I’ve met several people in the SEO industry recently who have very strong SEO opinions. By that I mean they have made their minds up about which techniques are the ‘best’, which are black/white hat and probably also hate Google (that appears to be the latest trend at the moment).
I also have some strong opinions about SEO. I like to stand on the side of SEO that works to make a better quality website for the user, and works to boost sales especially when combined with website optimisation.
However, I’m aware that this is a slightly idealistic and possibly naive view of SEO. At the end of the day, money is what matters. The focus needs to be on generating revenue. Promoting fun and cool functionality is great for the user, but if it detracts from the purchase funnel or attracts the wrong type of traffic, it’s not going to pay for itself.
It’s for that reason that I try my hardest to keep an open mind about SEO. It’s not easy to go against your instincts or preferences, but the client and the project must come first. Having a strong opinion and refusing to operate in any other way is very closed-minded and means you are likely to fail to spot opportunities. There are many theories surrounding SEO and many have conducted experiments that we can all learn from, but at the end of the day, as algorithms and user behaviour continuously evolves, there will never be static rules for SEO.
My advice for anyone wishing to broaden their mind about SEO is:
- Actually partake in SEO debates. Getting involved, voicing your opinion will encourage people to share their view points too and give you a new perspective you may not have had before. Be open minded to the responses (especially if you are sensitive to criticism!). If you do this already, why not try taking a different stance?
- Experiment with different SEO techniques regularly.
- Regularly review your SEO approaches.
- Adapt.
