Not all votes are considered equal?

I was directed to a very good article on Search Engine Optimization entitled “Selling SEO to CEOs”, which raised some interesting points on the value SEO brings and how best to describe its service offering to a non-technical audience. The analogy that the author uses is a comparing SEO to a candidate that is running for president and the importance of “optimizing” the stages of the campaign.

In the first part of the campaign, the candidate needs to put out their message telling the audience what they are looking to achieve; it needs to be clear, focused and unambiguous. The message needs to contain buzzwords or key topics that the public is listening out for, that relate directly to the voter’s needs. This part of the campaign is what the author refers to as onsite SEO, and translates directly to the layout and design of a website. It shows you how your website should be compiled so that it is readable to the right audience, has the right keywords and that it stands out from the crowd.

The second part of the part of the campaign is actually getting elected and that involves getting the votes from outside (offsite SEO). In order to get those votes, you need share your message with others, get it published by credible sources and have them quote and reference you which would generate a following and get you a vote. Taking this back to the web world, those votes or links into your site hold value and this is one of the ways the search engines determine the popularity of your page. However, it is not only the number of links that these search engines look at, but the quality of the link as another determinate of the rank of your page in its organic search. This shows that having better quality links can push you further up those rankings, showing the importance of being endorsed by the right people and also showing that not all votes in this game are considered equal.