Settling Into SEO: Elite Leaders Have the Head, Why Not Take the Tail
A lot of speculation has popped up in the last few months about the future of search engine optimization. The only thing that is guaranteed is that SEO will change. No one knows how, or if Google will be the arbiter for that major change. Ultimately, change is inevitable.
There is a major shift happening now that could steer how SEO develops in the coming few years. Do an experiment, and type in ‘shirts’ in the search engine. The first search is Custom Ink, which is a massively popular custom t-shirt designing company (arguably the largest one in the country). On the first page, visitors will find Macys, Wal-Mart, and Old Navy. They may find a blog post about t-shirts from an extremely popular website or two (i.e. the Huffington Post).
Can a small blog compete with the Huffington Post for the keyword t-shirts? Can a t-shirt brand compete with Old Navy, Macy’s or Wal-Mart? On this playing field, the keyword ‘tshirts’ is almost mythical. It cannot be done in any realistic way. This is so even through social media marketing outlets, where the popular brands dominate the ad space. Smaller (even large-sized firms) are better off specifying their search keyword goals.
It is such a simple concept. Truthfully, SEO is not dying. The local seo services are getting longer, more geographic, and richer. The head of the snake is already dominated by company elites. The experiment works with any general keyword out there, and any new competitor will have to compete with their budget and authority in the topic. It goes without saying that the longer the company is ranked at the top, the harder it will be.
SEO is settling into its own. The battlefield over keywords is quickly falling further and further down the tail. It may not be surprising to be competing for ‘custom tie-dye shirts with animal designs in Colorado’ as a legitimate keyword. In some ways, that is good. It grows the health of the niche industry. The tail is still wide open, and penetrating the keywords here could provide a door to eventually tackling the top of the food chain.
