Comments on: Predatory Thinking for SEOs

By: Robin Moore

Robin Moore — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:59:35 +0000

Wow! I think the approach to thinking in a new way is brilliant…. I would not have immediately thought about the solution to the Google issue being to increase brand traffic – I’d have first looked at the generic term opportunity, the long-tail, etc.

When I am doing SEO, I tend to think in SEO ways…. I must increase my client’s rank for for good KW terms. I’ve now been reminded that this is a ‘cog in a bigger machine’ view … you are the SEO so you do the best you can do in the SEO arena.

Seems we all need to step back occasionally, re-define our client’s challenge and then re-focus. It is the wide-angle view that makes major changes for a client…. the way I think about SEO being ‘a’ channel in the big mix has clearly not helped.

By: Critic's Choice

Critic's Choice — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:12:44 +0000

Mad woman, definitely, but a damn smart mad woman! The litter problem and the referee were brilliant! Regarding with Google, I gotta be honest that I’m still in the PREY Thinking, abiding all of its wishes and the likes.

So glad to have stumbled upon this site. I noticed there are few SEO blogs being ran by them female species. Nice one!

By: Hannah Smith

Hannah Smith — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:23:02 +0000

Sorry for the delayed response guys – thanks so much for your comments

@Alan – Agreed, it’s almost certainly ‘middle-men’ or price comparison sites that are most at risk right now. As you say, some are responding to this already.

@Charlotte – Thanks, I definitely like the future-proofing aspect too.

@Russell – Definitely ordering the book (yes paper version) – I’m an old-fashioned girl.

@James – Facebook has the data to make the space interesting for sure – and the whispers would indicate they’re taking search seriously; time will tell, huh?

@Mike – Great point re building a brand doesn’t necessarily equal big budget – Dollar Shave Club are a pretty good example of brand building on a budget.

@Paul – Thank you! I’m not sure we’ll ever stop ‘chasing keywords’ in *all* niches, but nevertheless I like the direction brand building might take us in, in terms of tactics.

@Dan – Great debate today on twitter Wanted to respond here re -

1. It’s unlikely they’d think to hire someone self-identifying as an ‘SEO’ to carry out much of that activity.

Agreed – an SEO probably wouldn’t ‘lead’ that, but I do think an SEO could offer a valuable contribution – particularly as the lines between SEO, Online PR and Social continue to blur.

2. If you’re an ‘SEO’ – particularly within an agency – and your strategy relies on your client carrying out lots of activity in other channels – you should probably badge yourself as something other than an SEO.

Again I don’t disagree with you… What we call ourselves is definitely a debate for another day though

@Gareth – I like marketers too; but like I said probably a debate for another day

@Julie – awwww, thanks lovely

@Ben – glad you found it useful

@Butler – I guess it depends on your point of view. I think that lots of what we do as SEOs isn’t *just* SEO. Many of us also do PR, social etc.

Dollar Shave Club built a brand (largely) off the back of a YouTube video and some PR outreach. Google KW Tool shows 40k exact match searches a month for their brand. The brand didn’t exist 7 months ago.

Did an SEO do this? Nope. But is it outside the realms of possibility that one could?

@Kieran – thanks for your comment. As I said to Dan above, I do agree with you Right now a client wouldn’t come to an ‘SEO’ for this sort of solution.

@Donna – thanks so much for stopping by and commenting

By: Donna Fontenot

Donna Fontenot — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:38:03 +0000

Love this post. No matter what angle you’re coming from, whether it’s “pure SEO” or under some larger marketing umbrella, attacking the problem from a different perspective can make a huge difference. Love the grocery shopping example. Thanks for the kickin’ post.

By: Kieran Flanagan

Kieran Flanagan — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:36:57 +0000

“You’re going to need an integrated strategy – search, social, email, direct mail, press advertising, TV advertising, sponsorship, PR. You’re going to need to create content, build permission assets.”

This is something I’ve discussed before, integrated marketing. I agree with Dan on this. SEO cannot be repurposed to mean something it’s not, but good SEO’s can move onto become great marketers. If I wanted help building a brand, and needed an integrated strategy. I would not approach an SEO firm to lead the project, but I would include them as part of the solution.

It’s never been a function of SEO to increase brand traffic. It used to drive me nuts when I saw agencies report on all organic traffic and not split out brand vs non brand, taking credit for all other departments activities, which was driving up brand.

I totally agree on building a brand, I just don’t see someone labeled as an “SEO” managing that anytime soon.

By: Butler

Butler — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:31:19 +0000

“You’re going to need to build a brand.”

“search (ppc), social, email, direct mail, press advertising, TV advertising, sponsorship, PR”

So, your predatory thinking for SEO is “don’t do SEO”…

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:47:08 +0000

i am new to SEO, so i still have a LOT to learn and take in but this made a lot of sense and is more relevant i think than a lot of the other “SEO” blogs out there, i found it very useful!

By: Julie Joyce

Julie Joyce — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:41:53 +0000

Thanks for completely upping the bar on this blog…damn it Hannah. Seriously though, this is a fantastic post. Back in the day when I was a social worker (God help us all) we called this “solution-focused thinking.” If you had a client who had to walk 2 miles to the nearest bus stop, instead of buying her a load of bus passes and an umbrella, you’d just go get her. It’s very simple but people spend loads of time whining about problems and not actively looking for a way to fix them.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:35:21 +0000

Absolutely! Google’s moving away from being the medium between user intent & your website to becoming a full-on provider of everything, bypassing ‘websites’ and becoming the web itself. And most people will meekly go along with it because it’s a) easy and b) fine for them.
As for badging ourselves as something other than SEOs, I’m fine with that. A client of mine just sent me a tonne of messages from so-called SEOs who have dirtied the name to such an extent that maybe we do need another name.
Marketers, perhaps.

By: dan barker

dan barker — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:14:11 +0000

Thanks for the post, Hannah. Very thought provoking & interesting to chat about on twitter.

Here’s one interesting thing I think. These are the tactics presented in the post as the solution:

1. search
2. social
3. email
4. direct mail
5. press advertising
6. TV advertising
7. sponsorship
8. PR.
9. create content.
10. build permission assets.

Going down that list, someone within a company would recognise half of the first 1 as SEO (the other half being PPC), but would not consider any of the others to be purely SEO.

Therefore:

1. It’s unlikely they’d think to hire someone self-identifying as an ‘SEO’ to carry out much of that activity.
2. If you’re an ‘SEO’ – particularly within an agency – and your strategy relies on your client carrying out lots of activity in other channels – you should probably badge yourself as something other than an SEO.