05/12/2022
I attend several SEO and Web Marketing forums, and every now and then, there is a dispute concerning the SEO industry and its practice. After participating in a lot of these conversations, it has become clear that the key issues are the fact that no two SEO businesses are identical and that there is no consistent technique. It's difficult to make broad comments about the sector because the definition of 'SEO' is controversial. Add to that the reality that most SEO businesses keep their technique and campaign ideas hidden, and we have a situation where each company is completely unique, with drastically varied outcomes.
1. The first fact is that there is no common SEO approach. Wikipedia defines SEO as "the process of increasing traffic from SERPs to a website." Of course, the key topic that sparks debate is HOW they do it.
2. The efficacy of an SEO strategy is determined by the site's structure, content, keywords, technique, and popularity. A website cannot just rank for any term. SEO is not voodoo either. It combines logic, problem solving, and Web marketing. If your site delivers little value to users, it is unlikely to rank.
3. Some 'SEOs' specialize in search engine optimization, while others specialize in search engine manipulation. Of course, all of this is advertised as SEO. Unethical optimization achieves results at any cost and is always temporary (usually ends in a banned domain name). Ethical SEO makes the site more visible to search engines and gives long-term benefits.