The SEO Slowdown

When you search for something on Google, are you generally pretty happy with the results? I know I am. I rarely ever go past the first page unless I’m doing some hardcore digging for companies to help. This is the reason many believe rankings have slowed down. People are pretty satisfied with the results showing on the first page, so why would Google rush to change them?

Even though rankings have slowed down a lot within the last year, there’s a silver lining here. This is most definitely good news for you if you are already at the top of page one. If you have not yet reached page one, there’s a silver lining for you too. If you are on the fence about getting SEO done for your site, this article may push you over the edge.

No one knows for certain why sites are ranking slower these days, but we do know that people rarely go past the first page.

Already showing up in search?

If you’re on the first page of Google, you’re pretty much there to stay. The rich get richer.

I don’t mean that literally, but anyone who is coming after your spot will have a longer journey. This will ensure that you stay there longer or maybe even forever. We live in an age of instant gratification, which works in your favor if you’re already ranking. People just don’t have the foresight or the patience to play the long term “SEO game.”

This leads to taking shortcuts like buying keywords from random sites like Fiverr which can ruin a site. Buying crappy links from cheap websites is all the rage these days. Hence why it’s so hard to find a good marketing team. These services are deeply flawed and are never rated properly.

Here’s one of the main flaws with these type of services:

The feedback window is too short and you can’t go back and edit reviews.

You’ll find sellers with hundreds of great reviews but this means very little. Most reviews are left within a week of the delivery date. That’s not long enough to gauge whether the links had a positive impact on your site.

If your site gets penalized or de-indexed, you can’t go back and edit the original review.

Another reason this cheapie method sucks is because the link quality and relevancy are usually very poor.

The bottom line is this; as competitors try to take shortcuts, it ads more security to your listing.

If You’re Not Showing Up Yet

There is an upside to this situation, even if you are not yet ranking. The good news is, you can still climb to the top of page one.

Once you get there, you’ll be happy you made the investment in your business and you’ll be able to stay there. Google is moving as fast as it ever will. More than likely, as more content is added to the worldwide web, and India & China each continue to have a population 1 billion larger than the US, it will just keep getting slower and slower.

There’s no reason to speed up the process any more. Users have been pretty pleased with the search results. That means the time to get your site ranked is now while things are still moving.

By reading this article, you have a leg up on your competition. Most businesses don’t have a clue as to what’s going on with the search engines. They just keep hemorrhaging money on advertising without an end in sight.

Don’t get me wrong, advertising is great and necessary, but it puts you at the mercy of Yelp, Google, Facebook, Linked In, Snapchat, and their policies. There once was a time when you could just outbid everyone and dominate the whole first page with your ads.

Then an update came out and wiped out people’s businesses over night. The update made it so everyone’s ad got a chance to be shown and the ones that were clicked the most won the spot on the first page.

Lesson: Try not to depend solely on running ads.

What Are You Waiting For?

There’s an ancient Chinese Proverb that says,

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Take advice from the ancient and strongly consider getting an SEO audit. If you’re on a tight budget, do it yourself. I wrote an article on Linked in about bootstrapping your digital PR. Just make sure you study up before taking the plunge into DIY SEO.

I’d lean to the conservative side because it’s better to be safe than sorry. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There’s no instant solution in the world of search engines. I don’t recommend going the DIY route, but the reality of the matter is not everyone can afford to do legitimate SEO.

To use an analogy, let’s examine Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. You need to have a healthy business & a working business model to qualify for SEO. If you’re making sales and want to continue to stay in business for a long time, it’s not a bad idea to invest in SEO.

If you really want quality SEO done for your business, fill out our contact form to receive a complimentary SEO audit done in Miami.

The Frightening Truth

The truth of the matter is, if Google decided to leave all the sites already ranking on page one, consumers wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference.

Nobody really thinks about how a business on page one might not be the best business.

The Real Losers

Whoever is on the first page of Google is making tons of money. Over 90% of the active search traffic goes to the top 3 positions in search.

If that’s you, congrats!

If it’s your competitor, ouch.

In the world of corporations and profit-driven economies, the consumers are really the ultimate losers. If your business is the best of its kind, but it’s not on the first page of the search engines, you’re literally doing a disservice to thousands of consumers who need you and are looking for you.

They will more than likely settle for the businesses on the first page because in their mind, being on the first page of Google equates to credibility… even though it’s not.

If you truly are the best in your industry, you owe it to your customers to get on the first page of Google.