Guardian Denounces SEO Loses Lead to Telegraph

Search Engine Optimisation is a scam, or so the Guardian claims. Ciaran Norris recently wrote a thorough piece on how the Guardian has failed to grasp the whole concept of SEO and has denounced SEO as a scam. At the same time they’ve faced the Google monopoly and the ramifications that has had, and have lost their lead to The Telegraph.

Let’s take a closer look at the SEO situation. Once we do we’ll discover just what the Guardian’s problem with Search Engine Optimisation is: According to an article published on their own website the Guardian is not the leading UK online newspaper anymore. Hard technical work, SEO and an increase in editorial content by almost half (50%) has helped The Telegraph outpace them.

No matter what the Guardian may claim, the SEO industry knows content is still king. Combine content with SEO and that pairing alone can make all the difference. Small wonder that the Telegraph managed to increase its site traffic by 153.4%.

For those willing to look at this change, it’s obvious that some people high up in the publishing hierarchy at The Guardian are still stuck in the past. Not only do they have a superficial expertise if any expertise at all in online publishing. But most are quick to blame a whole industry for their own failure.

Folks at the Guardian better face reality and hire a solid SEO company if they want to stay afloat. Newstands aren’t the only place people buy newspapers any more. Newspapers have been found via Google and read online for years now and if the Guardian is too slow to adapt they must face the consequences.

The Guardian has only itself to blame and should stop badmouthing the SEO industry. If the Guardian doesn’t understand the new media envirorment it’s not the industry’s fault but their own.

Most other established UK newspapers, with the exception of the Guardian, seem to have grasped the concept of SEO. A Times article predicts a huge SEO boom in the near future. Even though the Independent has covered SEO only in a single a paragraph last year, the article was a sound one.

Ciaran correctly notes that Indeed The Guardian itself published a primer on SEO and it was not only about scams. So perhaps it’s not The Guardian as whole but just an incompetent individual at The Guardian who has an SEO problem.

What a strange coincidence though that the publication of the outstanding SEO results of The Telegraph is followed by the Guardian’s denouncement of SEO scams a few days later.