• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
    • SEO Expert Witness
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Email Newsletter

Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

SEMrush

Home » Search Engine Optimization » How Google Brought SEO Back to the United States

How Google Brought SEO Back to the United States

Posted on April 29, 2014 Written by Bill Hartzer

During my participation at the Pubcon SFIMA Conference in Fort Lauderdale last week, William Leake mentioned something that I have not realized before. In fact, it’s probably my biggest takeaway from that conference:

With the latest round of algorithm updates in the past two years, Google has brought back search engine optimization to the United States.

Wait. What?!? How’s that?

Before the Google Penguin algorithm existed, and before article writing & guest blog posting was penalized, many website owners outsourced their SEO. And this outsourcing was done because it was cheap. When you outsourced your link building, you got cheap, low quality links. You got hundreds or thousands of ‘directory’ links. You got articles written and posted on article sites. Much of this low quality SEO was automated, and that’s why it was so cheap. Employees from India and the Philippines were trained to run software that created thousands of low quality links to websites. But, even though it was cheap, you got good search engine rankings. And that’s why many SEO firms in the United States outsourced their work to companies outside the United States.

But when Google Penguin came along, penalizing low quality links from directories and article sites (just to name a few), and now when recently Google has penalized guest blog posts, the cheap outsourced SEO that you did is now something that got your site penalized. Now, companies are having to back-track and get these low quality cheap links removed from sites. And, SEO firms in the USA are no longer outsourcing SEO and link building work to companies overseas.

Pre- Google Penguin, there was a lot of SEO work being outsourced. It was cheap and it was effective. But now, all that SEO work is back in the United States, with SEO companies actively doing the work. The emphasis is on Content Marketing and Media Outreach, as well as Blogger Outreach: something that can’t easily be outsourced to companies in India and in the Philippines.

Media Outreach
In the past two years, the role of link building has evolved into more of a role of link earning. As an SEO, my emphasis, like many other SEOs I talk to on a regular basis, has evolved into more of a public relations and content marketing role than simply someone who is “getting links” for a client. Sure, I can go out and get you 500 links tomorrow. Or maybe even 1,000 links this month. But that’s not going to be effective, and the links aren’t going to bring you traffic to your website. In fact, you’ll probably get slapped with a Google penalty. What’s important to focus on, though, is acting more like a public relations agency, where our SEO agency develops relationships with media outlets who will cover your story, cover your business, and mention your website: that’s what will bring traffic and sales. And, frankly, I don’t feel like I can outsource that work to someone outside of the United States.

At this point, the only work that I can see being effectively outsourced is the outreach to website owners: to get low quality links removed. Sure, I’m maybe being too optimistic about SEO coming back to the United States, but Bill Leake’s statement last week sure got me thinking. And, frankly, I’m happy that Google has brought SEO back to the United States.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization

SEMrush

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is CEO of Hartzer Consulting, LLC, an SEO Consulting firm that includes services such as search engine optimization, technical SEO audits, domain name consulting, and online reputation management.

Recent Posts

  • Someone Stole My Domain Name: Here’s What You Do January 4, 2023
  • Web Hosting Services Market to Grow to $254.86 Billion by 2029 December 13, 2022
  • This SEO Blog Post Was Written by ChatGPT December 8, 2022
  • Facebook Rolling Out Facebook Articles December 7, 2022
  • Doing SEO is Better Than… December 6, 2022
  • Tucows and GoDaddy Report Q3 2022 Results November 6, 2022
  • How to Measure App Events Sourced by Organic Search and SEO September 20, 2022
  • Google Allegedly Eavesdrops and Monitors the Brain 24 hours a Day to Control Humanity September 14, 2022
  • Why You Shouldn’t Hire SEOs Based on An Email September 13, 2022
  • Global SEO Market to Reach $122.11 Billion by 2028 September 9, 2022
  • Bluehost Launches New Commerce Solutions for WordPress September 8, 2022
  • Which CMS? How to Choose the Best CMS for Your Purposes August 29, 2022
  • Accidental SEO Manager: Interview with Ash Nallawalla August 15, 2022
  • Sometimes Google Isn’t Family Friendly August 1, 2022
  • Something’s Seriously Wrong with Facebook Notifications July 12, 2022
  • Facebook Internet Tracking Settlement June 24, 2022
  • RankSense Acquired by SEOClarity June 1, 2022
  • LinkedIn Links, Digital Marketing News, and SEO Questions Answered May 9, 2022
  • GoDaddy Ending Forwarding of Existing Shortened Links May 5, 2022
  • 7 Ways to Protect Your Domain Name March 31, 2022

US Agency Awards Judge

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:



Industry Friends

I Love SEO
WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Phil Drinkwater
Dixon Jones
Brian Hartzer
Navah Hopkins

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (19)
  • Bing Search Engine (6)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Branding (12)
  • Domain Names (209)
  • Google (236)
  • Internet Marketing (25)
  • Internet Usage (85)
  • Link Building (53)
  • Local Search (39)
  • Marketing (180)
  • Marketing Foo (30)
  • Pay Per Click (3)
  • Podcast (18)
  • Public Relations (8)
  • Reputation Management (9)
  • Search Engine Marketing (44)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (48)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (19)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (164)
  • Search Engines (204)
  • Social Media (192)
  • Tech (7)
  • Web Analytics (17)
  • Webinars (1)

Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.




Hartzer Consulting



Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Copyright © 2023 ·