We’ve been optimizing websites since 2006 and writing these newsletters just about every week. That’s hundreds of newsletters. But we’ve never talked about our personal feelings about SEO. Today we will, and are joined by other SEO experts to hear their beliefs:
- “But I can say with confidence that no one can guarantee exact success in website promotion,” says Pavel Buev, an SEO specialist at SoftSwiss. “Each Google update can completely change the situation for a site.”
- Neil Patel, New York Times bestselling author and SEO expert, agrees: “Forecasts are educated guesses at best…. For example, if certain keywords aren’t performing well in the short term, you can balance with paid advertising. But investing in SEO does pay off in the long run,” he says.
- What about Facebook groups? Patel says: “If you join, he suggests picking ones with very active communities— because people will call out bad advice when they see it.”
- What about website accessibility? Dylan Cleppe, CEO of OneStop Northwest, believes you should think about accessibility, “This means making websites accessible for people with disabilities such as visual or hearing impairments.”
- Is AI a shortcut? Will pumping out AI content help in search results? Patel says it won’t, and goes on to say: “AI content is just regurgitated information, and search engines want stuff that’s new and fresh. We’ve actually seen that if you just create tons of mediocre content through AI, it hurts your site’s overall traffic.”
We wholeheartedly agree with Neil when he says: “SEO isn’t about tricks or wizardry. It’s just about creating a great user experience— that’s relatively intuitive. If your plan puts the user first, you’ll be okay in the long run.”
Onward and upward