Being able to employ someone well-versed in SEO can seriously benefit your business. Although the industry is sometimes regarded as black-hat, having someone who knows what they are doing has never been more necessary for your online presence. If you are looking to increase your online visibility, speak to an online SEO-focused agency or a freelancer who will be able to talk you through the process.
Let’s debunk some SEO myths.
- SEO is not black-hat if done properly
- Backlinks do work
- Authority matters
- You don’t see immediate results
SEO done correctly is all above aboard
SEO is not a dark art – it just takes someone who is well-skilled to do it. Unfortunately, businesses and agencies will use dirty tactics and give a bad name to the rest of the industry. If you find well-respected SEO agencies who specialize in backlinking and content writing, however, you will find that your online traffic will shoot for the stars.
You need to ensure that ‘your SEO guy’ is not finding directories and PBNs (Portable Backlink Networks) to link to your site. These are very spammy in the eyes of Google. The number of backlinks and referring domains may shoot up, but if the person you are using is not transparent with their work, it can cause issues for your site. It is very suspect if all they will share with you are rankings, as these can shoot up quickly but fall just as fast. Use a trusted agency or professional to do your SEO work.
Backlinks do work
Backlinks do work if selected and appropriately vetted. In the eyes of Google, all websites would be sharing links to other sites organically. However, too many people spotted this as an opportunity to earn some quick cash. Web admins learned that other web admins were desperate to acquire some backlinks and that they would pay handsomely for this service as it would benefit their site.
Google did try and step in and say that any link that has been paid for should be declared as sponsored. This is to clamp down on black-hat SEO techniques. There is nothing wrong with linking out to someone’s site if you genuinely feel like it would be a positive for the reader. Linking to resources and non-promotional websites is a great way to build your domain authority. Hire a content writer to write great content, and people will automatically link to your resource. Great content gets found by excellent links.
If you have a good number of backlinks and domains directing people to your site (a good volume depends on the niche and competitors), you will see an increase in your organic rankings. Caveat – ensure your site has excellent and engaging content on it! We realize this is a subjective matter, but you get the gist.
Authority does matter
While content is king, page, and domain authority matter when it comes to SEO, you can write the best content the world has ever seen, but it is rendered useless if no one (including search engines) can see it. That’s why domain authority matters. If you have high authority sites linking back to your content, it reflects kindly on your site in the eyes of search engines.
Tools like MOZ are a great way to assess whether your backlinks are good or bad and link to your content. While you want your authority score to be high, you want your spam score low. Some sites may have a high SPAM score affiliated with their domain. Over time, this could cause your authority to be lowered. You can disavow toxic (high spam) and low authority links through Google’s search console if you catch them early.
You don’t see immediate results.
If SEO work is done correctly, you will see results. Many professionals and specialist agencies will advise that it can take up to three months for the work to begin to bear fruit. However, there might be some quick wins straight away in terms of your keywords and traffic. SEO software tools can help you to understand keyword difficulty. You can see some quick wins by targeting low keyword competition and difficulty. Over time, you can expect your analytics to increase, especially after three months.
However, a good piece of content indexed quickly and picked up by a high authority site could see a jump in your rankings. So naturally, it might take a little longer for a site to pick up your content, so the three-month timeframe is given. SEO would work straight away if it were down to web admins, but unfortunately, algorithms are constantly changing.
In conclusion, SEO is constantly changing.
Search engines, most notably Google, are constantly changing their algorithms. There is such a vast space regarding SEO that we have not even touched 1% of what it involves. There is so much you can do to optimize your site. You need to be updating your techniques also constantly. You cannot just sit there and say, ‘I’ve completed it. As soon as you get to Number 1, someone will want to knock you off. Invest your money and time wisely in SEO, and you should see the results.
Most importantly, check out the background of SEO agencies. Look at their reviews and understand more about what they are promising. Most should be transparent about the reporting process. If they are open about how they work, they could put you on a very good pathway!
