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Google Destroyed The Forests

by tpw
9 replies
Google Destroyed The Forests...

All we are left with is a bunch of trees...



Before there was a Google, we were marketers... Now we are all SEO specialists...

But truth be known, we are not SEO specialists... We are all GO specialists...

We don't optimize for search engines anymore... We optimize for Google...

LOL

Before there was a Google, we marketed our websites.

We tried to get links to our websites where are future customers were looking for information... And we hoped people would click our links and go to our sales pages...

Now we do stuff to get Google to recognize and to link our sites... And it seems the normal thing to do...

We act as if there are no forests...

We lose our view of the forest, because we are so busy looking at the trees...

We focus on building links to impress Google... We focus on link popularity to impress Google... We are getting lost chasing a means to an end, without understanding what the end really means to our bottom line!!



At one time, I offered generic content development.

A client landed on my doorstop and paid me nearly $5,000 to develop content for him...

But he wanted me to create content that was optimized at 20% keyword density for his primary keyword, 8% for a secondary keyword, and 7% for a third keyword.

Do the math...

He wanted 35% keyword density on his content!!

He wanted 1-of-every-3 words to be target keywords.

I tried to explain to him that his content would read like crap, and people would race for the Back button.

But he thought he knew more about GO than I did. :p

I ended up refunding his money, because I felt that he would be more trouble than his $5,000 was worth to me...



My question is WHY optimize for Google, when Google will not be spending money on your website.

Shouldn't we instead optimize for customers?

I want to get prospective customers to my website, and for those people to decide to spend money with me.

Anything that scares people away from my website is counter to my goals.

I will leave GO to others, who are busy chasing rankings.

And I will focus on chasing customers (CO - customer optimization), because in the end, I know who pays my bills.

.
#destroyed #forests #google #marketing #optimization
  • Profile picture of the author Edwards WOrld
    You gotta Optimize for both traffic an customers. They go hand in hand unless you have the cheese (money) to pay for clicks an are making a profit etc.

    -Edward
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  • Profile picture of the author xxxJamesxxx
    I've gave Google the middle finger after Panda and I'm doing better than ever.

    Should try it... It's very liberating indeed.

    James Scholes
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  • Profile picture of the author Brendan Vraibel
    Agreed 100%. After reading as many of Alexa's posts that I could over the past few months it gives me a bit of a chuckle when I see threads about keyword density and all of that. If your content gets ranked but only because you've manipulated it to the point that it's no longer interesting - what's the point?

    Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to be ranked in Google, but to invest so much time into something that you have no control over just isn't something that I'm willing to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author LarryC
    My question is WHY optimize for Google, when Google will not be spending money on your website.

    Shouldn't we instead optimize for customers? >>

    As I see it, the distinction between those two is getting smaller and smaller. With each new update, Google is aiming to reduce the effectiveness of tactics such as lots of low quality backlinks, autoblogs, poor quality content, etc. So what's left? Content that online users actually want.
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  • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
    Originally Posted by tpw View Post


    My question is WHY optimize for Google, when Google will not be spending money on your website.

    Shouldn't we instead optimize for customers?


    .
    They're not mutually exclusive. You might find that by optimizing for customers, you will inadvertently optimize for Google.
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    :)

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  • Profile picture of the author philiptrav
    I agree with TPG for the most part but not the last part as we still need the traffic and Google is the bulk traffic source, otherwise our competitors get the bulk traffic and we get the scraps.... One thing I am happy about though lately is to see more and more people starting to hate Google. It would be so great to see google lose it's search dominance, it's hard to imagine that but if enough people turn against them then we could see them turn to dust one day. If they lose search they will just be another web company and I would be laughing my ass off to see them fall. It would be very satisfying to see Google lose it's kingdom and be brought back down to earth and eat the dust, just like it done to thousands of it's victims. Just keep talking about how horrible they are and letting your friends etc know what they do to business owners etc and maybe we will see an uprising.....
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    • Profile picture of the author braincandy7
      It would be nice in a way to see google eat a little humble pie. The main problem though is that "people" don't hate google it's Internet Marketers and other online business that dislike google.

      Originally Posted by philiptrav View Post

      I agree with TPG for the most part but not the last part as we still need the traffic and Google is the bulk traffic source, otherwise our competitors get the bulk traffic and we get the scraps.... One thing I am happy about though lately is to see more and more people starting to hate Google. It would be so great to see google lose it's search dominance, it's hard to imagine that but if enough people turn against them then we could see them turn to dust one day. If they lose search they will just be another web company and I would be laughing my ass off to see them fall. It would be very satisfying to see Google lose it's kingdom and be brought back down to earth and eat the dust, just like it done to thousands of it's victims. Just keep talking about how horrible they are and letting your friends etc know what they do to business owners etc and maybe we will see an uprising.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian Andrews
    Google is more about providing valuable and relevant information for the reader these days. Forget Google and optimize for your customers and the Google rankings will follow. If you create your site in the manner of sites you like to visit yourself then everything takes care of itself.

    I believe the best way to improve your site's content is to browse around other high profile sites in your niche. Find the content and style you like that offers you a rewarding experience and implement some of that style in your own pages. Anything that leaves you frustrated or makes you feel like visiting a site was a waste of time, leave out.

    If you just worry about trying to please Google you will be forever chasing your tail seeing as how they keep changing things so often. Whats the point of making a heap of changes and finding yourself slapped next time they do an update to their algorithms? Just please your clients and you will please Google. Social Media is playing a huge part these days too as it reinforces to Google that the site provides a good user experience if there is a reasonable amount of Social Media activity. If your site has good content people will talk about it so it makes sense to target the Social sites to gain greater exposure and create more relevance.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Bill, my initial reaction to your headline was
      about the direct mail letters they are sending
      out to businesses to advertise with them.

      I got one in the mail recently.

      So if they are sending them to New Zealand,
      one would think they are sending them to other countries
      which would mean forests destroyed.

      Rather ironic a digital platform company useing physical advertising.

      Best,
      Ewen
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