New Web site owners (or even seasoned pros set to launch a new site) should have SEO in mind from the onset, but Michael Gray argues that the trick is to avoid putting the cart before the horse. "Look
for a way to differentiate yourself first and use SEO to promote it, not the other way around," Gray says.
Without quality content (including text, images and possibly video), or a
unique value proposition, all the time spent working on keyword density, meta data and link accumulation could actually lead to a smackdown from the engines.
"At the time when some
engineer decides to crawl over your suspected SEO site, if you don't have the content that makes the grade [or your point of difference], you won't have the links or on-site material to pass the sniff
test," Gray says. And the prized ranking will go out the window--or worse, the site will get banned.
Read the whole story at Graywolf's SEO Blog »