Multiweb Logo
multiweb
Multiweb » UX » Small Business Tips » SEO is the biggest scam in the world of small business marketing

SEO is the biggest scam in the world of small business marketing

Sorry, but tweaking a few keywords and html tags isn’t enough to “trick” Google… Yet so many of us still believe this to be true.

Just think about it for a moment

Google has devoted thousands of the brightest people on earth and many billions of dollars over the course of 20 years to the sole task of helping people find stuff online.Yet so many of us have been indoctrinated into believing we can outsmart Google, the world’s most powerful computing engine, simply by changing some wording on our websites.

I can barely outsmart my dog by spelling out the word “W.A.L.K.” verbally to my wife lol. I know this stands in contrast to nearly everything the marketing establishment wants you to believe, but this one is really out there.

I’m not going to put on my tinfoil hat here, but SEO makes up the single largest spend in online marketing. Thousands of businesses depend on the sale of SEO services to keep the doors open. It seems to reason, they aren’t going to walk away from it – even if it’s based on such a foolish premise.

The truth about the few websites that actually have been successful in manipulating Google through SEO

Very, very few websites have ever truly manipulated Google search results. They all have one thing in common: they were absolutely crushed by Google, some of them being completely wiped off of the internet.

Take a look at this list of websites from 2011 that were targeted by Google for SEO. Do you recognize any of them? Nope, they were actually successful at SEO, and Google took em out.

My point here is that if by some miracle, you actually are successful in “tricking” Google, your site will be wiped off the map. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

SEO stands in complete opposition to Google’s core mission: helping people find what they really want

  1. Have you ever Googled something and had the first result be a video – a video that is pre-loaded to the exact point in the timeline that addresses your question?
  2. Have about all of the ads you see for the exact item you’ve been shopping around for?
  3. Or…seeing ads for something you’ve thought about, but never even searched for?

We tend to think of Google as a master of everything that is on the web. While that is a totally accurate statement, it also completely missed the point!

Indexing the internet is child’s play for Google. Their core mission is developing a masterful understanding of you, and me, and everyone else.

Did you know we all see different sets of results when searching the exact same thing? Not all of the time, but a lot of the time.

Google long ago realized that understanding you are the key to their success

Not only what interests you, but more importantly what type of results serve you best. Some of us like to learn how to do something through videos. Others prefer tutorials. Yet still, others would rather just find somebody they can pay to do it for them.
Herein lies the key, we should all follow Google’s lead.
If you want to see results, you need to become an expert in your audience. Your sole focus should be on providing with the information that best answers their questions in the most format they most prefer.
Anything is more than a waste of time; it’s foolish...
Thanks for reading! Feel Like Sharing?

Could your business benefit by improving your UX?

Use our self-diagnosis to determine how much value UX optimization could bring to your company.
LET'S FIND OUT

Check out some more UX articles like this one