There is so much out there about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), including complete publications that just focus on how to optimize, strategize and theorize about SEO. Entire companies make millions on convincing people that their entire plan should be about SEO so much that they need to hire “experts” to optimize their pages to such a degree that they need to spend more money than they could ever make in return. From reading the publications and expert blogs about SEO, you’d that if you are not thinking about SEO all the time, you are going to completely fail at anything you do online.
Here’s the truth that no one wants to tell you: SEO is complete waste of time.
Many people are going to read what I wrote and proclaim immediately that I am nothing but a total jackass and they are the real expert in SEO and know exactly what is going on.
On a weekly basis I have some “expert” with a blog sending me an email, telling me what I am doing wrong about SEO, and how my publication is completely fucked up from an SEO standpoint, that I am not getting any traffic whatsoever from search engines and they are happy to tell me how I should be running my business.
Here’s a few facts:
1) PerformInsider.com gets almost 1-2k people a day from search engines, mainly google. I have spent almost no time thinking about SEO. We are not even two years old.
2) We get traffic from keywords about SEO, including SEO Tip type articles, and we are not a SEO centric publication
3) Performance Marketing Insider makes more money than almost any publication in the industry based on our traffic and content. We are so successful that are several websites that are completely dedicated to making fun of us this publication.
Here’s probably what you also don’t know about me:
1) I have owned three publications about online advertising in the last 10 years, two of them existing before the word “blog” was even used, and have always been on the top of many search engines without knowing about SEO.
2) I have owned an advertising network that did $100M in revenue in one year. We were in the top 20 comscore networks for several years. We received a great deal of business from search.
3) I have never taken a single SEO class, read a single book about SEO or even gone to a SEO conference. I just have always made good content, done great promotions and focused on business. Yes, I read SEO articles sometimes.
Still, you are probably going to say, “But you need to still be concerned about SEO somewhat, right?” Yes, of course.
I’m not the biggest fan of Jeremy Schoemaker (and I hear he’s not exactly hanging posters of me on his wall) but he knows what he is talking about:
Do basic things to ensure your site is optimized the best, consider the layout, and probably get some good plugins that have great reviews. Still, the focus should be on making great content that drives visitors and makes you money. If you are focusing on SEO from the start instead of creating a real site with real quality content, then you are going to have a sustainable business or site.
The other thing you need to consider is that SEO rules keep on changing. What will show up in search seems to change every day, and those who are making sites specifically for SEO are finding their business models often thrown out the door. However, every business I have made that is content based has survived and made a lot of money no matter what, because what I am doing is focused on content, not on a quick buck.
Even if the rules weren’t changing, what the experts say will work seems to be completely contradictory.
Yes, there are various design things you need to consider, how you link pages – but there are tons of plugins that will do that for you. Even the experts find themselves often being screwed when it comes to SEO because they are..umm.. over-optimizing for SEO. They are so concerned about SEO and how to optimize that they create a site that is only made for SEO and google bitch-slaps them really hard in return.
If you want to know what you really, really need to know about SEO, we actually have an article written by one of the experts. Uh-huh, he has his own publication about search engine marketing and optimization, but without having to hire an expert, read an entire book or attend a webinar, you are going to learn pretty much all you need to know from this one article called 5 SEO Tips You Should Know to Survive in 2013. Really.
Now, go make money, build content and ignore what most the experts are telling you, especially if they want you to buy something, rent something, attend something. Buh-bye.
Take care, and if you disagree, feel free to comment and tell me why.
And by the way, Penn Jillette is one my neighbors and has the craziest-ass house I’ve ever seen.
