WSJ Writes on the Need for SEO

Posted by JohnCarcutt
March 14, 2007

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There have been a number of debates on the necessity of search engine optimization. Some people are of the opinion that it is a onetime deal or just not needed, while others religiously claim it’s an ongoing process that can make or break a sites success. Personally, I believe that SEO is an integral part of a website and should be considered from the moment a site is conceived until the day it is shut off. It is however, only one portion of a sites success.

Using the popular news site Topix.net as an example, Evin J. Delaney writes a compelling argument for why SEO should always be a integrated part of any decision which effects your website.

Read the full article “How Search-Engine Rules Cause Sites to Go Missing” at the WSJ site.

The simple fix for the Topix.net dilemma is a basic 301 re-direct. They need to pick a domain (.net or .com) and create a mapped 301 permanent re-direct from the old domain URLs to the new domain URLs. This may not allow the pages to transfer immediately from one domain to the other, but both sites can be running while the transition is in place preventing the losses they feared. Once the pages transfer it would be safe to discontinue updating the old domain.