Several years ago SEO - Search Engine Optimization - had a fairly simple meaning: to gain naturual search engine rankings for particular selected keyword phrases. However over the years it has evolved into much more than that. I now see that there are two main groups of marketing professionals that have attached different meanings to SEO, which one do you fall under?

1. The first group largely holds to the original and traditional meaning of SEO; that is the ability of gaining search engine rankings for certain keywords. They have not diverted from the traditional SEO definition for several reasons. First they know that the general populace's definition of SEO is still the same meaning as theirs; therefore they prey on the mis-informed and lead them to believe that gaining rankings for their website is the ultimate goal and it will have a great benefit on their business. I will not argue that having rankings will ultimately benefit any business, however there is a ROI and at some point it could turn into a negative number. This first group will promise clients top-10 rankings for several keywords for a very inexpensive cost. However the keyword phrases that are selected are generally very long and only searched for rarely by actual website users. This also leads to the fact that the keyword phrases will have little or no competition and therefore a top-10 ranking can be accomplished with a minimal amount of work and effort thus resulting in a lower cost. In the end the client will lose because the results will not bring in more business or money and the cost of the campaign will be an expense and not an investment. As you can see I have a negative view on this first group of internet marketing professionals.

2. The second group of professionals views SEO as a field that is constantly changes and molding around new ideas. At first they also held true to the traditional SEO definition but over time realized that it was not in a client's best interest to take this approach. Over time they eventually have settled with SEO meaning internet marketing that results in a postiive ROI and profit for the business or website. or something along those lines. They have still included the original meaning of SEO but have expanded it to a much broader meaning. They have realized that they must focus on keyword phrases that website users are actually searching for, they have realized they must optimize webpages for the human aspect to increase conversion ratios, they have to juggle the task of satisfying the human element plus the search engines at the same time, they have acknowledged that there are other internet marketing opportunities including PPC, direct link traffic, banner advertising, affillate marketing and more. They also have realized that not all industries are alike and a marketing method that would work perfect in one may not work well in another. They try to find out what they can do to best help the website bring in more profit, not just get some rankings.

Which category do you fall under?

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