We know from experience that website owners commissioning their so-called SEO are saintly convinced that SEO is an exact science. This manifests itself in the expectation of practically immediate results, as well as the presentation of a concrete step-by-step plan that will bring the website into the TOP 3 of the most competitive phrases. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that and is unlikely to ever work again. Why? We explain this in our guide.
In modern SEO it is difficult to predict what will definitely bring results
Maybe put another way: we are able to predict it, but we can’t pinpoint the exact date when these effects will appear. It is therefore not physically possible for any responsible SEO agency to say to a client: at this time three months from now, your website will be indexed 15 positions higher than it is today.
Until a dozen years ago, such predictions made sense. SEO specialists knew how many links and backlinks had to be added in order to improve a page’s position by a certain number of positions within a certain time. Today this is not possible.
First and foremost, this is because, following the massive changes to the search algorithm, we now have a host of so-called ranking factors that Google takes into account when determining a website’s position in the index. It is not hard to guess that meeting all these conditions (there are about 400) is impossible, and certainly not at the same time.
Let’s get this straight: running an SEO campaign is currently largely based on trial and error. So-called SEO specialists operate in a highly competitive environment and under pressure from clients. They must therefore use a variety of methods in order to eventually gain an advantage. At the same time, they cannot abandon the foundation of modern SEO, namely content marketing. As is well known, content marketing does not yield immediate results; it requires patience, which many website owners simply lack.
Successful, but… it is not clear why
In science, it is simple. Once a principle is established, it always works. In modern SEO, unfortunately, the exact opposite is true. What worked two months ago may now turn out to be completely unnecessary.
What is more: SEO specialists, although they will never admit it, are often not 100% sure which measures they have taken have resulted in a significant improvement of a website’s search engine position. Optimization? Strong links? Or maybe a content marketing campaign that started months earlier has just started working?
Besides, let us not forget that the search algorithm is not a finished product and Google is actually constantly “tinkering” with it. As a result, even very well-positioned websites lose their position in the index from day to day, only to shoot up again a few days later. Is it possible to treat SEO as an exact science under such conditions?
