Does SEO scale?
-
Well, does it?
-
It does and it doesn't (great answer I know!). Let me expand a bit on that
Onpage optimization is definitely scalable. Site architecture really only becomes important as content scales. The more content, the more structure is needed. BUT as we all know onpage is only one part of SEO - and a fairly small one at that if you look at technical onpage optimization. Perhaps 20-25%.
The other 75-80% is content generation and offpage activites (link generation, social engagement etc.) and I think these are much much harder to scale unless you have a wicked unique product that just drives insane amounts of diverse links and mentions to not just a home page but to individual content pages deep within the site structure. I have only seen a handful or so sites ever achieving this.
-
Sure it does. I would argue that onsite optimization becomes even more important on a large scale. Just given the fact that there is so much internal linking a good onsite strategy can be crucial to success.
Good SEO should also help usability of your visitors too. The reason it is rewarded is because thats what users want to see and Google wants to give it's users what they are looking for the first time.
Good SEO = A Good Site!
-
No specific regard. Just in general. How well does quality SEO scale in the broadest of terms.
-
Ambiguity aside, SEO scales when implemented properly. I have clients with hundreds of thousands of pages and clients with millions of pages. Many aspects of SEO can be automated. Of course, someone still needs to provide unique content, but they'd have to do that even without SEO.
Some important factors though include:
- Well structured data architecture (get those table relationships figured out for scalability from day 1)
- Content organization rules (category,sub-category and deeper relationship rules)
- Site navigation & related UX rules
- Standard Operating Procedure for social engagement and link building
Then we can even get into the debate about how to automate at least some of that social / link building effort as well.
Essentially though, with a proper plan and the right resources, maintaining the SEO of a million page site should not be any more difficult than a 500 page site.
-
Thats pretty broad. In what respect?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Community Discussion: The hardest (& most surprisingly valuable) thing you've gone through for your SEO career?
In the comment discussion for Thursday's blog post, An Essential Training Task List for Junior SEOs, there's been mild debate around some of the items, such as having a Junior SEO build a website by hand. It's a fantastic comment discussion (the kind that makes a blog manager's heart sing), and it's got me thinking. We've all gone through the wringer when it comes to boosting our careers. Heck, I was a poetry major and found myself learning SQL last week. What hurdles have you jumped that have been painful and challenging, but have taken your career to the finish line? Maybe even gotten you the gold?* What would you recommend to newbies just starting out (or warn them about)? *Yeah, I got Olympic about it. I went there. 🙂
Industry News | | FeliciaCrawford6 -
Does a blog on a subdomain pass on SEO credit to the main domain?
When setting up a Hubspot blog you are asked to create a subdomain such as blog.website.com in order to have the blog hosted there. Two questions: 1. Does a blog on a subdomain pass on SEO credit to the main domain?
Industry News | | cmortensen
My understanding is that a subdomain is treated like a unique site but I'm not finding current articles to confirm this is still true. 2. If it does not pass on credit to the main domain and the subdomain is only building "SEO love" for itself but your posts are getting found and driving conversions... from a marketing perspective does this non-transfer of SEO credit really matter? Meaning if blog.website.com is linked to the navigation on website.com, your site has quality content, has relevant calls to action, and you are lead nurturing like a good marketer... does the passing of SEO credit matter if your posts are what's getting found and filling the top of the funnel? Thank you in advance,
Christine1 -
Anyone use a white label SEO company?
I work on my own and beginning to get more clients than I can handle effectively so this is my first look into outsourcing some of the work. Does anyone have a good resource for white label SEO? Do you have any experience with the following? Others? Sky Diamond Media
Industry News | | Masbro
Webimax
Imprezzio (local)
Posirank
OrangeSoda
Profit By Search0 -
Best SEO way to implement multi language store
Hi, I have a magento 1.7 multilanguage store with the following structure: www.example.com/nl and www.example.com (Dutch) www.example.com/uk (English) www.example.com/de (German) As you can see the dutch language basically has two url and this gives problems according to Roger. Both urls show the same page and therefor duplicate content. Should i 301 www.example.com to www.example.com/nl ?
Industry News | | mikehenze
And would this not cause problems with the indexing because www.example.com is shown when searching for my keywords. I need to have all three languages to be indexed good and used only for the correct countries.0 -
Anyone used an SEO company they are happy with and would recommend to others?
I have been researching SEO companies. Some are not willing to provide references, while others have references with lukewarm recommendations. Any e-commerce owners/managers here that have used an SEO company that they would recommend? I am about to give up and stick to doing it in-house!
Industry News | | inhouseseo0 -
Problem with SOME Indian based SEO companies, HELP!
First of all I want to say that I hire 2 great Indian SEOs at my company and this question is in no way meant to offend, or single anyone out. However It's come to a point where the amount of emails we receive for "Ethical SEO, High PR Guaranteed Link building Services, SEO professionals etc" from Indian based companies is costing us a lot of time on a daily basis to filter out spam from real enquiries. Blocking their emails is not even working as they use gmail accounts and multiple domain emails so we can't keep up with them. I have even spoken to some of the owners of these 'companies' and they admit using different email accounts so as not to be blacklisted. They also seem to believe that the opt-out option (which is legally required when sending out promotional emails) is itself optional!!!!! Now when I asked how exactly they were getting my email they said that they get info from the, and I quote "first page of Google"!!!!! So my question is the following; is there anyway I can block my site from showing up in a particular country altogether? Again this is in no way attacking ALL Indian based SEO companies, my beef is with the 74 (we counted) different 'companies' that are flooding our email with offers P.S. Is anyone else having these issues?
Industry News | | MassivePrime0 -
When will Rand put out "Art of SEO 2nd Edition"? (ANSWER: IN ABOUT 2 WEEKS)
First edition was printed in the end of 2009. Great Book. Needs updating of course. I would buy the next edition if it was updated in an awesome way that I know Rand and the others would do.
Industry News | | stubby0 -
SEO Certification + SEO Experience = Ideal SEO Consultant ???
Since the responsibilities of SEO have increased so much, I think there has to be a kind of basic industry wide Certification / Degree system. Many people may argue that experince is much more important than certification but how about like any other trade or profession; we have (1) SEO Certification PLUS (2) SEO Experience for the Internet Marketers. One of the reasons, I get so many calls from people that they claim they are SEO experts and they are trying to sell their services to us, but when you talk with them, you can easily tell that they do not have any knowledge about it. But they sell the service to business owners that do not understand SEO. It is very sad to see small business owners believe those people.. and I understand it is business owners responsibility to check the background & portfolio of SEO agency, but wouldn't it be nice to have another credential that they can ask "are you also certified SEO"? what do you think about "Certified SEO" or "Certified Internet Marketing Consultant" concept? can there be an international or national organization to coordinate and superwise the certifications? Thanks, Lewis
Industry News | | CertifiedSEO0