Is SEO a Waste of Time in Running an Online Campaign?

January 21, 2010 by Steve Schultz @GeniusbyOsmosis
Filed under: Red Alert Dossier, Social Media

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SEO. Search Engine Optimization. What is it and why do you need it? SEO, long story short, is a method of strategically using keywords, links and more to increase the findability of your website via search engines. When I say search engines, I don’t just mean Google, Yahoo, Bing, etcetera. I mean any search function whether it’s Google alerts or even a news aggregator like Newsvine. All search functions have algorithms, some more extensive than others, that allow you to search based on keywords and other criteria.

So if the purpose of SEO is to make your site, your online brand, your online you, more findable via searches, does it really serve a purpose in politics? The reason I mention this is because how much of a politicians traffic is driven through direct referrals like a Twitter or Facebook account and how much traffic is generated organically through searches?

I’m not sure I’m able to fully answer that question. Certainly if I wanted to know who was running for City Council in West Des Moines, IA I may simply search, “City Council” & “West Des Moines, IA.” Obviously being findable is important in this case but honestly, my search query is so specific that I think I’d find them with or without them optimizing their websites with SEO. The only case it would make a difference is if you wanted your site to pop up first in the results before the competition’s sites. That said, internal SEO does help. Utilizing effective tags on your pages and posts make your site more searchable and user friendly. If I wanted to know what your stance was on a local sales tax increase I can hopefully search, ’sales tax,’ internally on your site and locate all your comments and opinions on the topic.

Without getting too far off topic I’d like to talk about what I feel is more important than SEO. Some SEO “geeks” may fault me here saying this is included in SEO but I really couldn’t care less. It’s called content management. What is content management? Well, it’s the production, optimization, distribution and promotion of content. You’ve read this here before about the insanity of brochure websites. Why? Because they don’t manage content. They don’t create and integrate multiple content distribution outlets that offer ubiquity for you and your message in the online world. What it comes down to is the fact that you must be blogging, posting images, uploading video, responding and engaging your constituency to make your eCampaign work. Not a bunch of hidden keywords (which most search engines don’t pay attention to anyways).

A business client of ours sent us a 10-point checklist of SEO tips they received that explain how one could improve their website and, of course, boost their sales. Of the 10 points I think approximately seven or eight were either the creation or distribution of content. So by merely blogging and sending it to the right content outlets for all to see you are 70% of the way there according to these tips. Quite frankly, I would consider you 99% of the way there.

Again, while many out there would find flaws in my analysis I firmly believe that your campaign should first ignore the technical side of SEO and focus more on content management. When you have accomplished this maybe you can start hiring SEO consultants but quite frankly, our clients get most of their traffic from effectively targeted followings on social networks. Not from organic searches. In all candor, this type of traffic is more effective anyways because they are more likely to be people looking for you or your message, not people that have stumbled their way on to your site while looking for something completely different. Call me a misinformed moron for saying, but it is what it is.

Tags: findability, search engine optimization, SEO