SEO: certainly not DIY

While many of us fancy ourselves as DIY experts; sawing, hammering and nailing bits together to create a new set of shelves, or putting a picture on the wall, SEO is not something you can ‘blag’ your way through. There are just too many complicated and frequently changing factors involved that require expertise as opposed to an instruction book.

A lot of people in the IT industry, or working “in IT” for large businesses feel as though their limited knowledge of SEO is enough that the firm doesn’t have to bring in experts in the field, and that they can do it themselves. However, history and case studies show us that this is the start of a slippery slope. A lot of businesses who opt to do their own SEO soon find that they’re being penalized by Google for over-optimisation of their site, essentially ‘spamming’ the site with the terms that they want to be seen ranking highly for, and Google subsequently prevents them from doing so, knocking them down the rankings or not including them at all.

One of the main reasons that firms opt against bringing in so-called SEO experts is that they believe all of the best firms are based in the United States and that they charge overwhelming amounts. However, there are plenty of British and Irish SEO agencies who are gaining reputations for being among the very best in the industry, and, what’s more, they don’t charge the substantial American fees and – for those based in the UK and Ireland – they’re working at the same times as you, there’s no time zone changes, meaning that if you have any issues or need to contact them for an update, they should be on-hand whenever you need them.

An upwards arrowFor those still not convinced on the advantages of bringing in an SEO firm, you have to question how you want to get to the “next level” in your industry. You might be doing very well, but you always want to be doing better – ambition is only natural with any business. But sometimes, no matter how good your existing in-house IT team may be, they don’t have the expertise in SEO to find the strategies to take you from the top 20 search results for your key term to the first page, top 5, number one, wherever it is you want to be.

With so many strategies in an ever-evolving industry, there’s no way this is a DIY job. Reaching the next level is serious stuff and therefore needs the best in the business, not the amateurs.

10 thoughts on “SEO: certainly not DIY

  1. You make a great point. And many people do try to keep it inhouse, but that almost always fails. They simply are not learned in the field and that is why they get penalized.

  2. I can’t totally agree with you on that Matt. Since SEO is a regularly changing field, someone with an in-depth knowledge of traditional SEO and an inclination towards being updated with the latest trends and techniques, can do SEO for their website.
    Sometimes when a website has reached a good rank and isn’t reaching further, it’s because there are more relevant results above that website. By trying to go to the next level, we might sometimes annoy Google with over-SEO activities and lose out on our current position in the SERP.

  3. I agree with you on bring an expert “SEO” specialist into the team. However, you should be very careful when choosing the experts. Many claims that they are experts but they may experiment on your website and ruin all your business.

    In my case, about 10 months back, couple of my sites were doing good even without doing much optimization and bringing in business. To get into the top, I hired an agency and they did over optimized my site and ruined even the existing ranking.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      I never thought of that Annetta, maybe if you aren’t their highest paying client they use your site to experiment what works and what doesn’t to make sure that their top end clients rank well.

      Thanks for adding your comment, welcome to the blog 🙂
      Christopher – Admin Team

    • That’s an issue a lot of us faced Annetta. While looking for an SEO firm make sure to go through their previous work, the clients they have worked for and the results they have obtained for those clients. Any SEO firm which guarantees rankings in a short duration is no good.
      SEO is a gradual process.

      • @David, you are 100% right about guaranteed ranking in a short period of time. It is not about how fast you can reach the top position in the first page but how long you can stay on the top position. I know people who can position you on top within days. It is not permanent. The goal of SEO is to stay on top forever…if that is possible. Well, if you want to stay on top for 2 months invest in SEM, the best alternative. It’s funny, many people still think that SEO and SEM is the same.

        @Christopher . If you have ever browsed through the online job sites and if you see the SEO job postings, most of the clients wants “immediate results” (I want my …keyword to be on the first position in less than 10 days 🙂 ). And they are willing to pay.

        • I love it when someone in a highly competative field asks to be “#1” in no time flat. That there isn’t a vast number of competitors that want the same exact thing. It’s those expectations which makes selling SEO services much harder as they are used to being advertised the ability to do so.

  4. I stand on both sides of the issue. While it is good for someone wanting external help promoting their website, especially if they have a lack of knowledge in SEO, there are a lot of SEO firms that produce sub-standard results with large promises for exhuberant prices. Search engine optimization takes a lot of work and even more understanding and without proper education it can take a huge toll on any companies website – so in this case it would be good. I have also seen “web-promotion” companies mask ppc and other advertising campaigns as “SEO” to promise #1 rankings… which we all know is b.s. I do feel that hiring a local SEO professional(s) is extremely beneficial, but it is important (even in todays web-world) to be able to converse directly with them or even hire them as an internal part of your organization or business. I say this as I’ve promoted for a number of businesses and when you can speak with them one-on-one, show them diagrams, ask/answer questions directly, it makes the SEO campaign run much smoother and better targeted to their prospective clients.

    • Christopher (admin team)

      Do you feel that you get value for money though? Most SEO the average Joe could do without much guidance at all, so is it really worth paying someone to do it for you?

      Thanks for the comment Gabriel, welcome to the blog 🙂
      Christopher – Admin Team

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