SEO is a field filled with hucksters and charlatans. I suspect the reason for this is two-fold: one, it requires no particular certification or training, and two, the inner workings of search engines are deliberately kept secret so no one knows exactly how rankings are determined.
This leads to all kinds of pseudo-scientific claims and unverified assertions. Sellers of hundreds of “high quality” backlinks for firesale prices abound, and keyword stuffing persistently refuses to die. “Need a Website Design Marketing Professional in Moncton? You have come to the right place, we offer Website Design Marketing in the Moncton Area and we would be glad to do Website Design Marketing for you”. Nobody wants to read that and it makes you look like an opportunist, not an authority on the subject. You wouldn’t publish that literary atrocity in print, so why do it online?
It’s all in the hope of securing that coveted #1 spot in Google, of course. People will buy any kind of snake oil to get there, damn the consequences. “Bounce Rate”, you say? Never heard of it. You can rank #1 for every keyword under the sun, but if people leave your site right away because it’s so spammy and awful, what was the point? Your website failed to convert them into customers, and you may have alienated them so much that they’ll never come back.
There are other ways to get a decent Google ranking, of course, but they take more time and require more work. You can write great content that is actually useful to people or produce videos that viewers will share with their friends.
A Real-World Example
Let’s compare two hypothetical restaurants as a metaphor for business websites. The first opened with a bang and a huge marketing budget; it’s #1 on Google and draws in a lot of first-time patrons. Unfortunately it serves only microwaved frozen dinners, which was not mentioned in the advertising. Lots of people went there once, but the content didn’t meet their expectations at all and they will never return.
Restaurant number two only ranks on page 2. It took longer to build up steam because the owner carefully built a menu with fresh ingredients and original recipes. Its growth wasn’t meteoric like the other restaurant, but as patrons drop in they are very happy with what they see (and eat). They keep coming back week after week and they tell all their friends about this great new restaurant.
Google, being quasi-omnipotent, know this is happening. They know that while the microwave restaurant is ranking #1, people are very disappointed with it. They also know that restaurant #2 gets return visitors and they see the strong signals from social media. They will decide that restaurant #2 is more relevant and important to people, and it will creep up the rankings and maybe even overtake the other place.
But ultimately, this goes far beyond search engine rankings – it’s a matter of service and ethics. The million-dollar question is: which restaurant do you think will still be open in a year?