The advantages and disadvantages of SEO

31 Jan, 2023

The advantages and disadvantages of SEO

At first, you might wonder, what disadvantages could SEO have. Well, those familiar with search engine optimization will surely have some ideas. In order to understand how SEO works, you need to understand both the good things and the, well, let’s say difficulties, you need to keep in mind when it comes to optimizing your website pages for search engines. But before we dive deeper into the topic taking a look at both the pros and cons of SEO, let’s first define what SEO exactly is and why it is so important.

 

What is SEO?

 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process by which you can get organic traffic to your website and improve your ranking on search engine results pages. This includes creating high-quality content, monitoring your website’s technical health, getting links from other websites to your website, maintaining your website’s local search presence, and more. required.

 

Why is SEO important?

 

SEO is as much about the search engines as it is about the people using the search engines. The point is to increase visibility and make it easier for your customers to find your business when they are looking for the products and services you offer. SEO is important because your ranking is always related to visibility.To increase visibility, you need to focus on what your target customers are searching for online, what solutions they are looking for, and what content and keywords they are using. To stand out from the competition and improve conversions, your website’s proper search engine optimization should be important.

Today, people rely on search engines to help them discover anything. Among other things, you can shop online, search for an address, store, service, specialist shop, or educational courses in the Google search engine. This means that regardless of what your company sells, potential customers are likely to be searching online for products or services similar to yours. You need search engine optimization if you want to get their attention and drive them to your website.

 

Benefits of SEO

 

The main advantage of SEO is visibility in Google. But let’s dive a little bit deeper and see what are the most important advantages of search engine optimization:

 

#1 Increases organic discovery and traffic

Organic visibility that results in increased website traffic is a huge benefit of SEO. Search engine optimization is hyper-targeted and customer-centric. An effective SEO strategy helps you get your website to a relevant audience through relevant search queries. Because the user is already looking for what you have to offer, organic visibility drives quality traffic to your website without trying to entice or convince the visitor. On average, 40,000 searches are performed on Google every second. That is 3.5 billion queries worldwide per day. Therefore, ranking on the first page of a search can get you millions of views.

 

#2 SEO improves credibility and trust

Ranking on the first page of Google increases credibility with potential customers. Google ranks websites based on dozens of on-page and off-page signals, such as content created, site speed, and mobile usability. While most consumers probably don’t pay attention to these signals, users expect Google to provide relevant, valuable content first. Most people implicitly trust the algorithm, and 75% of users do not proceed to the second page. Trust is based on search engine authority and a high-quality product or service that builds credibility with visitors.

 

#3 SEO provides 24-hour promotion

Search engine optimization efforts don’t stop after business hours. The content does not disappear even after the budget is exhausted, for example in the case of paid advertising. SEO rankings promote your website 24/7, making the most of the (at least) 60,000 Google searches per second. Again, SEO is unique because it allows your business to reach users while they are looking for you – not on billboards and newspaper ads on the way out of town.

 

#4 SEO optimizes the user experience

User experience is a critical component of SEO and a significant factor in Google rankings. Search Engine Journal explains, “Google has learned how to interpret a favorable or unfavorable user experience, and a positive user experience has become a key component of a website’s success.” Google users expect an answer to their questions in seconds. A visitor who clicks on a website and encounters a poor user experience – such as mobile incompatibility or tons of pop-ups – is likely to leave within seconds. A high bounce rate tells Google that the website is not valuable to the user, which often results in a lower ranking.

 

#5 You can link to other websites

Getting links from reputable websites is also a benefit of SEO strategy. This means that one of the biggest parts of website optimization is to focus on outbound SEO strategies. Finding opportunities for placement or coverage on industry blogs, news outlets, and other relevant websites can significantly help your website or brand grow. Even Google likes websites that link to each other, so you should focus on adding links to other websites and promoting them in your articles.

 

#6 You will provide valuable content

One of the benefits of SEO is knowing exactly what people are searching for. Because of this, you can then offer a personalized piece: an article that answers all of your users’ concerns on a topic related to your industry. In this way, you create the best possible text that provides a solution to the problems of the potential consumer.

 

#7 SEO reaches the entire target audience

SEO is not just for organizations with a single target audience. Search engine optimization is equally effective for companies targeting different audiences, perhaps with the same service. For example, an air conditioning installation company may serve homeowners and commercial customers, two separate audiences. SEO enables organizations to reach all audiences with intent-driven keyword research. To reach both audiences, separate service pages can be created, one targeting the keyword “residential air conditioning installation services” and the other “commercial air conditioning installation services”.

 

#8 SEO is the key to search visibility

We are undeniably living in a digital age. Organizations that want to create an influential brand presence need to be visible online. However, if you’re not on the first page, you’re probably not getting clicks and promoting your brand to anyone. Today, search engine optimization is crucial to a thriving brand identity.

 

#9 SEO gets more clicks than PPC

Paid search engine advertising (PPC) and SEO work well together. Ranking your website at the top of paid search results and organic rankings on the first page gives consumers additional opportunities to visit your website and strengthens your brand’s credibility. Additionally, SEO data can be used to inform and optimize your PPC strategy. The click-through rate of SEO is much higher than that of PPC campaigns. In addition, the acquisition cost is much lower when using SEO than when using PPC. PPC ads may appear above organic search results, but the number of clicks on organic results is much higher. This may be due to people’s trust in Google and distrust of sponsored links. They know which links they are paying for and choose to trust the search engine to deliver the best results. SEO is undoubtedly the better choice for conversions, long-term traffic, and ROI than PPC.

 

#10 SEO is a long-term marketing strategy

While quality SEO often makes a significant business impact in the first year, SEO efforts compound over time, leading to better results over several years. In fact, the magnitude of your SEO results and ROI is commensurate with your budget, effort, and time. If an SEO company promises instant results, be careful. Implementing a well-thought-out SEO strategy – such as content creation and page optimization – and learning Google’s algorithm takes time. To get the best results from incorporating SEO into your digital marketing strategy, be prepared to see SEO as an investment with remarkable long-term returns.

Content written today will help you sell tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that. If you are not sure what SEO-friendly content writing is like, click here for some useful content writing tips and tricks

 

Disadvantages of SEO

 

As we have already mentioned, providing your website with SEO best practices will greatly benefit your company. However, there are certain disadvantages when doing SEO that you should consider:

 

#1 SEO takes time

The fact that search engine optimization takes a long time is one of the main “buts” that managers face before investing in positioning in the online space. How long does it take to appear on the first page of Google? The definitive answer is: it depends. Depends on what? From many factors. Some of the most important ones to consider are:

 

  • How big is your website
  • How new is your domain
  • How fresh the content is
  • What keywords are you using to rank?

 

Thanks to our experience, positive changes can be observed within weeks. However, we note that reaching the first page of Google takes between 2 and 6 months on average.

Recommendation: be patient and seek advice from experts who will help you find the most effective ways to position your business in the world of SEO. One of the first and most important steps is to do an in-depth keyword analysis. This means finding out what terms your potential customers are using when searching for things related to:

 

  1.  your industry; 
  2.  products or services sold by you and your competitors;
  3. frequently asked questions of the average consumer.

 

#2 It competes with other Internet participants with SEO

The online world is more competitive than you might think. There are thousands of websites on the internet creating content about the same product or service, and you need to figure out how to differentiate yourself from them.

For example:

Let’s say your business is an auto shop and there is another shop similar to yours on the same street as you In this context, a better job than the competition would be to examine their store: what they sell, what their prices are, and what the atmosphere is like in the store, among other things. The situation is similar in the online world. The difference is that you’re not just competing with the establishment on the same street, you’re competing with all the businesses on Google. It may seem obvious, but the internet won’t know who your competition is until it examines all the results that a search engine returns when it queries your industry. A proper assessment of your competition will give you an idea of how many (and which) websites you need to beat in order to get first place in Google.

Suggestion: Don’t position yourself for very general keywords. For example: “flower shop”. You need to be very precise in your use of keywords to improve your position on Google. Use detailed queries such as “flower box shop in Belgium”.

 

#3 In SEO, there is no guaranteed the result 

It is impossible to predict the results of an SEO project. The main reason for this is that Google’s algorithm is constantly changing, as are the trends and search volume of individual queries.

Recommendation: Pay attention to the main SEO indicators during the project. After all, they are the ones who will guide you to find out what works and what doesn’t.

 

#4 SEO requires constant vigilance

SEO requires constant review so you don’t lose the gains you’ve made. In the SEO maintenance phase, it is convenient to review what happened during SEO On Page and Content Marketing and to propose changes.

Recommendation: Perform regular maintenance on your website’s SEO, updating titles and descriptions as well as user experience. Remember that the purpose of this point is to maximize the results of your SEO strategy and ensure that it does not lose its validity or effectiveness.

 

#5 SEO is not profitable in the beginning

At first, you will invest a lot of money and not see the return. That is, you make efforts without getting more profit. Also, remember that visits are not sales: not every person who visits your site will buy or use your services from you.

Recommendation: Trust the SEO and be patient. If you dare to optimize your website, follow the steps in his checklist.

 

#6 It requires more investment than other areas of marketing (at first)

One of the disadvantages of SEO is that it is a lesser-known area of marketing than social media or advertising. Since most marketing agencies do not specialize in this, SEO services tend to have high costs at the first change.

Recommendation: Carefully examine the offer of the agency market and try to choose a company specialized in the given field.

 

#7 Google will punish you for black hat practices

Certain aggressive SEO practices manipulate the search engine to get great results in a short period of time. With these “tricks,” Google will punish you with a drop in the ranking or by removing the website from the search engine results. Trying fake practices like getting inorganic traffic or using too many keywords will not bring you positive results. On the contrary, you need to understand how this robot works. This will allow you to please and be on the front page.

Suggestion: Hire a team that specializes in SEO to ensure they do an honest and quality job on your website.

 

Conclusions

 

Web positioning projects can be successful in many ways, but the main benefit is that you appear when your potential customers are looking for you. However, your visits, customers, and even sales will not increase overnight: it takes parallel and continuous efforts, as well as patience and time to see the impact of SEO. Remember that web positioning as part of attraction marketing (inbound marketing) serves the purpose that your brand is not the one that approaches the potential consumer, but the consumer is the one who turns to you. Becoming a magnet for potential consumers is the most profitable sales strategy in the long run, so we recommend that you have the power to conquer the first page of Google. High-quality SEO implemented on a brand’s website has beneficial long-term results. Our search engine optimization team is committed to remarkable ROI, providing complete transparency throughout the overall SEO process.

 

Updated at: 2023-01-31