Your mechanic might guarantee that your car will run by the week’s end.
When it comes to SEO, guarantees are often used to compensate for poor work. Instead of guaranteeing an outcome, a good SEO company will be honest with you about the variables in SEO.
Table of Contents
SEO Variables
No Two Campaigns are Alike
SEO isn’t one size fits all. Each SEO campaign will need its own plan of action. The easiest path to monetization for one company might be different than another company. One company might already have its foot in the door with some strong keywords and historical content that can be leveraged, while another company may not even have a website yet.
Because all SEO campaigns start in different positions, it is nearly impossible to give a blanket statement regarding the length of time until you begin seeing an ROI. Companies that advertise that they can get anyone ranking in a certain amount of time are either lying or don’t understand the assignment. But, they can and should be able to speak in averages.
Ranking for Geographical Targets
Ranking for “national SEO agency” is a lot harder than “best amusement park Farmington, Utah” (spoiler alert: there’s only one Farmington amusement park). When the competition is localized, you can find a quicker path to monetization by focusing on the local qualifiers in the keywords.
Search Engine Competition
If you are one of two companies in the nation that offer a unique and specific product, you’ll have a faster time jumping in the rankings than someone who is one of thousands of companies trying to sell the same product. The heavier the competition, the longer it will take to rise in the rankings.
SEO Algorithms
People are always trying to beat the system. It used to be keyword stuffing, but Google caught on and made adjustments.
The algorithm isn’t out to get you. It’s designed to provide internet searchers with the best results. When Google figures out how people are trying to cut corners, they will adjust again. But when you help Google look good, Google is likely to return the favor.
Because the algorithms with Google are ever-changing, an SEO agency can’t guarantee that what is working today will work tomorrow. A firm that is promising it has insider algorithm insights from Google is full of trash. Google’s literal algorithm details are worth billions, so they’re not disclosing those to anyone anytime soon. Instead, good SEOs will know how to read Google’s guidelines and do their own tests to reverse engineer maximizing Google’s algorithms.
Value SEO Conversions Over Rankings
When it comes to SEO, focus your goal to be more than “rank #1 in Google.” Even if you rank as the first result on Google, you still might not win a prize. It won’t do you any good to rank highly for keywords that no one cares about or that don’t convert. The ultimate goal of your SEO campaign is to bring more paying customers to your site.
Ranking highly doesn’t always equate to a higher conversion rate. Choosing your targeted keywords is a strategic process. Not every keyword will lead the right audience to your page. You won’t be any better off if you get millions of visitors and they are the wrong target audience.
A quality SEO company will put in the time and effort to provide you with keywords that your ideal customers are already looking for. They will be able to find your customers and create content that works for them. That content will lead to more conversions than if you were the top-ranked result for something your customers never search.
Focus on optimizing your site for the money-makers. That’s why you’re trying to rank, isn’t it?
How an SEO Company Could Kill Your SEO
Are there a couple of ways that SEO companies can get you ranking higher faster? Yes. Are they going to be good for your business in the long run? Not likely.
To reach their “guarantees,” shady SEO companies might adopt some less-than-ideal practices.
Let’s look at those strategies and why they should be avoided.
Plagiarism
Reposting content that is not your own without giving proper credit is plagiarism. Copying and pasting content from another high-ranking site might be easy, but it doesn’t mean it’s effective, because 2011’s Panda Algorithm from Google cracked down on plagiarism big time. And a similar algorithm update returned in 2024, tackling artificial intelligence made SEO content. Unique content is not only better for your site in the algorithm, but it’s also the ethical approach.
Backlink Farms
Links between your site and others tell search engines that your site is well-connected and well-established.
At least, that’s the idea.
Like a six-gallon bucket of Costco macaroni and cheese, backlinks can be purchased in bulk. These bulk backlink purchases from link farms do not link to quality sites. And Google has cracked down on spammy backlinks, too.
Instead, focus on creating genuine connections and networking.
Keyword Stuffing
You know you cringe when you read a sentence that was obviously crafted to jam as many keywords into it as possible. No one talks like that. Readers hate it, and they can see right through the strategy.
Because it is such a transparent trick, it will backfire. You’ll lose readers’ interest and trust. Google will notice that searchers are bouncing, and they will penalize you for it.
Good Things Take Time
Optimizing your site may include some behind-the-scenes revamping. You may have some slow-loading pages that need to be brought up to speed or broken backlinks that need to be resolved. Sifting through this won’t happen overnight.
If an SEO firm promises first-page rankings by the end of the month, be wary. Strong, quality SEO is a long game. By laying the groundwork and creating a foundation of authentic content, you can expect results and momentum to pick up around the six to 12-month mark.
But as for your mechanic, you’ll definitely want to hold him to that guarantee to be back on the road by Friday.
