Here’s 8 things SEO is not and a quick breakdown of each point:
This is a recurring trend, and it’s “cool” to say that SEO is dead. Well, it’s not. It’s very much alive, and, as someone said, it’s like Google Ads, but free. I would not say free, I would say effective.
If you do proper SEO and you do it well, you’ll see the results for months and months.
If you do Google Ads or Facebook ads or Instagram ads or Twitter ads, you run out of money, your website goes back down the deep internet hole where it crawled out of.
If in doubt, see the first point:
SEO is a slow process and it takes time.
Sometimes SEO takes one month, sometimes it takes one year. Usually, the first results are visible within a 3-6 month interval.
If we’re talking about search engines, there’s also Bing. There are also the national/localised ones, such as Yandex or Baidu, or whatever search engine matters in your country.
There are also the social networks. Lots of users search for references, reviews, or support on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. Having a strong presence on any of these networks is good for brand awareness.
Well, it is, though, isn’t it? We snap our fingers and your website goes on the first page of Google, right? After 3–6 months, right? And you understand that it can take up to one year? Sometimes one month, depending on the niche and your content strategy? It all depends on so many factors…
A common misunderstanding.
SEO takes lots of skills in different areas, content strategy, development, JavaScript, CSS, user experience, heat mapping, A/B testing, discipline, good management skills (I’m sure there’s more). And good SEO is not free.
Yes, you can get cheap SEO, or you can get really fast results, but will they stick? Will you still be up there after the next Google Core update? Which by the way happens more often now?
Now you know what SEO is and what is not. Let me know if I missed any in the comments below.