An analogy here seems appropriate, in any competition or race the end goal is to win, so similarly one could assume that the sole purpose of any SEO strategy is to win, be the best, gain first place. But isn’t how you win just as important as winning itself? Surely if an athlete uses drugs to improve performance and wins the race then that athlete is not a winner at all? But if an athlete were to train correctly and push him or herself to the limits and then win, would that not be the ultimate end goal?

Search Engine Optimisation can be argued to be entirely about increasing a websites ranking, due to the fact that that is in fact the desired final outcome. However SEO is more complex then that, simply due to the fact that one can create a website that makes it onto the first page of a specific Google’s search but at the same time the usefulness of the strategy used may not have truly optimised the websites capability.

There is mention of Black Hat and White Hat tactics in this industry, and what is commonly found is that Black Hat tactics may increase a websites rankings but in the end the traffic venturing to that website are likely to leave as quickly as they arrived, therefore optimisation is not achieved. Most Black Hat tactics are not to the benefit of the user and often result in the user not actively participating in the site, and more often then not, never returning to that site again. So if merely increasing the rankings was the only goal or objective in the SEO sphere then there would be a lot more annoying, mostly useless but significantly highly ranked sites out there.

SEO is more then just rankings; it also takes into account the method of how to achieve higher rankings while still serving the user as best as possible. However there needs to be a balance between serving the user and achieving the desired rankings. This is not impossible, but it does take time and continual work. The effectiveness of a websites SEO also depends heavily on the environment in which the website is trying to compete. A highly competitive industry requires intense strategy and application, including blog writing, forum activities, advertising and registration on all search and community sites. This is an ongoing task and relevant updating of the website and its content will build legitimacy and credibility with search engines, which is the greatest tool in the SEO arsenal.

There are of course shortcuts, like in many areas of life. An athlete can choose to do things the right way or to take drugs to enhance their performance. That is a personal decision. The same such decision is required when deciding on which direction to take when considering the SEO strategy for your website. There is the easy, quick and in the end detrimental methods and then there is the long, hard but in the end beneficial methods.

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