Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Long- vs. Short-Term SEO

I've always thought of SEO as a long-term process. More of a perpetual process, really. SEO firms (not to be confused with SEO consultants) tend to provide one of two different types of service.

  • Short-Term SEO: These firms provide a proposal for optimizing your entire site or optimizing for a set number of keyword phrases. Once that is done you are wither on your own or you can sign up for a "maintenance" plan.
  • Long-Term SEO: These firms provide a perpetual ongoing SEO process. This might include continuously uncovering and optimizing for new targeted keyword phrases, continuous link building, ongoing consultation and analysis as needed.

Here are a few pros and cons of each:

Short-Term SEO:

Pros:

  • Pages gets fully analyzed, optimized and rolled out within a few weeks or months.
  • No long-term contracts.
  • No large re-occurring fees.

Cons:

  • Nothing gets rolled out until its all complete. If the contract calls for a large number of keywords or pages to be optimized you might be in for a long wait.
  • Some important keywords many not get optimized as the contract has limitations as to how many pages and keywords are to be optimized.
  • Newly popular phrases don't get optimized without making an additional optimization purchase.
  • Reporting and analysis is limited.
  • Link building is limited.

Long-Term SEO:

Pros:

  • New keywords are always being found and optimized into your site.
  • Ongoing analysis, maintenance, reporting and consulting.
  • Ongoing link analysis and building
  • You know who is ultimately responsible.
  • No fees for just keeping the status quo or a few reports
  • Pages are rolled out as soon as they are ready, no waiting for "everything" to be completed.
  • Constant analysis for new trendy keywords that can bring in targeted traffic.
  • Ongoing link building efforts
  • Ongoing reporting and in depth performance analysis

Cons:

  • Some important keywords may take a while to get optimized and rolled out.
  • Larger ongoing fees.
  • Long-term contracts often required.

Both forms of SEO campaigns have their merit. Your particular budgetary and optimization needs will dictate which is best for you.

Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing, a search optimization and marketing firm providing SEO and website marketing services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno Nevada, as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. He is the author of the E-Marketing Performance eBook. You an read more of Stoneys Articles at the E-Marketing Performance blog.

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