Is Onsite SEO Dying Down?

[janeth]

I’ve started playing around a Little the last couple weeks with some new sites as well as a couple blogs and to be totally truthful I’ve not spent much time with onsite SEO. I set the blogs up to pull the title and meta tags from the article header and use the same text in the sites url and that’s about it.
It’s all automated

The sites are getting good traffic and doing what I designed them to do without my having to do onsite SEO.

Then I saw this article Is Onsite SEO Dying Down? and got to thinking about it. I don’t think it is dying but do not feel it is needed either. Maybe a little sprinkle here and there but that is about the extent of it.

Wondering what everyone else thinks about it.

[Peter (IMC)]

The automation you did is actually basic SEO which is often responsible for 80% of the results you get. Since you mostly work on your own websites I guess you don't get to work with many client websites that were build by people that don't know SEO exists. In these cases you'll find that on-site SEO works very very well.

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Peter (IMC)

The automation you did is actually basic SEO which is often responsible for 80% of the results you get. Since you mostly work on your own websites I guess you don't get to work with many client websites that were build by people that don't know SEO exists. In these cases you'll find that on-site SEO works very very well.

In a case where an older site has had zero on site SEO done to it I can see how the site would benefit.

1. If the site has good navigation and has sprinkled a little SEO into it over the years, I don't see getting much benefit from on site SEO.

2. If the site does not have any or very few incoming links, I don't see getting much benefit from on site SEO.

3. If it is a small site with only a couple pages, I don't see getting much benefit from on site SEO.

4. If it is a blog that is set up correctly, I don't see getting much benefit from on site SEO.

[Peter (IMC)]

99% of websites are not optimized,... Probably more.

Onsite SEO is more than just code, structure and links. After that part is done you get to the level of the content optimization. There you can gain as well.

But I have to admit, in few cases you actually get to that point because it requires an understanding that is difficult to transmit to others.

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Peter (IMC)

99% of websites are not optimized,... Probably more.

Onsite SEO is more than just code, structure and links. After that part is done you get to the level of the content optimization. There you can gain as well.

But I have to admit, in few cases you actually get to that point because it requires an understanding that is difficult to transmit to others.

My thinking is this.

Good content, good internal links and lots of external links will win out every time.

[ran_dizolph]

Good content, good internal links and lots of external links will win out every time.

Absolutely.

I've long since abandoned trying to stay up on the latest SEO trends, and have focussed my attention on building lean, efficient sites with lots of good content.

[Dinghus]

But good content and good internal links ARE onsite SEO.

Let's face it, if you do anything to your site that will help in the SERPs you are doing SEO. You may not be down and dirty balancing keyword percentages etc etc but you are still doing what needs to be done to rank well.

This is like saying there is no need for good grammar and spelling when writing a book.

[advancedmerchant]

Content is still King. I think the search engines are getting too savvy to the SEO techniques being used, and pay more and more attention to true content.

[Terry Van Horne]

Originally Posted by janeth

My thinking is this.

Good content, good internal links and lots of external links will win out every time.

Nope you have 2 out of three correct the third is totally overblown. I don't have any trouble placing sites and have never begged for links er... did link development. I can do more with the content on the site then anyone can beggin' links and doing Social Networking and blogs. That kind of content rarely gets links from authority they get a lot of low quality links. I'll take a few quality/authority links over 100's of low traffic IBL's. Take the time you spend begging for links and build content and sticky items that generate links with no effort on your part. If you have to ask then... you don't deserve the link and the benefit will disappear with the next link algo update.

[microtekblue]

On-site SEO is actually still very important. Content can be re-arranged to achieve certain goals. For example depending on which keywords you use in your Title tag, and the order of the keywords can make a big difference when it comes down to rankings.

Also, keyword targeting within your body can also help increase your rankings for certain keywords of your choice.

[bj]

I think you're right to a degree, Janeth. But the phrase "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." occurs to me in relation to client sites. My sites are doing fine. But I have them automated to do what they need to do, and I add content usually a minimum of twice a week, sometimes more. And I'm aware always of keyphrases, and tweak for them as I write.

But telling a client that's what he or she needs to do to succeed doesn't mean the lesson sticks. I give them the tool. They have to USE it.

So, for some clients, having someone do the onsite stuff is the only way their sites will ever get any visibility.

[janeth]

Originally Posted by Terry Van Horne

Nope you have 2 out of three correct the third is totally overblown. I don't have any trouble placing sites and have never begged for links er... did link development. I can do more with the content on the site then anyone can beggin' links and doing Social Networking and blogs. That kind of content rarely gets links from authority they get a lot of low quality links. I'll take a few quality/authority links over 100's of low traffic IBL's. Take the time you spend begging for links and build content and sticky items that generate links with no effort on your part. If you have to ask then... you don't deserve the link and the benefit will disappear with the next link algo update.

I do not beg for links. And if you want to test what I am able to do against what you are able to do then just pick the topic.

[chrisJumbo]

I think Peter put it will. You may not have spent too much time, but you did basic on-site SEO. And although the SEs may be savy, they still like well structured sites. If you have a well structured site, quality natural content, and links, you'll do well. Structure and Content are on-site SEO. It doesn't take much more effort to properly structure header tags, images, etc.

A lot may have to do with how competitive the term is, as well.

Also, I'm sure others will point out that on-site SEO includes making sure your site is accesible to everyone. Although, I will have to admit, we haven't gone that far.

[Tig]

I agree, content is king, but how the content is written is vitally important. I work with many different types of business, and they know their business very well, but that doesn't mean they know how to write content for the web very well.
Our SEO business is up about 240% from last year, and much of it is helping clients rewrite their content to match where they want their site to fall in keyword results.
Once we combine that with the rest of the good SEO habits, we can get natural results fairly quickly.
So I believe that Onsite SEO is not only vital, but on the rise.

[ArthurNYC]

Content is still king but they have ti find the content. So I don't buy that Onsite SEO is dying down.

A

[williamc]

Originally Posted by janeth

I do not beg for links. And if you want to test what I am able to do against what you are able to do then just pick the topic.

Sounds like a challenge to me :P

But I already know what you can do Janeth

[claybutler]

There are really only four things that all the major search engines look to form the bulk of their opinion about your site.

1. The Title Tag
2. Page content ( this includes the regular body copy as well as you global achitecture and anchor text)
3. Inbound Links
4. Outound Links

I've been optimizing since 1999 and the basics have alway held true. I pretty much ignore all the latest algorithm chasing and speculation.

As has been pointed out, your automated SEO blog plugin is really a decent SEO tool. Just utilizing that makes your website heads and tails above most websites that have title tags like "Welcome to xyzwebsite.com"...on every single page! Or better yet, "Untiltled".

You could probably do even a bit better by crafting a custom title for each post since quite often a cool catchy post title can be really lacking in decent keywords. That way you have a very literal title tag for the engines AND a more artistic and evocative page title for the readers. Then everyone's happy.

[janeth]

Originally Posted by williamc

Sounds like a challenge to me :P

But I already know what you can do Janeth

He does not seem to want to take me up on it.

[chrisJumbo]

Contests are all the rage. I would love to see Janeth and Terry go at it. I know I would be crushed. :O)

[janeth]

Originally Posted by claybutler

There are really only four things that all the major search engines look to form the bulk of their opinion about your site.

1. The Title Tag
2. Page content ( this includes the regular body copy as well as you global achitecture and anchor text)
3. Inbound Links
4. Outound Links

I've been optimizing since 1999 and the basics have alway held true. I pretty much ignore all the latest algorithm chasing and speculation.

As has been pointed out, your automated SEO blog plugin is really a decent SEO tool. Just utilizing that makes your website heads and tails above most websites that have title tags like "Welcome to xyzwebsite.com"...on every single page! Or better yet, "Untiltled".

You could probably do even a bit better by crafting a custom title for each post since quite often a cool catchy post title can be really lacking in decent keywords. That way you have a very literal title tag for the engines AND a more artistic and evocative page title for the readers. Then everyone's happy.

Yes, and I had it set up to do that but the meta tags kept getting messed up so I decided the heck with it.