Have you been promised instant website results from SEO (search engine optimisation)? Here’s an analogy to think about. Imagine you are at the foot of a ladder and want to get to the top. There are two ways to get there. One is by steadily climbing each rung, making sure you are established before putting your foot up to the next one. The second option, if you are fit and bold enough, is to jump from bottom to top. You’ve reached your destination (or goal) that much more quickly. However, you might feel slightly unsteady, so you decide to step down a rung until you are comfortable. But all the rungs have been removed by someone who assumed you’d never need them, so you crash back to the ground.

This analogy highlights the difference between a long-term, effective SEO strategy compared to a short-term one that claims instant website results. Some people say that they can shoot your company or organisation straight to the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages). They sell you their sly tips, tricks or techniques, but they probably don’t mention that search engine providers such as Google actively watch and often punish such underhanded behaviours. The aim of effective SEO techniques is to deliver a steady, continual upwards path, using proven strategies.

The main aim of SEO is simply to deliver interested and motivated potential customers to your website. Here, unlike those promising instant website results, time is taken to carefully analyse the types of people you are seeking to attract. Then it is a process of understanding the words and phrases they are most likely to use when searching for the answer to something, and you want the answer to be you. When they arrive, the page they reach should welcome and involve them in those terms, start to provide the answers, products or services they are looking for and get them significantly closer to solving their problem. Every single customer that does so has the potential to grow, from that initial contact, into a valuable and repeated user of what you provide.

If satisfied with the products, services or assistance that you deliver, they may then mention you to others, perhaps using social media, and providing a link to your site. In this way, your business grows steadily. This is how the effective use of proven SEO strategies should work for you to experience business growth. Your SEO strategy should be adapted and refined as the process continues, and as you make steady progress up the ladder. This will take you to sustainable website results, rather than instant crash and burn.

If you’d like to explore the long-term SEO options for your business, contact us.