Creative SEO vs. Copycat SEO

Today I was doing a little research on the competing sites to one of my cash cows. I usually do these check ups to see if any competitor has begun utilizing any new SEO tactics and to make sure I’m still ahead in the game. This time I made a discovery that lead my thoughts to Creative SEO versus Copycat SEO.

When I was doing the research I discovered one thing that several competitors had implemented. What they had done was to take one of my somewhat creative keyword stuffing techniques into use - so they’re obviously watching the competitors too. It was a bit annoying to see them copying my techniques, yet also very flattering.

As you might have figured out by now, I consider copying a competitor’s SEO techniques as “Copycat SEO”, and coming up with new SEO techniques as “Creative SEO”. I’ve got absolutely nothing against copycat SEO - I use it myself to the fullest extend possible. But copycat SEO is simply not enough to become number 1.

The problem with copycat SEO is that you’ll never become more than just as good. There’s no way you can beat the competition by doing only what they do. Well, unless the competition becomes “too creative” for a search engine’s liking.

In the above case with my competitors taking my techniques into use, I’m not at all worried. Because my site is still ahead on many different fronts, so I find it unlikely that they’re able to take a shot at my search traffic in the near future. I’ve spend a lot of time to come up with creative on-page SEO techniques as well as creative ways to build links - some of which are so exclusive that they can’t be copied because they’re kind of first come, first served.

The morale is, that if you want to be number 1, then you need to do more than copycat SEO - you need to do creative SEO. That’s the only way you can become truly number 1 in your niche, and the only way you can put yourself in a position where you can feel really safe about your competitiveness.