/dev/Kico

Is SEO really worth it?

I’ve been tracking the traffic of this blog (I got something like 1000 to 3000 visits/day (thank you all for that)) for some time now, and just noticed something really interesting about it. Less then 4% of all the traffic comes from search engines (and I’m really well placed on these, just type grails or groovy and you’ll see it).

Most of the traffic actually comes from blog agregators like DZone, Digg, and other blogs, which shows something that just now became clear to me: all this SEO sellers talk is bullshit for a single reason: the search engine is not your primary site, but some other which is all about your favorite subject!

Actually, it seems to me that people only use search engines when are getting into some new subject or trying to actually find something for a given need. And watching how other people surf the web, I can see the same behavior over and over again.

Something quite obvious is usually ignored by those SEO experts: people don’t get into your website BY Google. They actually get into your site through some other related source, like blogs, blog agregators and so on! So after doing some search (with a search engine :) ) I got into some conclusions that I whould like to share here:

Google is not the only search engine in the world

Seriously, in my research I found several “experts” which only optimize your website for Google. What about the others? Can you really ignore their existence?

Don’t pay for what is free!

In my research, I saw several “SEO experts” selling a service which is basically the execution of wizards on your site. Would you pay someone to do what you can do by yourself? I found several of these wizards here.

At this point someone could say: “Hey Kico! But you are talking just about your case!”. Yes, it’s true. But is a good argument (at least for me), don’t you think? I didn’t see any convincing SEO service on my research (maybe I didn’t look it right), just things I could do on my own!

So, after these thoughts, I would like to ask you: what do you think? Is SEO really worth it? Is it worth to pay someone for these services as a developer? I may be wrong about this subject, because I’m not a marketing expert (quite the opposite), but this is my first impression about it. What do you think? Am I in the right direction or am I just saying a lot of bullshit here?

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Kico (Henrique Lobo Weissmann)

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10 respostas para “Is SEO really worth it?”

  1. Avatar de Chris
    Chris

    I get 2500 to 3500 visitors per day to my blog. 89% of them come from Google, 1% from Yahoo and around 1% to 2% from blog aggregators. So I disagree with your statement that “people don’t get into your website BY Google”. They do.

    You say “it seems to me that people only use search engines when are getting into some new subject or trying to actually find something for a given need” which is exactly why people use search engines. And people find my blog via search engines when they need a question answered that my blog answers and ranks well for.

    You’re also fairly narrowly in your focus of this post just looking at blogs. I used to have an e-commerce website and again the majority of traffic came from search engines for people looking where to buy this particular product. I had my site well set up from a search engine perspective as well as for an end user perspective. And it wasn’t the sort of site that would feature in the blog aggregators so needed to get visitors from directories, search engines and advertising. Ditto for another e-commerce website I currently manage.

    So much of it depends on what sort of website it is. And so much of SEO is common sense.

    Responder
    1. Avatar de admin
      admin

      Hi, actually I agree with you in part (and of course your post was not censured at all :) ). What I don’t get it (and this is actually what is the point of the post) is why to pay for someone to do that kind of job when you can do it by yourself.

      But the point is: SEO how it’s selled is not that great business they say at all. That’s because, as I said, most of the traffic doesn’t come from search engines, but from related sites. (of course, each case is unique, but in general, that still is a fact).

      Of course SEO have it’s place. There’s no doubt about it. But the point is: it’s not the only source of traffic.

      Responder
      1. Avatar de Chris
        Chris

        “is why to pay for someone to do that kind of job when you can do it by yourself” Agreed. As I said myself most of SEO is common sense stuff, and generally comes down to writing good content and knowing a few fairly basic things such as making sure the title tag is unique and contains important text and all that sort of stuff. One of the reasons SEO people do so well is that most people just don’t have the time to spend maintaining their website so it’s easier to get someone else to do it. Also because that’s all they do they generally know their stuff fairly well. Still, I’d never pay someone to do it for me. All the knowledge you need is out there for free.

        “That’s because, as I said, most of the traffic doesn’t come from search engines” All of the websites I manage that have significant traffic (and where I make most of my money) get it from search engines, so I still disagree with you there. However, part of SEO is getting links from other websites and directories and there are two benefits to doing that: 1) you get people clicking through from those sites and 2) you get the added SEO benefits if they’re direct links.

        “it’s not the only source of traffic” Agreed. And it doesn’t pay to put your eggs all in one basket by just trying to get traffic from search engines. An algorithm change can cause disaster to traffic levels, especially if the techniques you’ve been using are a little “grey” or the content of your website a bit dodgy.

        Responder
  2. Posts about SEO as of March 31, 2009 | Ebusiness Blog

    […] be 3 to 4 lines long , interesting… (Budget: $30-250, Jobs: Copywriting, SEO, Web Promotion) Is SEO really worth it? – itexto.net 03/31/2009 I’ve been tracking the traffic of this blog (I got something like 1000 to […]

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  3. Avatar de André Carneiro
    André Carneiro

    Man,

    Just think for a moment: If search engines part of your sources were 50% (as it should) you would get about 2000 to 6000 visits a day. Simple like that.

    Note: SEO is often related to Google as this SE is the benchmark for oganic search. There are plenty of search engines based simply on sign-ups (as was Cade?), wich makes SEO just N/A for that.

    Those wizards mentioned can provide some automation on figuring out what could be better and making some benchmark with other sites of choice (and all automation is welcome, just as in grails). But they don´t change de source for you and they don´t cover all the stuff, trust me. Or search it.

    Last thing: quality analysis is of essence in SEO, based on Google Analytics and/or MANY other info you can get.

    But one thing os for sure: There are plenty of so-called SEO experts (individuals and companies) that can only do smaller improvements. I agree with you on that.

    Andre Carneiro

    Responder
  4. Avatar de André Carneiro
    André Carneiro

    Man,

    Just think for a moment: If search engines part of your sources were 50% (as it should) you would get about 2000 to 6000 visits a day. Simple like that.

    Note: SEO is often related to Google as this SE is the benchmark for oganic search. There are plenty of search engines based simply on sign-ups (as was Cade?), wich makes SEO just N/A for that.

    Those wizards mentioned can provide some automation on figuring out what could be better and making some benchmark with other sites of choice (and all automation is welcome, just as in grails). But they don´t change de source for you and they don´t cover all the stuff, trust me. Or search it.

    Last thing: quality analysis is of essence in SEO, based on Google Analytics and/or MANY other info you can get.

    But one thing is for sure: There are plenty of so-called SEO experts (individuals and companies) that can only do smaller improvements. I agree with you on that.

    Andre Carneiro

    Responder
  5. SEO blog » » Is SEO really worth it? « /dev/Kico

    […] See more here:  Is SEO really worth it? « /dev/Kico […]

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  6. Avatar de JSM
    JSM

    Whoa. Look another person who wins arguments by force of presence. For example one person responded that they got the majority of traffic via Google. You replied:

    “But the point is: SEO how it’s selled is not that great business they say at all. That’s because, as I said, most of the traffic doesn’t come from search engines, but from related sites. (of course, each case is unique, but in general, that still is a fact).”

    So you basically told the person they were an exception to the rule, and that you couldn’t actually back your claims up by any other means than repeating them. You just don’t get it. SEO is about Optimising your site for being searched by search engines like Google NOT GETTING MORE TRAFFIC. Yes you might get more traffic for your blog by getting links from related sites, but if you want your site to come up top for a particular search you need to know SEO. That’s a fact.

    That you get most of your traffic from non-google links – that’s apparently a fact.
    The idea that everyone else on the web does – that’s plain stupid.

    Please can you back up your claims, about traffic, about the services that some SEO companies offer you think aren’t worth it, why you don’t…. you know, basically a blog post about a topic rather than some off hand comments which you clearly haven’t quite thought through?

    Responder
    1. Avatar de admin
      admin

      Well JSM, actually, if you read this post you’ll notice that it’s actually a question I’m making to this audience.

      I still don´t know if that is so worth it as it is being selled to me and, must admit, I’m starting to change my mind about it.

      That’s why blogs are so usefull. Because through them you can share and gain experience from others, don’t you think?

      Responder
  7. Avatar de Carly
    Carly

    One of the sites I work on gets over a thousand hits daily, all from Google and Yahoo.

    I set it up as a resource for business students. It hardly gets any from Digg etc. It’s just not interesting enough to get ‘dugg’. It’s just a handy, quick resource. I can see WHY your sites get diggs, and why it is one of your primary traffic providers.

    I think that SEO is extremely useful to those businesses new on the market that have paid a designer to design their site, and wonder why they’ve no traffic coming in at all. They wouldn’t even know HOW to edit a webpage, never mind SEO it up!

    Just my 2pence worth!

    Responder

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