does SEO work

[sirearl]

came across this site which I think is one that measures traffic that has there toolbar installed ,I just put in a site I started work on 1 year ago.

I don't know how relevant the results are in the real world,as its a limited sample but interesting.


http://siteanalytics.compete.com/thejetworks.co.uk?metric=uv


Earl

[tech_solutions]

Hi Earl, SEO does work, but the results can often vary, as most search engines keep updating or changing their search algorithms. I was reading a case study (don't remember the source) where SEO allowed small-to-medium businesses compete more effectively due to higher search engine rankings. Prasant

[ken_uk]

SEO (good to excellent quality) is a tool like any other, it will need to be combined with Search engine marketing, marketing in general, good quality content, regular updates, smooth, fast running site, and a tadge of good luck in order to get the best results. Lots of money often helps, but is *not* essential, but lots of time and effort are essential....

Bad SEO can do more harm than good, it can wipe your site of the face of the search results. It can give you a bad name/reputation.

[WebPageOne-Solutions]

SEO is very effective providing its based on relevance and logic. The true measure would be return on investment.

High Visibility on search engines can be achieved through using various methods of organic SEO and Pay Per Click marketing.

The correct choice of Optimized Keywords will show high levels of Conversions.

[sirearl]

The point of the post was to prove to any doubters how effective SEO can be.

That particular site actualy went from 20 unique visitors a day to over a 1,000 with a corresponding increase in sales.And a huge increase in business in general for the company owing to its dominant presence on the web world wide.

Earl

[DotNetWebs]

....one that measures traffic that has there toolbar installed ....

....I don't know how relevant the results are in the real world,....

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/thejetworks.co.uk?metric=uv


Earl

So like Alexa it relies on toolbar data, except that far less people have the toolbar installed.

As with Alexa I can't see the results being relevant in the real world at all.

I am assuming you have more direct figures for the site you are working on and you have confirmed your increase in traffic via those - so congratulations for that.

Regards

Dotty

[ScottB]

Bad SEO is the bane of the Internet! :) A few bad moves and companies can have their web presence crippled and unfortunately it is all too common these days. Good SEO on the other hand, can indeed open the door to a vast amount of business.

Personally I run a site that brings in 125,000 visitors each month entirely from SEO - it doesn't make much money (it isn't a business type site) but I couldn't have achieved that level of traffic without SEO (ie, I did it myself = no cost).

Scott

[sirearl]

Personally I run a site that brings in 125,000 visitors each month entirely from SEO - it doesn't make much money


thats quite a few people to make not much money from thats 4k a day

you must be trying hard not to earn any money :D


Earl

[ScottB]

Haha yeh. :) It's got some Adsense thrown in there from years ago - it's just badly designed (all static pages and no backend CMS) so it's hard to make site wide changes. I don't like putting too much Adsense on sites (think it looks tacky) and most other advertising options aren't appropriate or a pain to manage.

I've got a big revamp planned but that involves moving the forums from phpbb > VB, getting a new design done, getting a CMS built from scratch, getting some more commerical features integrated to it all (advertiser management and so on) and then finally rewriting loads of URLs. Just don't have the time for it just now.

It actually makes another good SEO point when I think about it though. Although the site doesn't make much cash, I was offered £19,000 for just the domain name a few years back, due to the SEO "weight" of it. Didn't sell (and don't regret it) - the site will kick ass when I finally get round to revamping it. :)

Scott

[mikerr]

Good SEO does work, but the SEO industry is full of companies that can often do more harm than good.
They make bold claims but often just involve spamming links at best.

I think many companies would be better spending 10k on a few a carefully selected adwords than SEO. At least that is more or less guaranteed results.

..and I say this as an SEO consultant !

Good SEO takes time, but continues to work for longer
than adwords etc.

[sandpetra]

Depends who's doing it I suppose.....

[WebPageOne-Solutions]

Hi, I think "guaranteed positions" would be a better term relating to Adwords, assuming you pay the top bid price. Results or conversions will come purely from a well designed, relevant website related to the searchers keyword query, same for organic seo too.

I find a combination of PPC and Organic SEO works best, certainly in the most competitive markets. Best of both worlds, brand awareness on both sides of the SERPs.

Good Organic SEO does take a long time, and understanding the relevance of optimizing Content related keywords, helps a lot.

[Volusion]

Yes, SEO is like networking in real life. If your site has substance and is well connected to other relevant sites, you will go far.

[WHUK]

SEO has huge potential for generating traffic if done correctly with proper planning.
Most of our traffic is through SE's which has a great conversion ratio.
We are having PR-8 now with thousands of quality backlinks :) and ranking top for most of our keywords.

Cheers ....SEO