When I first started SEO it was like yesterday, but I've actually been doing it for a full decade. Ten years is a long period. Even if the world changes, I have some experiences that I have learned that have been tested by time. I decided to share them with everyone so that you will not make the same mistake.
1. Can't guarantee
This isn't the first thing I've learned, but it's certainly one of the most important things in SEO. Search engine optimization is like many other areas of life, and it cannot be guaranteed – forever. No matter what miracle you do, you can't guarantee rankings to the top of search engines, especially over time. The reasons are complex – such as algorithm changes, competitor attacks, or simply because your website’s content has grown older, but the consequences are the same – you can never guarantee your ranking.
2. You need a lot of patience to achieve the results
The second most important lesson is that SEO is definitely not a project that can get rich quickly. To achieve results, besides SEO skills, you also need a lot of effort and patience (and a lot of time cost), but the results may never come.
3. Link construction grows at a slow rate
Backlinks may be the backbone of SEO success, and you may be rushing to build backlinks, but this actually doesn't help much. As I mentioned earlier, in SEO you need a lot of patience and time. The same is true in the construction of external links. You need to build a plan for slow growth backlinks, and it's even better to fix it at a steady growth rate, rather than rushing to build many backlinks at once.
4. A high-quality backlink has more than 100 spam links worth
This is another valuable lesson – a single quality backlink from a reputable, relevant, high-ranking website far outweighs 100 spam links. This is after the update of Google Penguin algorithm and Baidu Green Ivy algorithm, spam links not only lose their effect, but may also bring punishment.
5. Don't get a ranking of bad products or services
If your customers plan to do something that is not very good, then you have to learn to say NO. Otherwise, you will see angry netizens on the Internet bringing you unthinkable negative publicity.
6. Content is king
Simply put, if you don't have good content, then you're just wasting your time and money.
7. Don't hurt the Meta tag
When I started SEO ten years ago, meta tags were much more important than they are now. However, the meta tag is still not outdated, especially <title>
Tags, so just in case, you have to write your title well.
8. Study the success or failure of keywords
Research on keywords in SEO optimization has not changed in the past 10 years, or more accurately, the wrong or correct keyword selection has not changed. This is why keyword research is very, very important. If you do this wrong, all your subsequent efforts are doomed to fail. For optimization, you need to choose the right keywords, not for some keywords that have a large search volume but cannot generate conversions.
9. You can't go anywhere without the right tools
Search engine optimization requires a lot of tools. If you don’t have the right SEO tool, you will get wrong feedback, which is a tragedy.
10. Website for Niche Products/Services
If you have 10 industries you want to cover, then build 10 separate websites instead of putting all content on a single website.
11. Fast or Fail
SEO is very dynamic. You have to be fast, or you are doomed to fail. This is especially true when the main algorithm is updated because if you can't act quickly, you'll see how your rankings drop in the blink of an eye.
12. You can't rely solely on SEO
SEO is a very powerful traffic entrance, but you can't rely on single-handed combat - you need PPC, social marketing, etc. It is this combination that can help you achieve real success and make your website the most profitable.
13. Adding keywords to old domain names or domain names can't save you
Adding keywords to old domain names or domain names is indeed helpful for your optimization, but when you don’t have good content and high-quality backlinks, then they can’t save you.
14. Always monitor and measure
When you don’t know what your results are like, then everything you do is guessing. That's why you always need to monitor your results and work hard to get rid of those underperforming sites/projects/keywords.
15. Don't worry about the high jump rate
The bounce rate is not directly related to the SEO results, but when users leave your website shortly after they come to your website, this is a bad symptom, which means they have not found what they want. This is the loss of the website, so try to minimize your bounce rate.
16. Multiple long-tail keywords can be realized
Long-tail keywords are very good because they greatly reduce the competition level, and higher rankings are easier to achieve. Maybe your long-tail keywords won't get that much traffic, but they beat the hot keywords that are hard to get a good ranking in terms of ROI.
17. Heimao needs to be avoided
I need to say why? Search engines are not stupid, heimao's tricks are often easily discovered. So don't be a SEO criminal!
18. Google or Baidu is not the only search engine
Google has a well-known share in the world, and Baidu has a well-known share in China. But other search engines may bring good clicks, such as bing, 360so, and other search engines with little competitiveness, you can get a good ranking.
19. Spread your SEO strategy
Ranking positions of keywords and high-quality backlinks are at the heart of SEO, but there are many other strategies. For example, you might want to add social media marketing.
20. Fast Failure
SEO success takes time and patience, but it’s not an obvious job from the start, and the best you can do is to quickly drop losers. This applies to projects as well as to clients. Waiting is meaningless, you will lose more, so terminate a failed project as soon as possible.
21. Find a good hosting host
This is another very, very, very important lesson. Nowadays, hosting hosting is getting cheaper, so there is no reason to endure an unreliable provider. When your host has frequent problems, the bot cannot crawl your website. What's worse, when users click on your results in search rankings, they cannot access them, resulting in huge money and image losses.
22. The purpose of SEO is conversion (ROI), not ranking itself
A good ranking may make you self-satisfied, but if you don’t get a good conversion and a decent ROI, that’s not the purpose, after all, it’s the most important thing for us to make money from a website, isn’t it?
23. As long as you are alive, you must learn
This applies to many areas of life, especially in SEO, where things tend to change very quickly. If you want to survive, you need to keep learning new or better ways.
24. Learn marketing, website design and development
SEO is powerful, but when you use it with marketing, web design and web developers, this can help you get the bigger picture. No one says you need to be a world-renowned marketer, designer or developer, but you do need to have at least a basic understanding of these three aspects.
25. Search Engine Optimization is a Team Game
Is SEO a lonely wolf? You need to work closely with editors, designers, developers, product managers, etc., or you can do it all by yourself, but it takes a long, long time and you'd better hire a professional one.
26. Don't forget the redirection and 404 errors
Redirects and 404 errors will be forgotten often, but if misused, they can cause great harm to your website. So please take the time to check for redirects and 404 errors.
27. You need to think about the problem yourself
What you need to learn is the best, but that doesn't mean you should blindly follow the advice of SEO experts. Even if they are not trying to mislead you. The success of a certain website is their work, but it does not mean that you will succeed in the same way.
28. Your competitor is your best teacher
Your competition is one of your best teachers. Just analyze what they did and you will learn a lot.
29. Don't be addicted to data
Data will guide you, but don’t let them lead you through your entire life. Web rankings or other rankings are just numbers, and there is no benefit to indulge in them. ROI is more important, so if your ROI still performs well, it means everything is good.
30. You cannot let different types of websites use the same SEO strategy
An e-commerce website is very different from a company website. You need to consider all these differences and use different SEO strategies.
31. Everyone can be big on the Internet
Even if you are a small company, you can still get a better ranking than the big guys.
32. Your ranking won't be too good
No matter how good your ranking is, there is always room for improvement. For example, if you have a good ranking for a given keyword, you can try some related keywords that you are not very good at right now.
33. Don't be a slave to work
Search engine optimization can be addictive, especially if you see results. However, it is bad to be a slave to the job. What you need is life, knowing when to stop, which is not only good for your health, but also improves your productivity, so always plan for a few days to stay away from your computer.
34. Please be sure to fill in your <alt> tag
Labels are sometimes overlooked or left blank, but they are also important. Especially for pictures sites, such as e-commerce sites or image galleries. If your competitor tags are left blank, your efforts to fill in these will be a huge advantage for you.
35. You'd better not want some customers
The unpredictability of SEO is even more terrifying than waiting for customers. If customers are not familiar with the details of SEO and want to do impossible things, such as ensuring ranking, then you'd better say goodbye to such customers.
Original author of Souwai Forum: Fushun Huma Shop Mutton
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