“Keeping Up With the Joneses” Is 90% of SEO – Moz
Skip to content
Moz logo
Menu open
Menu close
Search
Products
Moz Pro
Moz Pro Home
Moz Local
Moz Local Home
STAT
Mozscape API
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Link Explorer
Keyword Explorer
Domain Analysis
MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
SEO Learning Center
Moz Academy
SEO Q&A
Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
Blog
Why Moz
Agency Solutions
Enterprise Solutions
Small Business Solutions
Case Studies
The Moz Story
New Releases
Log in
Log out
Products
Moz Pro
Your All-In-One Suite of SEO Tools
The essential SEO toolset: keyword research, link building, site audits, page optimization, rank tracking, reporting, and more.
Learn more
Try Moz Pro free
Moz Local
Complete Local SEO Management
Raise your local SEO visibility with easy directory distribution, review management, listing updates, and more.
Learn more
Check my presence
STAT
Enterprise Rank Tracking
SERP tracking and analytics for SEO experts, STAT helps you stay competitive and agile with fresh insights.
Learn more
Book a demo
Mozscape API
The Power of Moz Data via API
Power your SEO with the proven, most accurate link metrics in the industry, powered by our index of trillions of links.
Learn more
Get connected
Compare SEO Products
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Competitive Intelligence to Fuel Your SEO Strategy
Gain intel on your top SERP competitors, keyword gaps, and content opportunities.
Find competitors
Link Explorer
Powerful Backlink Data for SEO
Explore our index of over 40 trillion links to find backlinks, anchor text, Domain Authority, spam score, and more.
Get link data
Keyword Explorer
The One Keyword Research Tool for SEO Success
Discover the best traffic-driving keywords for your site from our index of over 500 million real keywords.
Search keywords
Domain Analysis
Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool
Get top competitive SEO metrics like Domain Authority, top pages, ranking keywords, and more.
Analyze domain
MozBar
Free, Instant SEO Metrics As You Surf
Using Google Chrome, see top SEO metrics instantly for any website or search result as you browse the web.
Try MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.
Read the Beginner’s Guide
How-To Guides
Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.
See All SEO Guides
SEO Learning Center
Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.
Visit the Learning Center
Moz Academy
Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.
Explore the Catalog
On-Demand Webinars
Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.
View All Webinars
SEO Q&A
Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.
Find SEO Answers
August 7-9, 2023
Lock in Super Early Bird savings for MozCon
Snag tickets
Blog
Why Moz
Small Business Solutions
Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.
Grow Your Business
The Moz Story
Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.
Read Our Story
Agency Solutions
Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.
Drive Client Success
Case Studies
Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.
See What’s Possible
Enterprise Solutions
Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.
Scale Your SEO
New Releases
Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.
See What’s New
New Feature: Moz Pro
Surface actionable competitive intel
Learn More
Log in
Moz Pro
Moz Local
Moz Local Dashboard
Mozscape API
Mozscape API Dashboard
Moz Academy
Avatar
Moz Home
Notifications
Account & Billing
Manage Users
Community Profile
My Q&A
My Videos
Log Out
B
By: Byrne Hobart
October 19, 2009
“Keeping Up With the Joneses” Is 90% of SEO
Online Advertising
This YouMoz entry was submitted by one of our community members. The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding an unlikely case of hypnosis) and may not reflect the views of Moz.
I’ve seen a few articles recently, on YOUmoz and elsewhere, extolling the benefits of originality in SEO. And I think it’s time to set the record straight: in the vast majority of cases, if you are doing something none of your competitors are doing, you are wasting your time and your client’s money.
The Case Against Originality
SEO is going corporate. Big companies are doing it in-house instead of hiring a consultant; consultants are scaling up, hiring people, and growing into companies in their own right. Meanwhile, the search engines have more or less made their peace with SEOs: there’s a lot that’s prohibited, and everything else might as well be mandatory.
Don’t buy links.
Do use descriptive title tags.
Don’t hide links.
Do structure your site so good content is always a few clicks away.
Etc.
If you come up with a novel strategy, it’s probably going to find its way into the dos. Or the don’ts. And using a new strategy means betting your results and your reputation on the outcome. There’s no particularly easy way to predict what they will decide—there’s no reason ten consecutive “Please link to my site” emails should be morally superior to “link to my site and disclose it to your visitors, and I’ll give you a dollar.” And yet if you do the latter, and get caught, you’re in trouble.
Your strategy might not end up in the dos or the don’ts. It might end up in the “what?!”s, instead. Search engines may not care to endorse or ban your strategy because it doesn’t have any visible effect.
It’s tempting to point to other technology innovator as proof that innovation can be rewarding. But bast amounts of wealth in technology are made with technology products, not services (Ross Perot, one of the few technology service providers to get really rich, also happened to treat employees like gears in a factory—basically a roundabout way of turning a service into a mass-produced product.)
The Case for Unoriginality
Want to know what works in SEO? Just look at the people who outrank you! You’ll mimic many of their results if you can build a structure similar to theirs and get the same bloggers and directories to link to you (“I saw your link to Smith’s Guide to Skinning a cat. Surely your readers know there’s more than one way to skin a cat. You should have them check out Jones’s Guide, too!”).
If you do this by rote, you’ll be #2 at best. So don’t. Find the niches they don’t target, and get the same links they do get. Your site will outrank them for the terms they don’t quite target, which can often convert at a higher rate than broad terms. If one company sells “shirts” and you sell “souvenier t-shirts,” you can mimic their success—for a term that leads far more searchers to make a purchase.
Go ahead. A well-blazes trail is an easy one to follow.
And once you’ve saved yourself the trouble of chasing wild geese and dead ends, you’ll have plenty of time to so the other 10% of SEO: coming up with the unique content and unmatchable links that will put you over the top.
The Exceptions
If you’re going after a competitive term, you can’t afford to do what everyone else is doing. But targeting a hyper-competitive term isn’t just business: it’s PR, bragging rights, and general obstinance. The competition to own the term [car insurance quotes] must be brutal. It’s easier to get a dozen iterations on, say, [car insurance price honor student discount].
If you really, really have to get a tough term, you can experiment. In fact, you have to. You have to get the links your competitors can’t get—and you have to keep doing it, because they’re doing the same thing to you.
The SEO market is not saturated. Many SEO professionals know the industry’s standards and best practices. While most of us would love to come up with the next big linkbaiting technique or gray-hat trick, the fact remains: most of the time, when you’re doing SEO, pioneering doesn’t pay.
About Byrne Hobart —
I write stuff that sells stuff.
With Moz Pro, you have the tools you need to get SEO right — all in one place.
Start your free trial!
Read Next
The New Best Practices for Native Advertising on Editorial Sites
Read this post
Programmatic Delivery: The Future of Content Marketing and Promotion?
Read this post
Context is King: A Million Examples of Creative Ad Campaigns Getting it Right
Read this post
Comments
Please keep your comments TAGFEE by following the community etiquette
Comments are closed. Got a burning question? Head to our Q&A section to start a new conversation.
Moz logo
Contact
Community
Free Trial
Terms & Privacy
Jobs
Help
News & Press
Copyright 2022 © Moz, Inc. All rights reserved.