[Sigia-l] SEO versus Experience design versus usability

[Skot Nelson]

On Oct-11-2006, at 06:40 , Marianne wrote:

> I do respectfully
> disagree with you that solely focusing on quality content and solid  
> site
> structure are satisfactory for discoverability by search technology.

Yeah, nor was this my point -- not the "solely" part of it.

It's just a question of where to start first. A site that's highly  
optimized for "paddling canoes" doesn't mean anything if, in fact,  
the site has thousands of pages about kayaks and only a few about  
canoes --- unless those canoe pages are The World's Best Canoe Pages,  
of course.

So I see optimization as the *end* of a process of building a  
"successful site for business" not the start. Whenever I'm asked  
about SEO, the first question is "is your site any good?"

My current employer has only two competitors in North America, and  
the president's brother runs an SEO company. They keep asking me how  
to improve our google listing and why it's not.

Simple answer: both competitors provide good quality information, and  
we provide...essentially nothing. SEO isn't a magic bullet; unless we  
start providing quality content, the others will continue to be  
ranked higher. (It's most amusing that our *customers* make the same  
complaint and we keep telling them they're wrong.)
--
Skot Nelson
skot (at) penguinstorm (dot) com
http://www.penguinstorm.com/

skype. skot.nelson

	"In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when
	 there is no longer anything to add, but when there
	 is no longer anything to take away."
	-- Antonine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars