Marketing Logic

One of my favorite T-shirts is one that I picked up at a Search Engine Strategies conference, back when it was in Boston. You can also tell that it is dated because it is from FAST: AlltheWeb. I think they were having a fire sale, as they were going to be bought by Yahoo! and were giving away hundreds of old shirts.

I love the message of the shirt, “freshness counts” – That was the focus of FAST; indexing new sites and content as fast as possible and updating the search result to reflect those changes within days, rather than weeks. Living in Ohio, I rarely get to enjoy fresh seafood. When you live away from the coast, fresh is important.

On further refection, I was enjoying some sushi during a recent trip to San Diego, and I marveled at the presentation of the meal. It was almost a shame to eat it, as it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

Regardless of your stomach for raw fish, I have to believe that one can appreciate the beauty of sushi presentation, and not just the taste. Sushi is more than a food; it is an art form and an experience. The goal of a sushi chef is to arrange and present the food in a way to enhance both the beauty and taste. From a rigorous apprenticeship to knives that can cost over $1,000, sushi is a craft that has a long, proud tradition.

Back to search.

In a similar way, search engine optimization should never overpower the intent of a website. It should be artistic in the way that it helps to present and arrange the content of a web site. It is a craft that, when done well, is not obvious to the web site visitor. It should not be an overpowering agenda, but one that works with the overall marketing plan of a website. It should enhance the “flavor” and make it more beautiful and appetizing to both the search engine and the user.

Too many optimization efforts result in a site being almost unrecognizable and ugly (stinky?) in presentation. The visitor is overwhelmed by the search engine optimization efforts. The true message and purpose of the site are sacrificed for better rankings, and the purpose of the site is unclear and out of focus. When optimization is primary to the marketing of the site, this tends to happen.

The beauty of sushi is that all of the elements are harmoniously at work to create the experience, the taste and the presentation. In the same way, optimization should not be the driving force of the marketing, but a part of the overall strategy. When one element is overdone, the total presentation of the site suffers, and the message is lost.