I'm writing this in frustration because so many so called SEO specialists are putting out disinformation.
There are so many myths and misconceptions about SEO and it is directly because of these amateurs.
Imagine the game of Chinese Whispers. You remember playing that as a kid? A message is whispered around the group, and by the time it gets to the last person, it's a completely different message.
Now picture this but for SEO. Sometime somewhere, SEO wizards like Rand Fishkin and Brian Dean put out some pretty solid messages about SEO. But by the time it got to the "professional agencies" and their customer service representatives, it was completely WRONG.
Messages like:
You need a blog. WRONG.
You need to post content frequently. WRONG.
You need to amass as many backlinks as possible. WRONG.
You need to keyword stuff your website. WRONG.
How about this one:
You need to write your website for Google. You need to make sure your website "plays nice" with Google. WRONG AGAIN, PINOCCHIO SEO!
The nose keeps getting longer!
Last time I checked, websites for written for people, not Google.
And what the hell is Google anyway? It's a robot. It's an AI. It's a collection of algorithms and bot crawlers!
It's a far cry from that nice clean little logo and search bar that comes up on their home page.
Why the hell would I want to write my website for a robot?
Here's a thought.
Maybe because I have no creativity, no personality, no charisma, no difference, no backstory, no vision - I'm just a robot business offering robot services to a robot public...
Seriously - this is why some people are calling Google the Garbage Bin.
But I know that's not the case for you. I know each and every business has value. I know tradesmen offer an important service to society.
SEO is about getting that value across to people through the medium of the internet, so they can become your customers and benefit from you. They can't flow you if they don't know you.
To understand SEO better you need to shift your thinking from pleasing Google to pleasing people. You can't please a robot. And don't think SEO is some kind of rat race either - you're not a rat and this isn't a race, this is a marathon.
Like any advertising, traffic from SEO is incredible and can make or break a business. But don't sell your soul in the process. And when they tell you they can rank you in 90 days (is it 60 now?) or they'll work for free, don't believe the hype.
Alan Frye
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