SEO, usability and readability.... The unseperable cousins.

SEO is like a very long tight-rope.... As you start walking along, there is little to throw you off balance, but as you get further along the line you start to sway a little.... It's all a matter of keeping your eye on the horizon and keeping the balance just perfect!

There are many sites out there that really do sacrifice customers for the sake of their SEO. They keyword stuff pages wherever they possibly can and maybe they'll get high rankings, maybe they wont... but their customers are put off because pages sound robotic to read (Readability suffers) and the pages are pretty obviously engineered to search engines needs and not customers.

You also have pages where the order of content is pretty idiotic... again for search engines reasons.... the usability suffers and so do the companies profits as customers go someplace else that 'just makes sense' to them.

As an SEO Specialist, I've seen some really crazy things done by people who think they know all about SEO (For the SEO pros here, you know the ones.. ).... It often doesn't go down very well when I shoot down a webmaster over things when I get the chance..... most just laugh at me.... that is, until I point out how stupid the things they have done are.... their laughs generally turn to embarrasment when they realise they know a damn sight less than they thought.

What is the point of this thread? ....... Simple... dont lose sight of your customers.... your visitors. SEO is a very fine line that can be walked and mastered very well with lots and lots of practice... however, getting SEO, Readability AND usability spot on is harder, but gives the best to both robots and REAL PEOPLE!

Don't be temped to inject keyword phrases willy nilly just because there's room (careful with those relative replacements).... or because you think they'll go un-noticed. A lot of the time you can get away with it.... sometimes where you put them 'just make sense' and thats fine and good.

However well you think you know SEO, it is always wise to have a few people look at your work.... not from an SEO perspective, but as a customer... a visitor.

Let me tell you, that bold text above is probabally the best bit of SEO advice you'll hear in ages... because after all... SEO is to increase rankings... to increase traffic..... to increase profit.... to increase your bottom line!!!

Thats it... it's all about the money (or forum popularity is some of your cases).... so put those customers/visitors first... you'll be glad you did.

I agree with Rob. Be very strategic with your relevant replacements - and never forget general marketing principles. Once you get the traffic to your site, you need to do your best to make your site *sticky* (i.e. keep them there and coming back).

Obviously, there is far more involved. I encourage you all to share your insights on what you do from a general marketing perspective to achieve your goals (gain members, build content, generate ad revenue, sell a product/service, etc)?

** Moved to vBulletin SEO Articles ** - Excellent insight Rob.