Google gets a very bad press on this forum and in MJ's books... especially Unscripted , where he even says "To hell with SEO!" (Though I hope it's just a misunderstanding.)
One of the biggest fears many Fastlaners have is that Google can simply kill your business overnight with an algorithm change.
But if you have a website that adds VALUE to people's lives, a website where they can learn (or buy) something unavailable elsewhere, not only you have NOTHING to fear from Google's algorithm changes, you can even profit from them.
Let's be clear: SEO is a MUST, whether you have an online-based business like me or not.
Yeah, I know, it's a very bad thing that only one search engine (Google) has a dominant position in the West (esp. here in Europe) ... but that's the way it is. It's called reality. Google is an unavoidable partner in business.
In today's age, when most people search for anything (even as simple as a restaurant, pizza joint, or barber shop/hairdresser), they usually search in Google.
And if the issue is buying a home or a car, finding a good school for their kids, or learning a new recipe, you can bet their research on Google will be extensive...
As the old adage says, "Google is your friend."
So, how can you thrive on Google? By following simple yet often ignored SEO best practices, such as:
So why have so many websites suffered from Google algorithm changes ?
Because their owners were guilty of one or more of the following:
Hope this helps! Have a great weekend, folks!
One of the biggest fears many Fastlaners have is that Google can simply kill your business overnight with an algorithm change.
But if you have a website that adds VALUE to people's lives, a website where they can learn (or buy) something unavailable elsewhere, not only you have NOTHING to fear from Google's algorithm changes, you can even profit from them.
Let's be clear: SEO is a MUST, whether you have an online-based business like me or not.
Yeah, I know, it's a very bad thing that only one search engine (Google) has a dominant position in the West (esp. here in Europe) ... but that's the way it is. It's called reality. Google is an unavoidable partner in business.
In today's age, when most people search for anything (even as simple as a restaurant, pizza joint, or barber shop/hairdresser), they usually search in Google.
And if the issue is buying a home or a car, finding a good school for their kids, or learning a new recipe, you can bet their research on Google will be extensive...
As the old adage says, "Google is your friend."
So, how can you thrive on Google? By following simple yet often ignored SEO best practices, such as:
- Having a website that loads VERY fast (under 3 sec) on both mobile and PC. Defer unimportant resources, compress your images, invest in a fast EXCLUSIVE server and a good CDN service.
- Optimizing your titles, H1 and H2 headings, text, image name and alt text, etc., with the right keywords (but don't go overboard, this is keyword stuffing, a shady tactic that Google has ZERO tolerance for).
- Targeting the RIGHT keywords to begin with: ones that people actually search for, yet not too generic and not too competitive (Keyword Difficulty). Obviously, you don't want to target "white dry wine from Alsace" if few people search for that, but you don't want to aim for the sky and compete for "wine" or even "white wine", as the competition for these keywords is insane.
- Creating content that is exhaustive, 100% accurate, documented, yet easy to understand for an 8th grader (the average American reads at 8th grade level). Content BETTER than what people can find on competitors' websites.
- Optimizing your website for mobile through responsive design (and a layout of the website that is simple to use on mobile).
- Not having a homepage where the entire screen (which is prime SEO real estate) is occupied exclusively by a background image, your logo, your slogan/motto, and the menu. People hate this.
- Getting well-earned backlinks from credible websites.
- And overall, delivering an OUTSTANDING user experience (UX) to website visitors.
- For local businesses, there's an entire set of rules that applies here which I won't list for the sake of brevity (but as an SEO analyst, I'll be happy to share them by PM if you want). The most important issues are customer reviews and being 100% consistent on your name, address, phone, and service hours in Google and in every other place where your business is listed.
So why have so many websites suffered from Google algorithm changes ?
Because their owners were guilty of one or more of the following:
- Keyword stuffing, i.e. abusively repeating the same keywords on the same website too often, just to get higher rankings. Big mistake: this is a black hat tactic that Google penalizes SEVERELY (sometimes even by removing your site completely from their index).
- Buying links from other websites, instead of earning them. Again, Google's policy in these cases is ZERO TOLERANCE.
- Having thin content on your subject which simply doesn't add any value to what other websites say on the same topic.
- Having duplicate content, either between several pages on your website or, even worse, with other people's websites.
- Failing completely to optimize your website with keywords (Google then has a hard time figuring out what it's about).
- Having a website that is very slow to load.
- Having a website so boring, or so hard to use, that people quit it in the first few seconds after clicking on your result.
- Having a website in the porn, pyramid scheme, and other illegal/barely legal industries.
- Failing to optimize your website for mobile (Google gives greater weight to how your website is displayed on mobile, in accordance to its "Mobile First" update; a lot of websites were penalized by this, hence this update was dubbed the "Mobilegeddon").
- Not having an SSL "secure connection" certificate.
- And again, as regards local businesses, being totally incoherent about your name, address, phone, and service/opening hours.
Hope this helps! Have a great weekend, folks!
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