Sweat The Small Stuff: Search Engine Optimization Is In The Details

I’ll agree!that branding and building credibility are key to any good organic search engine optimization campaign

@Jill — I felt like it was implied:

“Guess what? None of that stuff matters!”

Why would I waste my time doing something that “doesn’t matter”. We think the small stuff matters a great deal, especially in competitive markets.

I apologize if you feel like I took your words out of context.

I had just finished reading Jill’s post and was getting a bit depressed – are many of the things I’m doing for my SEO clients irrelevant? What am I doing in this business? Thanks, Lisa for presenting the other side of the argument.

In reality, it’s a balance of both what Jill discusses and what Lisa points out. Part of the proof is an eCommerce client who has more than quadrupled online sales since the “small stuff” was implemented. His rankings went up dramatically and so did his site traffic. META Description rewrites enticed searchers to click in to his site from the search results. Previously all of the page titles and all of the META Descriptions were the same – you can imagine where that left him. His conversion rate increased as a result of improving the copywriting on the page. His competitive position has improved greatly as well because his competitors don’t bother with the “small” stuff.

I also agree with Jill that the age of the domain is one of the “big things” you do need to sweat. But other than avoiding changing domain names, you can’t do anything to “age” your domain, so in that regard, it’s not even within your control.

I’m still of the opinion that “content is king” but I don’t think you can just chill-lax and forget the small stuff. I think the most effective SEO techniques see the bigger picture without leaving out the small details.

Lisa, just one quickie…

The trouble with ‘not sweating the small stuff’ is that you end up with an okay site. Not a great site, just one that’s ‘good enough’. If all you’re willing to optimize for is ‘good enough’ then your rankings will reflect that. Top 20 is good enough. Top 10 requires more work. Top 3? That requires sweating the small stuff.

I never said don’t DO the small stuff. I simply said don’t sweat ’em. I believe there’s a big difference, no?

Hi, I agree with Nashville SEO when he says that basic of SEO will remain the same.
Keywords are very crucial for one’s site, if no keywords are there then on what basis are we targeting our clients?
Some factors change but not the basics?
I am sure you will agree that keywords are still amongst one of the important factors of SEO.
Alex

I agree with you, Lisa. In a very competitive market segment you MUST sweat the small stuff because it will make a difference. But only if you sweat the BIG stuff first. Like great content for example. Like a proper site architecture, or “siloing” as Bruce likes to call it. Like really good natural backlinks. The big stuff will get you there. The small stuff will separate you from your optimized competition who didn’t sweat the small stuff.

btw nashville – that’s not Bruce doing the writing. it’s Lisa. you might want to sweat the small stuff on this blog ;)

har har! ;)

It’s a very good point. I guess I’d put those in the basic category but not the “small stuff” category, for details like character count in title tags, optimizing header tags, etc. They’re all good and important – but definitely more towards the refinement side of things. Maybe once the site is well covered those finer points should be considered.

But just to contradict myself, I have a hunch that little stuff – if you sweat it and already have a great site – can influence rankings in competitive areas. That’s probably where it’s more important – saturated niches that already have actively SEO’d sites competing. That and insanely good unique content with masses of links from authority sites (double har).

Actually though I was just feeling disagreeable today. :)

@Adam — Sad to see you dissent, you’re usually such an intelligent fellow. :)

What do you consider the basics of SEO if not Meta tags and keyword densities? I think the basics of SEO will always stay the same. There will be other factors that come and go, but I think including Meta tags on a page and appropriately targeting keywords are safe and worth the effort.

I agree with Jill and I definitely agree with Bruce.

Those who need the benefit of SEO the most will probably never become THE authority site for their niche, so the small details matter greatly. Not everyone is a big spending, market dominating, mega-site. Some of us are simply trying to attract some eyes from our communities. This is where the small stuff will matter the most.

Jill’s right. I love her article, it’s a breath of fresh air and a sophisticated approach to SEO. As she writes, people are afraid of doing something to harm their site, and “Part of this fear and uncertainty comes from a misunderstanding of SEO and how it should be used as a marketing tool.” Jill’s been around the game long enough to realize SEO is a part of the marketing mix, it’s not THE marketing mix. It’s a segment of Internet marketing.
You don’t have to sweat the small details because those may change in 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 years. You just have to cover the basics *really well* and create a authoritative, trusted, high-quality resource that both humans and SEs need to know about. Easier said than done.
Okay gotta go comment on Jill’s post now…

Well put Lisa!!