SEO is one of the popular online marketing strategies important for both small as well as large businesses. The goal of Search engine optimization is to make the website user interface, functionality, user experience, and content helpful for people.
Google, Bing, Yandex, and Duckduckgo are popular search engines (applications/websites) that people use to find data, information, knowledge, services, and products on the internet.
These search engine websites (companies) use certain rules and principles to showcase relevant results (sources, websites) for the people.
The websites or results you see on the search engine are based on the search terms or keywords or queries of users (people).
Search queries or terms or keywords are the phrases or words that you type or speak to the search engine.
If you say holiday images or best CRM software or online SEO course then you will get the results. Now the websites or sources that you see in the search engine are ranked based on various factors (rules and principles set by search engines).
And these rules and principles are not in the public. But google and Bing have guidelines and tools for website owners and webmasters that following them you can also rank your website on the top 10 search results.
Now the whole website SEO process is based on those rules, principles, and guides set by these companies.
The importance of having rules and principles for everyone to rank their website/content on search engines:
- For the trust of people:
People trust search engine websites and their results. If they find a good source or genuine and quality information or solution then it will make a positive impact on their life. But if they visited less relevant or bad sources then the impact will be negative. It’s because in the 1st experience with search queries, people do not know what is right or wrong.
That’s why search engines only display those websites in search results that are relevant to their users.
- For the ethics of business:
Traffic from search engines to websites is free. You do not have to pay for ads. Anyone can get traffic (people) to their business and personal website from Google, Bing, Duckduckgo, and many others. Getting traffic organically to a website means getting customers to a business or shop.
And because of that, the competition for ranking on a search engine is the biggest competition in digital or internet marketing. Almost everyone website owner or content creator wants to get into the top five or number one.
And there are billions of internet users. So, you can imagine the competition for a specific keyword. For one keyword there are thousands of results and 10+ pages. And one specific keyword is searched by hundreds, thousands, and millions of people around the world.
That’s why businesses that are ranking in the top 5 search results have more chances to increase sales, leads, and revenue.
And due to this competition, many try or use SEO tricks or black hat SEO to cheat the system to get their website, and content in the top 10 search results.
Some of them are successful until the search engine does not find the tricks. The day search engine algorithm (websites, (bots)) punish those websites by ranking them lower or sending zero traffic to them.
And that’s why google search engine and many other updates their search algorithm (code, rules, and principles) more often. And many times, inform about its update publicly.
Here you can read about the latest Google Helpful Content update for creators.
Now I hope you understand the impact of having rules and search engine updates. Now let’s talk about the rules, principles, and guides that you can follow.
If you want to rank your website on Google or want to increase or get more traffic then you can just follow and read Google Search Central Blog more often. Especially this is very important for beginners and new business websites, new bloggers, and eCommerce website owners.
So, to make it easy for you, let’s understand the search engine rules/principles and guidelines from my point of view. If you focus on these two rules/principles then you will be able to get more traffic to your business website. And not a single search engine update will impact your traffic.
What to do?
- Whatever you write, create, and publish on your website should be focused on helping people and making a positive impact on their life and business.
- Your website must load faster than your competitors.
- Your website content should be different, unique, and relevant.
- Your goal should be to use optimization techniques and SEO software to improve the user experience.
As a beginner or business owner if you do not know much about how to create unique, helpful content and how to deliver that faster then it is something that you can learn and observe.
What not to do?
- Do not copy anyone’s content or SEO strategies.
- If you can’t create unique and useful information on the specific keywords do not create that in rush. Research and learn. It might take time but it will work and help you to get more traffic.
- Do not use too many SEO tools. Use any one or two. Instead, focus on the content and audience.
- Do not focus on the backlinks. You will get them automatically.
- Do not copy video content to write articles and do not copy the blog post to create videos.
- Do not implement any SEO advice without researching and finding the logic.
- Do not do anything for traffic and conversion that is not focused on people first. If something is helpful for people, do that without thinking about SEO.
Please read the below posts for more details:
28 On-Page SEO techniques that increase website traffic
11 basic steps to perform a website technical SEO audit
Every technique and strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you follow the rules of the game, you will have more chances to win. This is the same in SEO.
Whether you want to use SEO as the main marketing strategy or want to become an SEO expert or want to start an SEO agency or want to use SEO tools if you follow the search engine rules and guidelines then you will have more chances to get more traffic. Else you might struggle for a long time until you understand what matters or what does not!
And this brings us to the pros and cons of SEO.
Pros of Search Engine Optimization:
- If you optimize your website effectively your content will reach millions of people without advertising. Learn more: How does SEO help to grow your business?
- SEO is a long-term marketing strategy. You might not get results immediately. But once your website, pages, and posts get ranked or analyze by search engine bots then you will keep getting traffic from search engine till the competition do not outrank you.
- SEO is not an option. But it is mandatory to make your content and website the best. This includes technical SEO as well as on-page SEO.
- Starting an SEO services agency is a challenging but profitable business. You do not need too many clients to make your SEO business successful. For SEO freelancers or beginners, 2 to 3 clients are enough.
- Any small business owner can learn technical and on-page SEO techniques. And day by day they can grow their business just through SEO strategy. There are good sources to learn SEO.
- SEO is the best marketing strategy to make your website popular if you do not have the advertising budget.
Cons of Search Engine Optimization:
- SEO is also a user experience. But can’t generate more leads in QuickTime or within 30 days. It takes time but also depends on your SEO strategy. The best method to generate leads in a quick time you must use SEM or PPC advertising.
- Search engines get updated more often. If you forget to follow the rules/principles (people first optimization) then you may lose traffic.
- I haven’t found any Custom SEO tools on the web. Most of the popular SEO tools are common and used by others as well. What they show to you also shows to your competitors. Now your marketing strategy, backlinks, keywords, and traffic sources are easily trackable. So even if you rank higher, sooner your competitors will outrank you by using the same tools.
- There are so many pieces of advice and gurus about SEO and website traffic. Because Search engine optimization is very competitive and everyone wants traffic or readers or customers. And due to that SEO beginners get so much 2ndhand advice, courses, and tools and become confused. And then it takes years for them to understand what is SEO.
That’s why it’s important to read and follow Google and Bing search engine guidelines before you follow any other advice. Below sources are the best sources to learn to get more traffic from google and Bing:
- You can’t depend on only SEO-based content for traffic. You also have to try social media marketing, email marketing, community building, educational campaigns, video marketing, and many other strategies along with SEO.
So, what is the conclusion?
The conclusion is that use Technical SEO and ON-Page SEO only to improve the user experience such as the right keyword selection, speed, content formatting, alt tags, and link structure. The goal is not to impress but make a positive impact on the life of users.