Some say that SEO is like having a marriage:
Sometimes, you’re inseparable, and sometimes you fight.
But either way, you’re in this for the long haul!
So in this article, let’s talk about 5 things that I hate about SEO.
NOTE: I have a lot of love for the SEO industry. For instance, I’ve worked in the SEO industry for the last few years. I run my own link building agency, and it’s given me a business where I can work online and travel the world.
So for that reason, I have a lot of love for SEO.
But it’s far from perfect:
So, in this article, I’m going to discuss 5 things that I do not like about search engine optimization and how to overcome those challenges.
Table of Contents
5 Things I Hate About SEO
Problem #1: Outside of your control
When it comes to SEO, a big part of it is outside of your control.
You do what you can, but then you just have to let the chips fall where they may.
It’s a mindset:
With SEO, you know that a big part of your business is outside of your control.
Sure, you can publish content, build links, create a targeted keyword strategy:
But at the end of the day, you’re publishing and praying to the gods of Google that your content ranks.
Prime Example: Google Algorithm Updates
You also have Google algorithm updates, which are continually upgrading.
And every time they release an update, you brace for the impact.
So it’s adapt or die:
In fact, you’ll often see people melting down and raging on Facebook groups!
Then you have your competitors…
And this is almost entirely outside of your control!
You ask yourself:
- Will your competition steal your keyword strategy?
- Are they able to pump out more content/higher quality content than you?
- Can you genuinely outrank them?
When it comes to SEO, you always have to aim to outdo your competitors:
If they level up, you need to level up as well. If they publish more content, you should publish more content as well. Or, if they start driving more links to their site, you need to build more backlinks too.
What can you do about competition?
Without getting too stoic, you can only focus on what you can control.
(And, not on what you cannot control.)
There are loads of ways to optimize your site to outrank your competitors on the first page of Google.
How?
- Publish more links
- Create more content
- Improve the quality of your content
If you follow these steps, and drive more authority to your site with backlinks, eventually the traffic will come.
Problem #2: Google’s Algorithm Is A Mystery
Chances are it probably will be a mystery forever.
No one knows exactly how Google’s algorithm works.
It has over 200 ranking factors.
But you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this out – because we have clues.
For example:
Google have stated that link building is still one of the most important ranking factors for your website.
However, there are new updates coming out all the time:
And sometimes your website can take a huge hit overnight!
So it can be absolutely brutal to get your traffic back to where it was.
But it’s not just that.
Sometimes you can spend hours tweaking and improving your content…
You imagine all that sweet Google love you’re about to get…
But when you reindex the content, it ranks way lower than it ever did before.
(SEO is really a case of trial and error.)
Plus, there’s so much wrong information about SEO out there.
Many people are wrongly informed about SEO because they get poor information from the wrong sources.
It’s a bit like watching the blind lead the blind sometimes.
For example:
Some clients come to me, asking for PBN links – because they’ve read about them online.
But PBNs are terrible for your site!
Or even worse, they’ve tried to buy a website with thousands of links.
When in reality, most of those links are spammy, get ZERO organic traffic and aren’t worth the price at all.
TLDR? Be VERY careful where you get your SEO information from.
Question the SEO information you see, analyze it, and ask yourself:
“Does this make sense?”
Problem #3: SEO Is A Long, Time-Consuming Process
This is one of the biggest reasons why most people fail at SEO:
It’s such a long and drawn-out process.
When it comes to SEO, it’s like a slow cooker, not a microwave.
And if you expect fast results, you probably shouldn’t invest in SEO.
It requires a lot of time, patience, and waiting around.
If you have a new website, it can take months to see results.
So you just have to be prepared to wait.
For example:
When you’re building links, you can’t just keep hitting the refresh button on Google Search console, hoping that your rankings are going to change.
When you’re building a website:
Think long-term in terms of years, not months.
You’re building a business – and there’s no shortcuts here.
For example:
I have a client who, before coming to me, started their website 3 years ago.
They were grinding it out for 3 years, patiently waiting to see results.
They started the website in 2016:
But only started seeing traffic in 2019.
But by 2020, they were finally getting awesome results and thousands of visitors from SEO!
NOTE: With SEO, success comes to those who wait.
Problem #4: Google Doesn’t Prioritise Organic Results
There’s less real estate on the first page of Google than ever before.
(And I’m not talking about houses here.)
Google any popular keyword and you’ll often see:
- Featured videos
- Snippets
- Pictures
- Ads on the first page of Google
This means there’s less space than ever for your website to rank organically.
So if you really want to drive traffic to your site, you need to be in the top 3 results.
And this isn’t going to stop:
Maybe one day, Google will just be like a blog post with featured snippets.
And you’ll be able to get all the information you need, without clicking on a site.
I’m not saying that’s a definite – but I do expect this trend to continue.
Google is a business.
And they want to make more money with their ads.
So with every update they release, there’s going to be less space for your website to rank organically.
Overall, it’s a trend that I expect to continue.
But what you can do?
- First of all, monetize your content better
- Increase your prices
- And do whatever it takes to boost your conversion rates
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing:
Change forces us to monetize our content better and operate at a higher level.
Like any business, you either adapt or die.
Problem #5: Competition
It’s now easier than ever to grow and scale an SEO website.
For example:
- You can easily hire writers online
- You can quickly build links to your site
- It’s easier than ever to scale your site with the tools available
SEO is a competition:
But competition is healthy and SEO is like one big casino where everyone has their poker faces on.
We’re all betting against each other, bluffing, rolling the dice, and hoping that we can rank.
But if you understand the rules of the game, you can easily increase your chances of winning.
So what can you do about the competition?
Essentially, you have to go the extra mile.
Do all the hard things that your competitors are not prepared to do.
For example:
With content, the 80/20 rule doesn’t really apply here.
Content is your business.
The better quality your content is, the more you’re going to stand out from your competition.
And this applies to all elements of SEO.
If you want to know more about the things I hate about SEO, watch this video.
To sum things up..
Rant over:
Now you know the 5 things I hate about SEO!
As I said before, I love SEO.
It’s totally changed my life and given me a business where I can work online and travel the world.
But SEO has many disadvantages:
And that’s what SEOs simply will not tell you.
