SEO Effectiveness

[Run n Spread]

I find this an interesting topic in the world of IT and website promotion. It certainly is the buzz and if you hit the bulls eye a great way of getting front and centre on google. However is it the cure all? It can be hit and miss and time consuming in the sense of how long it takes google to register the details.

Am interested in the thoughts from BF. How effective is SEO in promoting websites. Do you think there are other methods just as/if not more effective?

 

[The Passenger]

There is conflicting reports as to how much you can use SEO to promote your web-site. You can definitely get some extra points by making sure that page titles, meta tags and what not are relevant to the page or site you are creating.

But it's generally considered best SEO now to have a good web-site which generates it's own traffic naturally, and without trying to deceive google. If you think of a way to try to deceive google (text same colour as background is a common one), then 99% chance they've already thought of it and a way to detect it and actually punishes your search ranking in the end.

Some people/companies spend crazy amounts of time and dollars on it though, and it's debatable how effective it is, and as said when people try to get smart it often ends up working against them.

The biggest thing google looks for is links. So if you have a web-site with good quality content, that will see people link to your site which will in turn push your rankings up. Things from above like titles and meta tags are very tiny part of getting a good ranking.

Google Penguin was released last year which is their latest algorithms for ranking pages - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Penguin

Spamdexing is always a good thing to have a read of - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamdexing

A mate of mine, his ex started a web-site and she got struck from Google for basically trying to manipulate the search engine. Took her three months to get back on from memory.

They are very good at detecting abuse.

 

[The Passenger]

Run n Spread

Here is a good article on SEO

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/12/11/seo-the-inconvenient-truth/

My personal opinion is that most SEO companies are verging on a scam. Not a full blown scam because most of the people they are helping have no idea what they are doing. But most people don't realise that the best way to help yourself with SEO is to have a web-site with good content, which will be linked by other web-sites. Good content beats everything hands down.

 

[Run n Spread]

Run n Spread

Here is a good article on SEO

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/12/11/seo-the-inconvenient-truth/

My personal opinion is that most SEO companies are verging on a scam. Not a full blown scam because most of the people they are helping have no idea what they are doing. But most people don't realise that the best way to help yourself with SEO is to have a web-site with good content, which will be linked by other web-sites. Good content beats everything hands down.

Thanks TP Good article. I wouldn't go as far as saying its a scam but it is not a cure all and I'd question its effectiveness. SEO predominately relies on key words to attract a search engine and like the article says it interferes with content and doesn't make sense. Looks out of place having a bunch of keywords not really matching the content.

I think the biggest frustration is it is very hard to get a website notice unless you can generate traffic but how to generate it if no one knows about it. Catch 22 really.

 

[The Passenger]

Thanks TP Good article. I wouldn't go as far as saying its a scam but it is not a cure all and I'd question its effectiveness. SEO predominately relies on key words to attract a search engine and like the article says it interferes with content and doesn't make sense. Looks out of place having a bunch of keywords not really matching the content.

No scam isn't the right word but their definitely taking advantage of people lack of understanding of technology. I guess in essence that is most people that work in IT though, so they're just another sector doing the same.

I think the biggest frustration is it is very hard to get a website notice unless you can generate traffic but how to generate it if no one knows about it. Catch 22 really.

Span bigfooty

 

[Helicopter Punt]

Depends on the SEO and the methods used.

I do this on the side for some local business.

TP is on the ball with regards to Google now focusing on 'user experience' rather than volume back-linking and spamming keywords both on-page and under the hood. Their algorithms are becoming more sophisticated along with their bots (crude form of AI - rather than simply 'observe and report' capabilities).

Gone are the days where 'brute strength' SEO slips under the radar.
I have software that can spray 1000's of links to a website whilst I go make a cuppa but it is obsolete now + I never abused it when it wasn't. Some of the less savory operators are still using such software - but to smack down competitor sites.
My oldest client only has 700 odd links to their site after 2 and a half years (although I manually removed about 60 of the crappier ones before both Penguin and Panda algorithm changes rolled through).

Good engaging content is the foundation for ranking your site along with back-links and social signals - Likes, Tweets, +1's etc.
I like to think of my efforts as 'enhancing' my clients work where not so long ago they just paid and I sprayed - metaphorically speaking. Now I (need to) work with them a lot more.

Since the Google changes all have risen. Some dramatically.

SEO is still effective - just not last years SEO.

 

[Sandro S]

In my opinion, Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is effective depending on strategies you use. Good SEO practices will help your website rank better on the search engine result pages and attract more visitors from organic search.

 

[Mara Singha]

Getting hard to have good search results as a user. Filled with top 35s and trash clickbait.