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You’ve companies selling cheap backlinks or SEO analytics of different flavors. Your mind probably wanders to the possibilities of paying a single fee and arriving at the top of Google.
Sorry to burst your bubble; SEO takes dedicated hours of work that never ends. SEO is fluid. The moment you stop marketing, your competitors work to take your ranking positions.
But, when we talk about SEO, what are we actually talking about?
Most people do not know what Search Engine Optimization really is.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of indicating to Google’s algorithm that your website or content answers a question the searcher is asking. SEO can be divided up into two broad categories, on-page and off-page.
But you need to understand search before you can understand SEO. If someone makes a single search for product X, then they are going to get the top results from the local datacenter. This information is stored on their computer. If they continue to search, the data on the computer, and the evolving search parameters, then the top ranking positions change.
Desktop Search
Google divides websites into Desktop and mobile search. You can rank at the top for one, and not even rank for the other.
Mobile Search
If you want to rank on mobile search your website needs to load fast. It also needs to be optimized for keywords, but it also needs to ‘work’ on a cell phone.
Structure –
SEO starts in the code. That is why the free sites don’t rank. By the time the software is built to run them, the code is out of date.
That is also why you see many wordpress sites – WP is always updated.
Loading Time
How fast do your website’s images load? Is there any lag? Do people have to wait? Google takes user experience into account when ranking websites. You may love the idea of that pop up, or the flashing animations – but if an expert doesn’t design your website then those ‘bells and whistles’ may keep you fron ranking.
On-page or on-site SEO focuses on fully building out a mobile-first website that caters to the metadata, structured topics, quality content, and user-friendliness demanded by the Google algorithm.
Off-page SEO focuses on how the rest of the Internet views your website. What is your website’s relationship with the rest of the internet?
Are you linked to spammy sites, out of home made servers in third world countries? Or, do you link to websites with High Domain Authority, and lots of traffic?
Who Decides what SEO is Necessary?
If you search for SEO tools, you will discover a litany of companies willing to sell you their 5-step method of conquering the top spot on the Google results page. However, to put it plainly, that is a complete lie. No one can sell you an instant SEO fix for life. Further, no one can guarantee that the SEO rules to follow today will be the rules you will need tomorrow. Why?
Google is by far the most prominent digital aggregator of websites and content. If you are even dreaming of increasing your organic traffic (website traffic via search results), you need to consider how Google describes your role as the web administrator.
Google wrote the book and the rules on SEO because it owns the market share and can dictate how the Internet should be organized. But Google won’t share the black box that is their algorithm. So instead, we all must make informed but blind decisions on proper SEO.
Because there is no definitive dungeon master’s guide to SEO, a cottage industry has developed selling snake oil guaranteed to fix all your Search engine optimization woes and instantly make Google fall in love with you. Don’t be fooled
Why does SEO change?
SEO changes as Google updates its algorithm. SEO changes because technology changes. Drag and drop website creation revolutionized the web development market. It made it easier for the individual to custom build websites with little to no coding skill. The drag and drop tech also made it easier to organize your digital data into categories and explained structures.
As the technological standards change, so do the search engine algorithms. Your current SEO standards will need to be reviewed and updated, both on and off-page, for the life of the website. What worked before may not be relevant today.
What is the difference between good and bad SEO?
Google wants to empower those that naturally develop authoritative content. Further, Google wants to promote websites that their niche sees as relevant, informative, and user friendly. So, when you think of quality SEO, you need to think of what would be considered natural growth and natural web development.
Google also understands that if the person searching doesn’t find what they want, in a minimum number of searches, then they may loose the monopoly. Good SEO starts by looking at what people want – not what the website owner wants. Good SEO looks at what people are searching, trends, etc. Not, putting meta data on a website.
A website or social media account that grows organically will develop backlinks slowly. Those backlinks will come from other quality sites, and the content will all be relevant to a central theme. The internal structure of the website will feel natural and flow. The data will be easily presented and evolve over time. For example, a blog will add articles regularly and not all at once.
A website or social media account that grows organically will develop backlinks slowly. Those backlinks will come from other quality sites, and the content will all be relevant to a central theme. The internal structure of the website will feel natural and flow. The data will be easily presented and evolve over time. For example, a blog will add articles regularly and not all at once.
A website or social media account with quality off-page SEO won’t grow rapidly or unnaturally with backlinks to poor content, trash pages, or indexing sites known to spam. Likewise, a website with quality on-page SEO won’t feel forced or packed with keywords.
The main difference between good and bad SEO is the commitment shown to improve. Google will constantly be changing the rules. That is a given. However, if you continue to work at your SEO and commit to your site’s needs, you won’t be sandboxed back on page two. And if you make it to page one, keep working if you want to retain that crown.
Why SEO Doesn’t Work?
The simple answer is because you are only having one fraction of the work done, or you have been ‘sold’ on a system that ‘sounds good’ and were led through a sales funnel. SEO DOES work, when it is done right.
Have you noticed that, unlike other marketing companies, we are testing our website and showing you our results. If your SEO company cannot perform, how can they help you perform?
