Let me give this analogy a try; It takes 100 pennies to make a dollar. If you are happy and content with having just 90 cents, then that’s okay, but if you demand the full dollar, you can’t ignore a few pennies just because they are not perfectly shiny, they must be included.

The same goes for SEO. There are many bits and pieces that allow a site to be well optimized. Many are fundamental and easily implemented, such as proper tags, while others are more trivial and easily ignored such as page load time, but it’s these trivial things that really add up to make the difference.

SEO consists of a vast number of items. Not all items apply to all sites. Some websites can rank very well without implementing every little thing, while others, especially those in highly competitive markets, can not usually afford to skip any of these steps – yet many do, and as a result their rankings suffer.

I have heard variations of this story from virtually all SEO’s I have ever spoken with, and read it in many articles; The SEO gives a client recommendations. The client implements some, but not all of them. Then the client complains that rankings are not as high as they would like. It’s a very common scenario.

If you find yourself with a list of points recommended by your SEO, implement all of them no matter how big or small. If for some reason a few items simply can’t be put into place, sure you can go ahead and put them to the side but remember that this may reduce the effectiveness of the work.

Sometimes things may seem too trivial but when your SEO gives you a recommendation be sure to follow it if you want the best results – the pennies really add up.