign, which will cost more than you would have guessed.	Improve your website’s rankings by using run-of-the-mill services such as free directory submissions, and "article writing", and doing it while keeping the cost no higher than your monthly budget for your morning coffee.
Leverage well written, useful, helpful, entertaining, or otherwise interesting content to mount a successful link building campaign which will result in ranking improvements.	Leverage low-quality content that your nephew "wrote" (i.e., copied and partially reworded from Wikipedia articles).
Optimize your website's textual content by incorporating a select number of keywords into the text (not keyword-stuffing), and utilizing the new text to develop an internal link structure which helps magnify the importance of those keywords for the search engines.	Optimize your website’s content by using a secret keyword density (that only SEO’s know) and help your site shoot up in search engine result pages for your most desirable keywords.

Search engine optimization is often seen as a good way to avoid spending money on advertising by attaining high rankings in the organic search engine results. Not only is this not the true purpose of search engine optimization, it can, in fact, be a dangerous way to conduct business.

Search engine optimization should never be the sole means of marketing any business, because search engine algorithms are in constant flux, and any one of (on average) daily changes can impact a website's ranking negatively, to a point where the entire business can be put in jeopardy. So organic rankings should never be the sole source of traffic for any website that is being run as a business. With that said, search engine optimization can contribute greatly to almost any online marketing campaign.

As mentioned above, search engine optimization is not suitable for those who are looking to save money by getting away from other forms of online marketing. SEO is a long-term process, especially if it is to contribute in a tangible fashion to the bottom line of an online marketing effort. It is a mid- to long-term solution which does require a significant investment of time and treasure in order to bear fruit. So if you have just started an online business (or one that has an online component) and are looking a way to jumpstart your website traffic, search engine optimization is not for you. Instead of going into cumbersome paragraphs with unnecessarily detailed examples of for whom SEO is suitable, we have created the below table to let people shopping for search engine optimization services know if they are staring into a money pit.

	Is SEO Suitable for Me?
I just started a website and need quick traffic and don't have much money to invest.	No. Your effort should go into exercises which will produce short-term results for your business.
I just started a website but have an SEO budget for at least six month.	Maybe. As long as you are not looking to ranking for the most competitive keywords in your niche.
I am looking for an SEO company that can get me the same exact links that my competitor has.	No. Doing exactly what your competitor is doing will always keep you one step behind him. Even though your competition should be in your crosshairs in general, their success in rankings should not be the benchmark for yours.
I understand content is important but I like my website exactly the way it is.	No. If you are inflexible when it comes to changes to your website, the chances are that your site will not be able to improve rankings by much. If you keep doing what you have been doing in the past, you’ll keep getting the same results.
I just started an auction website. I want to outrank my competitor (the leading auction site), for the word 'online auctions'.	No. Just like the corner grocery store that just opened is not going to be able to compete with the supermarket chain down the street by offering the same exact thing at higher prices, your new auction site will not be able to unseat the industry leader through the magic of SEO.
My friend just signed up for an SEO service and he is getting 500 directory submissions per month. I want that too!	No. Search engine optimization is not about volume. No matter what price your friend is paying for those directory submissions, he is overpaying. Cheap SEO is worse than no SEO.
I know I don't sell shoes, but the word 'shoes' has a very high volume of searches, so I would like to rank for that keyword.	No. Even if you did rank for shoes after spending a fortune on search engine optimization, you would still have abysmal conversions since the people who search for 'shoes' tend to be searching for...you know...shoes! (And not the blue widget you are selling that no one wants).