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Much has changed since last year in the world of search engine marketing. These changes have widened the knowledge gaps between the SEM sector, our clients and the general public. A knowledge gap separating professional experience and general interest is natural in any industry, as a quick peek under any newer model car hood will demonstrate.
In a field as user-dependent and re-evolutionary as the search industry, knowledge gaps can lead to expensive chaos for consumers, advertisers and web-masters. Many common assumptions about search engine marketing have been made obsolete or require a different way of thinking. Many erroneous assumptions continue to be proliferated in hundreds of forum posts, emails and marketing articles.
Search is the most important facet of the Web and the fastest growing part of the tech world. In an almost fully globalized world, search provides the unifying medium. In other words, search is the starting point of everything in accessible mass-communication. There are a number of myths surrounding the search marketing industry. On one hand, recent changes at the major search engines have made a number of long-held truths into newly minted myths. On the other hand, some long-held but mistaken beliefs simply refuse to go away.
Due to the rapidity of change and the proliferation of information, the knowledge gaps inherent to the search sector are exceptionally fluid. For example, last week the Big3 agreed on a new link-attribute called the NOFOLLOW tag. Answers I would give to questions about this tag if asked today are very different than the ones I would have volunteered last week. Over the past five days, a number of unique exploits have been devised, shared and posted to SEO themed forums and for good or for ill, some SEOs have a new tool at their fingertips.
Most online business owners think about search engines frequently. Similarly, many web site designers and hosting firms have studied SEO techniques in order to incorporate them into site design and hosting packages. Judging by the emails I receive, many tech-firms offering SEM as a side-service simply don't have the time to absorb the volumes of information necessary to fully understand the environment as it evolves.
These gaps exist within the full-time SEM industry as well. Aside from the fly-by-night operations that have refined every type of sp@m describable, there are some shops that are practicing SEO like it was still 1999. It's not that they all intend to be malicious. Few humans have the ability to run a business, read everything ever written, experiment with different techniques and service client concerns, all at the same time. The necessity to share a growing number of tasks is the biggest reason most older SEO firms are hiring more staff each year.
Below are some of the recent myths I'd like to see slain:
Myth #1
Some SEOs and SEMs can make special agreements with Google, Yahoo, or MSN.
This is a marketing myth that simply is not true.
One can gain accreditation from Google. One can manage massive accounts and receive a personal live-support agent who can answer questions. One can even take full advantage of every offer a search firm makes but one cannot make a sweetheart deal with the paid-advertising arms of the search engines. The SEM sector brings advertisers to the table but there are no special deals offered to individual SEMs aside from the occasional round of fr
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About Author
Jim Hedger is a writer, speaker and search engine marketing expert based in Victoria BC. Jim works with a limited group of clients and provides consultancy services to StepForth Search Engine Placement. |
Website URL : http://www.stepforth.com/
Read other articles by Jim Hedger |
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