Search Engine Optimization or SEO is optimizing a website in such a way that it gets top ranks in the search results for certain terms (keywords) in the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.

Why is SEO Important?

It’s important because it helps you to get more visitors – and unlike PPC, one need not pay for every click. Needless to say – more the visitors mean more the sales. Of course there are many other factors such as landing page, targeted traffic etc that come into play before a sale or a lead takes place, but it’s a safe bet to assume that more visitors means more sales.

But that’s one side of the coin. Is SEO easy? NO!!! Can SEO be done overnight NO!!!

SEO takes time to build:

It is not like Rome was built in a day. Good things take time. So is SEO. If you have optimized your website and think that you will have users/buyers from the next day then you are very wrong. It takes time to get top ranks. Even if you have optimized your site well, got some great inbound links, have great content and have dome some on-page optimization stuff – still it might take some time before your site gets top ranks.

Why?

One reason can be that Google needs to update its database before new results can be thrown. This takes some time, anywhere from 2 weeks to about a month or more.

One should also note that Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes that the internet is fast becoming a “cesspool” where false information thrives. In February, 2009 while speaking with an audience of magazine executives visiting the Google campus as part of their annual industry conference he said that the brands were increasingly important signals that content can be trusted. He also added that Brands are the solution, not the problem. And most importantly, “Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.”

It looks like Google has started giving more emphasize on the Brands. So sites that Google think is a brand might get ranked faster than a normal site.

SEO Content:

SEO content also takes time to build. One cannot just write whatever one wishes to. SEO content has to be well researched and then has to be implemented well. This too takes time. And it takes much more time by the search engines to read those SEO contents and then put them into their databases and then implement them into their search results.

Note that content must be added over time. Adding tons and tons of content in one single day might get your site in trouble.

Does SEO Stops at Ranking?

NO, SEO doesn’t just stop at rankings. It’s lot more than that. For starters every part of your site matters including the design. There are many ways to bring in visitors to your site – social networking, PPC, direct online advertising etc. That said SEO is the best way to boost up traffic.

Also SEO makes for a credible source. Advertising is not always considered to be true or reliable because it is paid. But in case of search engine listings, it differs. People have an inherent belief in search engine listings. They seldom notice the SEO techniques that work behind to bring in visitors. They have more faith in the organic search engine listings than in online advertisements.

Also SEO is just one time investment. You don’t have to pay anyone when someone visits your site. That’s because the person is visiting the site directly from a search engine. Thus it’s better to invest time in making a good search engine optimized website. This will help in the long run. 

Do you think SEO takes time and is it worth it?