“I can’t find my page on the Google. You do that SEO thing?”
If I had a nickel for every conversation I’ve had that started this way, I’d have enough for a pizza. Extra large. Chicago style. Deluxe.
It’s been my experience that there’s a lot of snake oil being peddled as SEO Optimization these days — or Vaporware, to use the circa Web 2.0 terminology — and this is what I always tell my clients.
First of all, beating Google at their own game is a fool’s errand. The Atlantic recently published an article delving into the ever-mutating algorithms behind the scenes at Google, and the SEO industry at large. Give it a read. (Apologies if you’re paywalled!)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/google-search-algorithm-internet/661325/
Secondly, it’s good to set your expectations accordingly. I’ve had a few mom-and-pop shops wondering why their products aren’t beating out multi-nationals in search results. Let’s use the fictional “Mike’s Mountain Bikes” as an example.
When I take a look and run a search on Mike’s Mountain Bikes, they pop right up. I call back wondering what the problem is. Turns out that they want their little shop’s search results for generic terms like “mountain bike” to beat out the websites of major manufacturers like Trek and Specialized, and all of the big-box retail chains from Dick’s to Walmart. That’s probably not going to happen.
On the other hand, I’ve had clients that are very proud of their Google search results. However they are only judging their site’s performance based on the results on their own laptop’s browser, the same browser they use every day to access their company’s site and related business resources. Google takes this personal behavior into account to provide “more relevant results.” Open up an Incognito window on another computer and expect to be dissapointed.
So what can be done?
Fortunately, there are always things that we can address to make your site perform optimally against Google’s search algorithm. When the topic of SEO Optimization comes up, I try to be very frank, and then run a few 3rd party tests to see how they compete from an objective point-of-view.
The bottom line is that Google prioritizes high-quality sites. Make sure you’ve got an SSL for an HTTPS connection. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Be sure that key terminology is tagged appropriately in your headlines. Have good, accurate, clear information in your opening paragraphs. This is the stuff that Google’s looking at. Be sure it’s right.
And then you do you. The beauty, and the curse, of the internet is that you’re exposed to the whole world. The prospects are nigh-infinite, but so is the competition.
Don’t sacrifice quality for a few extra clicks that go nowhere, and don’t be fooled by pricey services that don’t take the time to understand your core business. I’ll leave you with this anecdote from the Atlantic’s article:
Zach Verbit knows what it’s like to serve at the pleasure of Google’s Search algorithms. After college, Verbit took a freelance-writing gig with the HOTH, a marketing company that specializes in search-engine optimization. Verbit’s “soul crushing” job at the HOTH was to write blog posts that would help clients’ sites rank highly. He spent hours composing listicles with titles like “10 Things to Do When Your Air-Conditioning Stopped Working.” Verbit wrote posts that “sounded robotic or like they were written by somebody who’d just discovered language.” He had to write up to 10 posts a day on subjects he knew nothing about. Quickly, he started repurposing old posts for other clients’ blogs. “Those posts that sound like an AI wrote them? Sometimes they’re from real people trying to jam in as many keywords as possible,” Verbit told me.
Don’t be that guy. Make your website great. Make it authentic. Keep at it, and eventually you’ll find your niche and rise to the top. Like everything else in business, there are no shortcuts, just smart practices. SEO Optimization is only one facet of the continuous hard work of marketing, adverstising, and making real-world connections. But you didn’t get into this because you thought it’d be easy, right?
