Avoid search engine optimization madness

Optimize for the searcher, not the search engine. Focus on your customers, not on the technology.

It is incredibly important to get found when your customers search. However, it is even more important for your customers to find what they are looking for. And it is equally important that when they find what they’re looking for that the content be accurate, up-to-date and easy to understand.

When your customers are searching for what they want, you should seek to save as much of their time as possible. They should have to click and read only as much as they need to.

This is not to say that all your content should be short. You need as much content as your typical customer needs. If customers really need 10 detailed pictures of the product before they feel comfortable to purchase, give them that. If they want lots of technical detail, give them that. But let the customer decide how much is enough.

The above sounds like a no-brainer, but focusing on the search engine instead of the searcher can lead to Web sites that work for the search engine but not for your customer.

Search engine-focused strategies may help bring customers to your Web site, but then the poor experience customers get will quickly make them leave. Here are some of the things search engines love but searchers (your customers) may hate:

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