SEO - search engine optimization (Google) sounds very easy:

Make sure all your content, blog posts and landing pages can be easily located and ranked highly by search engines.
But it's not really that simple, and it's not just a one-time thing.

Just when you think your SEO efforts are in top form, Google throws another twist and once again you find yourself struggling to compete in ranking your site.

Imagine an athlete is training as a short distance runner (sprinter), to compete in a Marathon.

SEO is a long marathon process.
Marketers are always studying the latest Google algorithms to find out what it takes to get to the top of the search indexes. And yet, Google is always elusive, never divulging all its secrets.

SEO is work

Just as training for and running a marathon is hard work, so is the ongoing task of preparing web content for SEO. Like marathon training, it's a long game, and each race demands its own level of training.

You must constantly implement changes to your website. Make the necessary adjustments to the design - UI and UIX - of your website, and analyze and adjust keywords and meta tags, and how to integrate them into your web content.

SEO requires discipline

If you want to be fit enough to run a marathon, you need to eat right, get enough sleep and have a training plan. Improving your ranking in search engine results pages is similar: you need a plan.

SEO means making changes when they are necessary, even when it hurts. It means improving website design. It means quality keyword research and usage practices. It means internal and external links that generate value and increase rankings. And many more tweaks....

SEO requires the right team

It's easier to train for and run a marathon if you have the right equipment. If you want to run long distances, you need great running shoes for support. If you want to be on the first pages of Google search results, you need good equipment and important resources to get there.

Well-defined and easy-to-navigate web pages, perfect back-end structure (source code) and adequate SEO tools are some of the requirements.

SEO requires following the rules

Like training for a marathon, there really are no shortcuts to effective SEO. A short term gain can lead to the destruction of your body and in the case of your website result in negative impacts. You also can't take shortcuts to get ahead of the competition.

To get quick SEO results, some companies consider spamming techniques that promise results. But Google is no fool, and any attempt to shortcut the indexing process can result in serious penalties.

So, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint!

 

Related articles