SEO is an ever-changing thing. In the past few years, it’s evolved as technology has changed. But for how much change the industry goes through, there are certain SEO truths that will stand the test of time – or at the very least, many years to come. These are concepts to that business owners and marketers alike may not actually know but should consider when piecing SEO with the bigger picture of your business.

Truth #1: SEO Success Only Goes as Far as Your Most Relevant Keywords

You’ll only rank well on keywords that are most closely related to your products or services. This is a reflection of how your customers know what you sell, and how other websites link to you. Basically, your audience helps shape that keywords you’ll rank on.

Truth #2: Investing in Marketing & Advertising (Unintentionally) Helps SEO

Spending money on things outside of SEO will help you see better success for your website’s organic search performance. It seems counter-intuitive, but investing in other marketing and advertising will help increase branded searches, which is something Google looks at when ranking websites and webpages.

Truth #3: Subject Matter Experts Write the Best Content

Subject matter experts (SMEs) are the only ones who can create truly great content. For authentic, authoritative content, the experts have the true insight and knowledge that can’t be matched by writing services or marketing agencies. Of course, where agencies and consultants come in, is they can help suggest topics to write and how to write them.

Truth #4: UX Has an Effect on SEO

UX effects SEO. Consider investing in UX. A website with easy and intuitive navigation will decrease bounce rate, increase time on site, and increase goal achievement – all of which are user engagement factors that affect SEO performance.

Truth #5: Content is Still King

Content is still king – and don’t expect that to change. With an increase in mobile search and voice search, users are seeing new types of Google search results related to the content, like search snippets, answer boxes allow users to get answers faster than ever. 

Truth #6: SEO is About People, Not Search Engines

SEO is about people, not search engines. If you’re doing SEO to appease Google first, and users second, you won’t see success. SEO is about the user, and all of the content on a website should help users by educating them or offering value.

Do you have any other SEO truths I missed? I’d love to hear your feedback!

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