When it comes to search engine optimization, if a little is good, a lot is better, right? It may surprise you that the answer I usually give is a resounding NO. Here's why:
1. You need to define your goals first. Even the most ethical search engine optimization specialists (SEOs) will cheerfully take your money as long as you tell them to keep working. If you have not defined your goals, then how will you know when to stop spending money? Defining worthy goals for SEO efforts is the subject of my next article, so stay tuned. But for now, please understand that getting on page one of organic search results may not mean much if it is not for the right search phrases (which translates into those phrases that extremely result in improving your bottom line). You should create a way of tracking which search phrases tend to result in desired actions by end users (eg signing up for your email newsletter or purchasing one or more of your products). If you are not able to do this level of tracking, then you should not be spending money on SEO at all! Either that, or you need to pay your SEO specialist to begin this kind of tracking and help you to formulate worthwhile (ie profitable) goals.
2. Another important reason to be careful with your SEO spend is that you do not need to have the best optimized in the world to dominate your niche – you just need to be better than your competitors. This is especially true for local-search where people are looking for your type of business in your local area: If you're at the top of both the Google Map 7-pack and have one or more high first page organic results, re kicking butt. You would do well to go into a maintenance mode for a while. However, you MUST have a maintenance mode that involves monitoring your key phrases and changing changes in your competitors tactics. The mistake most web site owners make is to assume that once they get the results they want, they're done. Search engine optimization is a process that must continue over time. You need to make sure you stay one step ahead of your competitors, of course. But trying to achieve a "nuclear blast" level of domination is not only unilaterally, but extremely expensive. You can keep your lead.in the most economic way by developing a good maintenance strategy.
3. An additional reason for caution is that doing too much too fast can backfire. All the major search engines – and most especially Google – want to see growth in key areas like the number of backlinks, the amount of new content, etc. that fit the profile of a "real" web site, not an automated spam machine that is trying to game the system.
4. The final reason for avoiding more than "just enough" SEO is simply that it increases the likelihood that you're wasting money. Search engine algorithms change over time, sometimes in small ways, but sometimes in major tectonic shifts. You will probably need to revisit your entire strategy the next time there is a "Google Slap", anyway. You want to "right-size" your SEO spend to avoid just flushing that money away.
The bottom line is that you want to spend just enough on SEO to achieve some well-defined goals, and not much more.
