SEO, PPC and Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen just published an interesting article, “Search Engines as Leeches on the Web.” In it, he makes several great points. On line he writes is very important for all search engine dependent companies to keep in mind:
In addition to paid search listings, websites also often receive search traffic from free, so-called organic listings. These visitors are obviously no problem, except that you can’t count on them as a sustainable strategy, since organic listings can change without notice.
Pretty much every customer and prospect I talk to wants SEO–they want to be top 10. The problem is exactly what Jokob points out: it’s impossible to guarantee and should you get it it’s impossible to guarantee you’ll keep it.
Make no mistake — I want a top 10 result, too. It would be (potentially) incredibly valuable. But it is also a very risky strategy.
Nielsen’s point in the article, however, is that too much reliance on any search engine, either through organic or paid inclusion, is a risky strategy that’s prone to problems. His solution? Liberate your site from search engines. He says:
Thus, you must foster customer loyalty so that users go straight to your site instead of clicking through from search ads.
And then gives a bunch of good ideas on how. Check it out!