Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is understandably a hot topic for anyone that is involved in marketing their company, product or service online. After all, with so many potential customers relying on Google, Yahoo and other leading search engines for finding what they need online, if your company or product are not in the top results, you are missing out on a tremendous potential customer pool. So why am I cautioning against the Israeli obsession with SEO?

In Israel, there seems to be another “SEO expert” under every rock. The reason this has happened is because many people are under the impression that SEO requires more technical skills than marketing skills. And in Israel, because of the unusual concentration of hi-tech startup companies in the country, there is no lack of technical wizards. What there is a lack of is marketing wizards. This was true 15 years ago when hi-tech really started to blossom in Israel and while the situation is exponentially better now, it is still true today.

So this is where the problem begins because SEO is a serious marketing thing – it can not and should not be left to the engineers. It should not be left to the inexperienced administrative assistant and it should not be dumped on the overworked marcom director who, in Israel anyway, is responsible for every word written, every graphic , every exhibition and sometimes the annual company outing! But not only is it a serious marketing thing. It needs to be put into context. What many Israeli companies tend to do is build a website with a designer and then seek out another vendor to handle their SEO – as though one has nothing to do with the other.  But let’s take it even further than that. It’s not just that SEO and web design/development should be tied together, it’s that SEO is just one small part of the whole Internet marketing mix. It’s one tactic that should be part of an overall strategy that is being managed by someone. Israeli companies don’t always like to hear about planning and strategies. They like to hear about action. Maybe this is one of the reasons you don’t find any Israeli companies among the blue chip stocks — but you do find an abundance among the shopping lists of the likes of Google, Microsoft, EBay, AOL and a long list of others.

To place SEO into perspective, Israeli companies should consider the following:

• Stop for a moment and consider what your online goals are.
• Stop for another moment – and really  – consider what your online goals are. This time, write them down.
• Get the marketing team together and see who knows the most about Internet marketing. Put this person in charge of making a plan for reaching those goals. If they can not, put this person in charge of finding some outside help, like an online marketing consultant.
• Yes -  sometimes you have to admit you do not know everything.
• If you have someone on your team, who can create a plan, great. Get to work.
   

But if the plan is all about SEO, they are missing the big picture. At the end of the day, like anywhere, companies in Israel are concerned with their bottom line and getting good ROI. The Internet is the perfect media for achieving good ROI. So its worthwhile to take time, plan, consult with experts and find the right strategy and set of tactics to implement that strategy.
SEO in Israel and anywhere, for that matter, should be done within the context of a holistic Internet Marketing Strategy.