Let’s make SEO our key acronym.
Is Usability Part Of The New SEO? That’s a question being discussed in the Cre8asite Forums.
It all stems from the launch of a new website, Sphinn, by Danny Sullivan. According to Rand Fishkin, Sphinn is the Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using. Kim Krause Berg was not so sure since she felt that Search Engine Marketing is Bogus for Sites That Simply Don’t Function. After some friendly discussion, it now appears that Usability will be added to Sphinn, as will Web Analytics.
So after all this, what exactly does Sphinn cover? I can almost see all the interminable debates starting up again. Is it SEO, or SEM, or perhaps Internet Marketing? Should it include Usability? In some ways I see Usability and SEM as equal team members in getting websites to perform. Then again there is all the fine work done by Stanford on persuasiveness or Captology as they describe it. Should that be included too?
Perhaps it’s time to stand well back and look at the big picture. SEO is the most widely known term by website owners in general, so perhaps we should be using that as our key acronym. All we must do is attach a more appropriate meaning to the acronym.
The more reputable SEO consultants understand that it is not just getting to #1 in Google. They are already encouraging their clients to maximize sales from their websites. So as I suggested back in 2003, SEO should be Selling Effectiveness Optimization. Perhaps with the passage of time, the suggestion will now be seen to have more merit.
I can’t imagine why usability should be separate from SEO. The two go hand in hand, IMHO, and should be built in from the start.
I like your suggestion for the acronym!
I think it’s going to be a tough challenge to change the world, Darren. Thanks for joining the change team. 🙂
for me seo, usability are part of the sem.
I agree 100% however the market seems to be different. There is still useless corporate web pages market, big ego entrepreneur’s market who want to be internet millionaires being no1 in google and paying $99 for someone and there is of course big projects market (0.5M website marketing budget) where they spend somebody’s else money. I haven’t yet found entrepreneurs who are interested to be successful in their niche and have unique product to work with sharing cash flows. My article about the issue Website Design, Business Cards, SEO and Stupidity.
Usability is a big part of SEO, and they should be able to do it effectively because the main purpose is to reach the customers, increase your page rank, and get more visitors.