I just read a great post over on SEOMoz: Yup, SEO Can Be A Competitive Advantage. In the post they talk about why SEO truly is a competitive advantage. I particular like the points for why great SEO is a competitive advantage.
This is my argument for why the level of truly great SEO I described above, belongs on the list of unfair competitive advantages.
1. It’s massively hard to duplicate
2. It’s prohibitively expensive to buy (and just buying the link influence signals violates guidelines)
3. It requires tremendous creativity paired with exceptional execution and a time-bounded network effect (all of the sites I mentioned have dramatically increased their lead over time and continue to do so) –randfish
Many people think because it is something they “can do on their own” that there is not much value in SEO. They think they can do it for free. But even if you have someone internally that has the knowledge to do this for your business, it costs time and their salary. The fact is most companies don’t have the knowledge to do SEO well and they don’t have the time, because they are busy running their business. I agree with randfish, good SEO is a huge competitive advantage because it brings in more leads, exposure, brand recognition, etc..
But do YOU have the time??
