As many other people have noticed, sometimes, SEO efforts can tend to become too focused on search engines. Though obviously, the search engines should be a prime consideration, we cannot totally discount the importance of the end users – human users. This is what user experience is all about.

In SEO parlance, user experience is also dubbed as UE or UX. To be honest, I only came across this term recently, thanks to Shari Thurow at Search Engine Land. In a post she published, she shares her thoughts on UX:

Search engine optimization is all about the user experience, because the idea behind SEO is to get users to their desired information and destination(s) as quickly and easily as possible by using the users’ language (keywords). Searchers type in keywords at a commercial web search engine. Searchers’ expectations are validated in search results pages and, hopefully, after they click on links within those search results…a perfect, seamless user experience.

An important point that we should put under consideration is the difference between UX and the perceived UX, the former being what human users actually experience and the latter being what SEO experts may think their users want to experience. Though sometimes, these two factors jive, more often than not, there is a disparity. That is why it is important that when working on SEO, you have to bear in mind UX – the real deal. Do not be limited by your own perceptions, actually open your mind to reality and adjust your strategies accordingly.

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Admit it or not, there are some aspects in SEO that can be classified as traditional.  These are the practices that have been established from the beginning and are considered to be the building blocks of all SEO activities. These are ideas which have withstood the test of time and that everyone takes for granted to be the “ultimate truth.”

Take the use of keywords for one.  We all know that in order to optimize our web sites, we need to choose those keywords which most people are using when they search for information.  For a certain niche, there is a group of words or phrases that are most commonly employed by people who want to find out more about that niche.  And these are the words that we want to use most in our web sites in order to rank well in the search engine results.

Now how about if we diverge a bit from that traditional way of thinking?  Let us say that we try to use other keywords which may not be as popular?  Non-traditional indeed but it just might give good results in the long run.  Come to think of it, this concept is not that new.  We have heard of the argument which pits short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords against each other so many times.  In essence, using the not so popular keywords mean using long-tail keywords, right?

Experts say that SEO is going to enjoy a modest boost in 2009.  Perhaps it is time to be part of that success and try other less common methods – such as using less popular keywords.  What do you think?

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Outsourcing your site’s SEO is a big decision that’s made harder by the fact that there are so many SEO companies to choose from. When deciding one of the most critical factors to consider is of course the companies’ approach to SEO. Though everyone knows the hazards of using black hat techniques there are still SEOs out there that continue to use them in order to get “fast results” whether the client knows about it or not. Do not fall prey to these SEOs!

If you find that the SEO company you are currently dealing with or is considering employs any of these techniques then run away as quickly as possible. The list below is from Google Webmasters Help pages. If Google says run then run!

* owns/uses shadow domains
* puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
* offers to sell keywords in the address bar
* doesn’t distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
* guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
* operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
* gets traffic from “fake” search engines, spyware, or scumware
* has had domains removed from Google’s index or is not itself listed in Google
* requests your FTP account information or root access to your server

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