SEO seems like the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to keeping your site visible and relevant. However, there are downsides. How these negatives may affect your site’s ranking or popularity depends entirely on the type of site you are operating and what kind of information you are putting out there. As with just about anything there are pro and cons and all of the aspects have to be weighed to decide what works best for you.
Search engines have gotten much better. A better way of putting it is that people have gotten better and making search engines, well, more human. If you look at the capabilities of a typical search engine you will find that as amazing as the processing of your search term is, the results do not reflect all of the dimensions that results generated by a human being would. People have the ability to interpret meaning from images and other things that a computer simply cannot. A computer/bot cannot always provide you the most relevant results if it is only searching for the exact word or phrase you have entered.
An example would be that if entered the word “tennis shoes” in to search engine, the results may bring up sites that have been optimized with the word “tennis shoe” but may have no relevance to what you are looking for. A site selling shoe laces may have used the word “tennis shoe” in their SEO tactics, and therefore they pop up at the top of your results.
This may seem like a case for a negative take on SEO, but it’s actually the opposite. Proper SEO can make sure that only websites with relevant information make it to the top of list. It can also help assure your site’s visibility. A site that cannot fit into the search criteria for the “spiders” that handle your web search will remain invisible and irrelevant.
Your SEO content is directly related to the success of your site. There are some instances where a problem with your site may cause search engines to skip over it entirely. This is a huge problem because of how much traffic is generated through the search feature. Poor link structure can make it hard for “spiders” to see all of your site’s content, which can lead to your site being left out of search results. Another common problem is that if the landing page of your site is a “Login” page requiring the user to enter information before proceeding to the content rich sections of your site, the search engine may not be able to see past the login page. This, in essence, makes your site invisible.
Understanding the pros and cons of SEO can lead you to a better overall understanding of how it can help your site. Poorly written SEO and “stuffing” are a problem but nothing that can’t be overcome. Educate yourself about the inner workings of search engine optimization and you may find that it is an invaluable tool to help grow your business and draw in steady flow of valuable traffic.
Post supplied by Mark Stubbles, Mark is an experienced freelance SEO and guest blogger.