SEO in SA - the latest thing or already dead and gone?

Both major players and small companies in SA ask me for website reviews and very few of them are using good SEO and online branding strategies.

SEO is not the be all and end all - it is just one part of your Internet Marketing strategy. According to Brand Week Online Magazine: "Search engine positioning may be just one part of an online marketing strategy, but it is the fundamental part. It's the baseline."

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Search Engine Effectiveness report on the brand lift from textual paid search results, found that high search engine listings drive the highest awareness or branding for a website. Consumers recall websites 60% of the time from search engine listings numbers 1-3, and only 20% for banner ads and tiles.

For years companies have identified audiences and target markets, crafted messages and used mass media to deliver those messages in the hope that the right person will read them and respond. Now we have people searching on the Internet for products, services and information. They are actively online looking for what they need and want.

When you can tap into the keywords relevant to your industry and find the viable pockets of search that will lead qualified, interested people to your website, does it make any sense not to optimize your website? If you are not in those search results, your competitors will be.

Content will always be king - people go to a website for the content. A site has to be usable and interesting and it has to meet the expectations of the searcher. But it has to be found first.

There has to be a balance between visibility and usability.

It's a two edged sword if your site is never found. You could have the most perfect website, but no one will ever see it. And if you are ranked number one on all search engines on all your major keywords and phrases, but when the visitor gets to your site there is no relevant and useful content that will deliver what they were online searching for in the first place, what's the point? They will be gone in two seconds.

Being visible and being usable are not mutually exclusive they are joined at the hip. South African companies could benefit tremendously from using SEO as part of their overall brand and Internet marketing strategy.