I have to admit, I was pretty captivated by the Olympics coverage over the weekend. From the men’s rowing to the women’s gymnastics, I couldn’t get enough of it. It was two days of intense spectator sporting. However, since it is Monday morning, and I’m at work, and can’t be home watching the games right now, I thought it only fitting to write a blog post about How Search Engine Optimization is like the Olympics, because let’s face it…it is.
1. It’s not a one time deal. You can’t go to one practice and expect to make the Olympic team. It takes longetivity, hard work, and consistent effort to make those dreams actualize. Same is true for SEO. You can’t optimize your site once and expect it to consistent be on top. In order to stay on top, you must exercise it’s content and keywords, feed it a diet of quality inbound links and make sure that the code is lean and mean.
2. There is no “I” in SEO. There are individual events and there are team events in the Olympics. But even the individuals belong to a team. They may compete alone, but they have the support of their fellow teammates and an entire country cheering them on from home. Your website’s SEO also needs a team. A team of solid code, strong inbound links (people cheering for you), and on & off page optimization, working together to bring home the gold.
3. Cheaters never win. Steroids or synthetic hormones mar the integrity of Olympic athletes, just as Black Hat SEO undermines honest SEO efforts. Cheating your way to the top may give you an instant win, however, it will likely come back to haunt you. Just ask Marion Jones.
4. There are winners and there are losers. There is only one gold medal, one top spot. Despite your hardest efforts, there can only be one winner. Some will be at the top of the rankings, some will win the gold medal, others will not. It’s okay. It only means you must keep working towards the prize. Don’t give up.