This page contains a lot of technical text and is not a light read. However, as a website owner I think it is important to know some facts about SEO before spending a lot of time, energy and money. Read it once, get the jist of what your up against and then make quality decisions. People go to university and get paid very well performing SEO tasks and it is a very compicated subject but knowing the basics is always a good thing.
Business Owner: "I'm going to pay for some SEO and quickly place on page 1 of a Google search!"
Reality: "No you won't."
Before I write a big long article about SEO I'd like to say something your not going to like, Unless your business is a super niche market, no matter how much time or money you spend on SEO, most likely you will NEVER reach page 1 of a Google Search (maybe not even page 2, 3, 4...).
Many of you might be thinking, "he doesn't know what he's talking about" Actually, It's just the opposite. I am a professional (view my portfolio) so I know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm just one of those "real", give it to you strait, non-salesman type, non-BS type internet engineers and I know that facts.
On the other hand there is a huge business sector of "SEO professionals" and "SEO specialists" that have huge websites, write detailed and intricate articles and put a massive "spin" on the whole SEO industry so they can influence you to think they give value and charge lots of money! Ok... ok... that was a bit of a rant... some SEO professionals actually DO give value but in general, SEO companies generally sell the "perception" of value rather than the actual real value you are likely to receive.
Except for a few of the top most Search Engine specific engineers, Nobody knows the formulas (algorithms) or "ways" that search engines decide to rank websites, NOBODY. Ranking Algorithms are the Core Business of Seach Engine companies and a highly kept secret. All SEO professionals make educated guesses at what makes a page "rank" high but the reality is, nobody really knows the "exact" formula that makes a page rank high. Below is two tables showing key factors in how websites can organically rank high and issues that cause websites to drop down in the Search Engine Rankings.
Things that rank your website higher
See below the table for a more detailed explaination for each of these terms.
| Namesake | High |
| Authority | High |
| Metatag Title and Description | High |
| Genre Competition | High |
| High Quality & Original Content | High |
| Amount of Content | High |
| Backlinks | High |
| Website Loading Speed | High |
| Website layout, is "Responsive" | Medium |
| Website, Domain Name Status & Age | Medium |
| Is Website Secure (SSL) | Medium |
| URL relevant to page | Low |
| Domain Name relevant to website content | Low |
Namesake - If your company is "Ford Motor Company" or "Wells Fargo", your Ford.com or WellsFargo.com website is going to rank #1. I'm pretty sure Search Engine companies manually over-ride their algorithms to make sure a large corporation's website ranks at the top. Unfortunately for most us small guys this is usually not the case and we have to adhere to normal SEO Ranking factors.
Authority - If your website's whole purpose is to talk about skiing and every page is dedicated to skiing, it will have "Authority". If your website talks about skiing, cooking and Global Warming your website will be a mix-mash of topics and not hold authority. Focusing on one main topic is key to ranking with those specific keywords.
Genre Competition - If your website is about cars, there are a bajillion websites about cars including huge conglomerate corporations that spend tens of millions of dollars a year on marketing... do you think you have a chance to rank on page 1? or even... page 100? On the other hand if your website is about Yokai in Japan (Japanese folklore ghosts and creatures), there is little competition in the genre and it's quite possible for your to rank well.
Metatag Title and Description - "Metatag" is a web development world term which declares certain things about a webpage. Normal visitors don't see these Metatags but they are placed in the code on the page to tell Search Engines about the page. The Metatag Title and Description tells Search Engines exactly that, the title and description of the page. Getting these Metatags perfectly right to match with the content on the page and your taget keywords is a huge factor in ranking your website.
High Quality & Original Content - Pretty mush as the title suggests, your website needs high quality and original content for great Search Engine Optimization.
Amount of Content - Although High Quality & Original Content is great, the more you have of it, the higher your site will rank in Search Engines.
Backlinks - This is when another website links to your website. The more quality websites that link to your websites, the more "Authority" your website will gain. Creating a bunch of backlinks is a quick trick many SEO companies will try in order to try an quickly rank a website. However, usually these backlinks are coming from low quality/farmed websites and can also potentially harm your website.
Website Loading Speed - The faster your site loads the more users will stay on your website and the higher Search Engines will rank your site. Large images, all kinds of fancy (and heavy) scripts for eye candy, heavy CMS (Content Management Systems) can all make your website run... slow....
Website layout, is "Responsive" - "Responsive" means the website "responds" to the size of a users screen and automatically adjusts and moves around to fit the devices screen size. The best way to see if your website is responsive is to view it on a normal desktop PC with a browser. Click the "Restore Down" icon (top right of browser) so the browser becomes a window (not full screen). Now, drag the side of the window left and right to adjust the widows width... your website should scale, adjust and move around to fit the window without a horizontal scroll bar appearing.
Website, Domain Name Status & Age - Older websites, websites that have stuck to a specific topic and have continued to focus on that topic for years will rank high. It's very difficult to jump into a genre when one or more other websites have already been doing it for years and have tons of content.
Is Website Secure (SSL) - This means your website encryptes data that moves between your webiste visitors and your server protecting your users from possible prying eyes. Sometimes servers will add this service for free, somtimes you have to pay extra and sometimes you have to pay more for a higher level of security depending on the type of website your have.
URL relevant to page - Look at the URL of this page, notice how it says, "realities-seo" and this page's actual title and subject matter relate? If you visit some websites you might notice really strange URLs for pages like /page-323?a=34223 or something. If the URL actually relates to the pages content, this can help SEO.
Domain Name relevant to website content - Not a huge factor but if your Domain Name is "Ford" and your website is about Ford Cars, it will have a positive impact.
Things that will make your website rank lower
See below the table for a more detailed explaination for each of these terms.
| Very little Content | High |
| Duplicate Content | High |
| Generic, crappy content | High |
| Stagnant Website | Medium |
| Slow Website | Medium |
| Unsecure Website (no SSL) | Low |
Very little Content - Just as the title says, if you have 1 page with a few sentences of text on there... it's pretty much worthless. Generally a page should have a minimum of 500 words and well ranking pages tend to be around 1200-1500 words. However, even if you have 1 quality page, of course sites with lots pages will rank highest (see "Amount of Content" above).
Duplicate Content - Yes, search engines can and will find duplicate content. Duplicate content can bring both website's ranking down or just the website which did the copying ... or, unfortunately maybe the original website! This is a huge problem these days as scammers will scrape websites for content and built a whole new website with the original websites content. Sometimes Search Engine companies will correctly determine which site is the original creator and sometimes they get it wrong... major issue.
Generic, crappy content - Once again, usually scammer type websites use this type of content. There are actually automatic "Content Creator" type software which will scrape/steal other peoples text, slighly alter it and then spit it back out onto the scammers page as content.
Stagnant Website - If you have a high quality website with lots of good content it usually will remain in a good position until... a competitor who constantly updates their website with new and interesting content comes along. Search Engines love new content, new content is what keeps people coming back so Search Engines want you to keep coming back to them!
Slow Website - How long do you like to look at a white screen before a website loads... 3 seconds? 4 seconds?
Unsecure Website (no SSL) - If your website is unsecure, it will show this in the browser. Look to the left of the address bar, there will be a little lock or shield icon. You can click it and it will tell you about the security of the website. Unsecure sites will get a negative "ding" in Search Engine placement.
What about the website's design/style?
You will note that one huge factor is missing from the positive or negative lists above, that being a Website's Design (look/style). The look of a website has zero influence on how it will rank (except for Responsiveness, see above). The look of a website only impresses a visitor and or makes the website easy to use, it has no influence on how a website will rank. Look at some of the largest websites in the world... Facebook, Yahoo, Reddit... all pretty simple blocky type layouts. These websites focus on simplicity and constant new content. Wesite design, whether it be targeted to Japanese in Tokyo or Coloradans in Colorado Springs, is usually the first thing website owners think about but in actuality the simplicity, speed and content are the key factors that make a website successful.
In my depressing statement above I said, "most likely you will NEVER reach page 1"... the key phrase being "most likely". This does not mean it is impossible to rank well or even get on "page 1" but SEO is not "magic", it's HARD! You can't just throw a little money at it and expect to get to "rank" overnight. SEO takes time, a solid strategy, effort AND A BUDGET to get the best results.
"Why is it so hard to get the #1 spot or even get on page one?"
This is a question my clients ask me all the time. This "reason" highly depends on the industry your business is in but lets assume, for example, your a new restaurant in town... a Sushi joint. Of course you need a website so you purchase a Domain Name and hire a developer to put up a website. It's a decent website, 5+ pages or so with the typical links. "GREAT! I'm online! Now when people search Google they'll find my website!" ... not. Your website probably won't even show up in the search results for weeks or even months and when it does your site will be on page 20. "why... Why... WHY!" you scream at your developer. Here is what I'm going to tell you,
"Your Website" - and reasons why your site specifically is the problem in not ranking higher:
- You just purchased your Domain Name, it is brand new. How many other Sushi joints and restaurants in town bought a domain name and put up a website years ago... if not even decades ago?
- Is the "content", text, pictures and video on your website good? insightful? interesting? pretty pictures?
- Do you have a lot of pages or just a few? Do you continue to add new content once in a while?
- Do you use Social Sites to market your website? Do you post on Social Sites to point people back to your website?
"Outside Influences" - of why your site isn't ranking higher:
- Depending on the industry, the first 3 or 4 listings in a search may be "Paid For" advertising. This leaves... only about 5 to 10 spaces for "Organic Ranking" websites (websites that rank "naturally" without paying) on the "first page".
- Your not only competing with "local" restaurants (and similar industries), you are competing with the likes of Yelp and Tripadvisor... HUGE websites that have millions of pages AND important "reviews" from real people.
- There are already many... if not tens, if not hundreds, if not thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of restaurant websites on the web. Many have been around for years and even decades. These sites have "status" with search engines and your site is just a green snot, sniveling child.
- Next down the list of competitors are "Directory" sites or "Review" sites that list all the restaurants in town with reviews. Maybe somehow even websites in other cities or "National" chain websites that have a high "status" with search engines dot the listings.
- Finally... we have "real", business websites all competing for the same spot.
Go ahead and give it a try in Google: Search "
Thinking realistically about SEO
- SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time. It will take a long while for your website to start ranking. If you have a new website and you need/want clients to visit your website "NOW!", a new SEO strategy is not going to instantly start ranking your site/pages high. SEO may pay off over the long run... but it will take time!
- SEO is an ongoing process. Search Engine Optimization is a process that takes attention over time. Competitors create their own new sites, old sites continue to update and optimize, search engines constantly update and change their ranking algorithms... moving up in rank takes a long time maintaining your position is an ongoing process.
- Don't believe the hype. "We'll get you on page 1 in a week!" ... yeah, right. Some SEO services are not trustworthy at all and others are even down right dubious. If you have read this article you are probably getting the jist of just how difficult SEO is.
SEO In Conclusion
SEO is not a "Magic Bullet" that will shoot your website to the top of search rankings. Approach SEO with a firm grasp on reality. With a solid and realistic plan, it is possible to get great results that drives traffic to your site and enables your site to get found in search engines. With time and effort, it is even possible to "Get on page 1".
