SEO Results: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the use of certain tactics to make the website more appealing to search engines. The goal of SEO is to improve the website's ranking in the search engine results. But, is the improvement of the website's standing with Google and other search engines the typical SEO results? What is the effect of SEO?
The Good: Effects of Good SEO
Good SEO can do amazing things for a website. People who have written articles on Hubpages and other websites for particular keywords may have noticed the effect of that simple, yet crucial SEO method. Using the right keywords is not the only tried and true method of SEO. An SEO expert can look at a website and consider the factors that the search engines use to rank a website. When the weaknesses of the SEO of a website are identified, the expert can recommend a course of action to improve the website's performance in the search engines and get better SEO results.
The Bad: Invisibility from a Lack of SEO
Millions and millions of websites compete to get noticed by search engines. If the website does not have any of the factors that a search engine looks for, the website is not going to be noticed. This means that the website will not appear when someone searches for a word or phrase related to the topic of the website. Since this is how a lot of website traffic is generated, the website without SEO does not get visitors. Not having SEO is a way to stay invisible to search engines which is bad for business.
The Ugly: Deceitful SEO
There are always people looking for ways to cheat the system. Black hat SEO is the use of SEO tactics to try to manipulate the website's standing with Google by artificial means. Hiding text on a webpage by having the same color text as the background is one method of black hat SEO. Generating thousands of links from poor quality link sources is another method. If Google detects the use of black hat SEO methods on a website, the website may be dropped from the Google results. Even the use of poor quality links can be penalized by Google. Therefore, it's important to stick with the best SEO methods.
Finding Good SEO Results
Just when you think that your website's SEO is perfect, the search engines make things interesting by changing how they rank the websites and how different factors affect ranking. Website owners can keep current on the changes that Google and other search engines make and tailor their approaches accordingly. However, most website owners do not have all day to monitor the latest SEO news and protect their SEO results. If website owners are either unsure of how to improve their SEO or maintain their ranking, they should consider hiring a reputable SEO consultant to keep improving their websites' SEO results.