At the Social Media Camp during InternetWeekNY an interesting concept was raised, that SEO should be aimed at the end user instead of the Search Engine. The term usability was thrown around and the topic shifted to another area but I was intrigued. SEO has always been about how high will the site be in the various engines but with the advent of social media and its focus on the user experience, does SEO need to adjust its focus to meet what seems to be a shifting paradigm in web use.

Many companies are establishing social media presences and some are even using applications like WordPress to develop their whole web presence. Are the search engines taking a back seat to the users and if they aren't, should they. Time to kick this one around and see where it goes. I am interested in seeing what others think.

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SEO is very helpful in today's business.. it can help your business to achieve its potential if SEO is done right.

I am not disagreeing with that you said, but I think you have to meet in the middle. When I say that I mean that you have to base half of it on the search engines and half on human experience to get the best results.

I am not disagreeing with that you said, but I think you have to meet in the middle. When I say that I mean that you have to base half of it on the search engines and half on human experience to get the best results.

I agree with you and I think that what was being discussed at the event I was at was that there is a perception that many in the SEO arena are focused solely on the results in terms of ranking. While on the SEM side it is the user experience that is more of a concern. The evolution that needs to take place is for, as you say, a meeting in the middle. One of the interesting comments at the event was that SEOs and SEMs need to think of the visitors of the sites as media users so the work that is done to enhance the experience is in terms of Media User Interface. First GUI, now MUI...another acronym to kick around!

To me it does make sense if seo takes one more step further by emphasizing on website visitor experience rather than just the different number of visitors they get. Because that will make the visitors come back again; this trick works really well with community sites such as forums and networking sites.

To me it does make sense if seo takes one more step further by emphasizing on website visitor experience rather than just the different number of visitors they get. Because that will make the visitors come back again; this trick works really well with community sites such as forums and networking sites.

I don't mean to jump on a single word in your post but the concept of addressing the user experience needs to be viewed not as a trick but as a fact of doing business. My marketing life started in the early 90s when the internet was nothing more than a way to move info around and even the rudimentary interfaces back them evolved into being user friendly. And I am not just talking about an ease-of-use issue but one where every effort is made to make a media-rich experience that makes the visitors not just come back but really want to come back on a regular basis and recommend the site to others. While usability in forums and networking sites should be a goal, the content that is posted is going to be a bigger driving factor. From my own experience, I have returned to forums again and again not because the site was well designed and inviting but because the wealth of information shared was immense.

I agree with you and we can get best business by quality seo

SEO is good and effective for online business

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