How Important Is Search Engine Optimization?
It is safe to say that SEO has gone through many changes in the past few years. With social media giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter being so prevalent in today’s society, the importance of traditional search engine optimization has noticeably declined. However, this does not mean that it is any less important than it was 10 years ago.
In November of last year, Google made their Penguin update. This means websites with links coming from low-quality sites could be penalized or even removed from search engine results entirely. This update was meant to put a stop to “black hat” SEO techniques that Google had previously accepted, but have since deemed inappropriate.
The result has been an increase in the importance of search engine optimization because it is now more difficult than ever to rank high in search engines using these techniques. This means that good SEO is only going to be more important than it was before, and the negative effects of poor SEO will be more pronounced.
Although the Penguin update initially seemed like a major blow to websites who did not use other forms of social media marketing, very few websites were actually affected by the update. Only about 1% of search engine queries were affected by the update, and 98% did not notice any difference in their rankings.
However, this does not mean that there is much less competition when it comes to SEO. In fact, there is more competition than ever before because the Internet is growing so rapidly. This means that there has never been a more important time to have a sound SEO strategy in place if you want your website to appear among one of the top results when someone searches for something related to your industry.
One problem that is common with modern websites is that they are often too focused on short-term goals such as generating sales or leads immediately instead of taking a longer-term approach by investing in good SEO methods. This makes sense because immediate results are more appealing than potentially great results down the road.
It stands to reason that if you invest in SEO now, you will reap the benefits of your efforts in the future. For those who want quick returns, this is not an appealing approach. They want to generate leads right now and give up on anything that is going to take a significant amount of time to build. The Penguin update has made this even worse because it has made it more difficult for businesses to get their websites noticed through search engine optimization.