SEO Risks That Are Worth Taking
Business owners often struggle to understand the benefits of SEO. That is completely understandable especially when you consider that a lot of the information that has been published about search engine optimization is highly technical, inaccurate, or otherwise flawed.
Even though the results of implementing an SEO strategy don’t happen overnight, search engine optimization can prove extremely beneficial in terms of increasing traffic and boosting a company’s bottom line.
Anytime business owners are dealing with the unknown, it is only natural to feel a little bit uneasy. It is important to remember, however, that all business decisions have some level of risk. With SEO, the risks are relatively low while the potential rewards are exceptionally high, often leading to tremendous growth online.
One of the most important things to do before implementing an SEO strategy is to analyze the risks to figure out which ones are worth taking.
Prior to jumping in and getting started, there is one thing that should be addressed. The biggest risk for any company when it comes to SEO is failing to implement a search engine optimization strategy. The potential rewards are far too great to skip out on search engine optimization altogether.
Acceptable Risks With SEO Houston Pros
1. Testing And Tweaking
Ultimately, the objective of any SEO campaign is to increase your sales or leads by allowing you to get more traffic to your website.
The only way that you can get more traffic, however, is if people actually click on the link to your site. Even if your site ranks at the top of the search results, it won’t matter if nobody is clicking on it.
This can happen for quite a few different reasons. Sometimes, it is difficult to figure out exactly why people aren’t clicking on your link.
In most cases, the only way to come up with an answer is by testing out different changes to see what impact they have. With this type of testing, you should only change one thing at a time. For instance, for your first test, you could try changing the title of the link. With the next test, you could then change the description, etc. As you try out different combinations, track your results to see which ones are the most effective.
The risky part of conducting this type of testing is that you usually will have to go through a lot of different combinations before you find one that gives you good results. Throughout the testing process, you may experience decreases in your traffic volume when you try certain combinations that don’t work. Typically, these drops in traffic are temporary, only lasting as long as the changes are left in place.
All in all, however, this is an acceptable risk since it helps you discover which combinations will allow you to maximize your traffic and make more sales.
2. Posting Backlinks To Other Sites
A lot of times, people are hesitant to provide backlinks to other websites. After all, why would they want to send their traffic to another site?
As it turns out, backlinks are actually a very important aspect of SEO. Your goal should be to get as many incoming links from high-quality, relevant websites as possible since these links can help increase your site’s authority, allowing it to obtain a higher ranking.
Getting links to your own site is only one part of the equation. You also should provide outgoing links that point to other high-quality sites in your industry.
Even though it may seem like you are shooting yourself in the foot by posting links to other sites, it actually can benefit your business by allowing Google to see that you are referencing well-established sites that have a lot of authority.
One thing you should avoid, however, is linking to low-quality sites that don’t have good content. If Google finds too many connections between your site and these low-quality sites, it could negatively impact your ranking.
3. Cleaning Up Your URLs
The URL to the main page of your site should be as short as possible. Ideally, it should be your exact domain name, which should match the name of your company.
For other pages on your site, you should include keywords in the URL that help the search engines understand what the content is about.
A word of warning, however: you should avoid exceptionally long URLs. Try to limit their length. Otherwise, excess characters beyond a certain point will be cut off and replaced with an ellipsis (…) in the browser bar.
If you are in the process of revamping your site, take a look at your URLs to see if you can improve them.
Always proceed with caution when doing this, however. There is a risk of losing your traffic if you change your URLs. Even if you properly redirect your URLs using 301 redirects, you still may see an initial decline in traffic.
Ultimately, however, the change is worth it since it makes it easier for both the search engines and your users to find, share, and understand your content.
4. Revamping Your Website
If you never update your website, it will become dated looking. Periodic redesigns are essential. Unfortunately, they can take a lot of time. They can also cost a lot of money and can be somewhat risky.
There comes a time, however, when you have no choice but to update your site. Perhaps your design looks like it hasn’t evolved since the start of the Internet. Maybe you have a well-optimized site but the people who visit it struggle to find their way around. There are countless reasons why a redesign may be necessary.
Even though these changes will ultimately make your site more effective and easier to use, you do run the risk of seeing an initial decline in traffic. When you do a redesign, Google and the other major search engines have to evaluate all of your content again. Customers who have been using your site for a long time may also require an adjustment period to get used to the new design.
In the long run, however, your original rankings should return. Your customers will also quickly adapt to the changes. In fact, they may even find them beneficial the more that they use them. The most important thing to remember, however, is that an updated site that is fresh, modern, and easy to use will help you attract new customers and clients.
5. Taking Advantage Of Expired Domains
Every day, tons of domain names expire when their owners fail to renew them. After a domain expires, it becomes available for purchase.
Purchasing expired domains and pointing them at your website is a good way to give your site a boost. Chances are, the domains that you buy will already have some backlinks. When you redirect the domains to your site, you can benefit from those backlinks.
This is another area where there is a lot of risks, however. It is important to fully understand the process before proceeding.
If you purchase an expired domain, it should be extremely relevant to your business. Keep in mind, many of these domain names are still getting traffic. If you point the domains at your site, visitors will be redirected there when they try to go to the original site. If your site is completely unrelated to the original topic, you will just wind up irritating them.
If you purchase a site that was previously penalized by Google for having a lot of spam, it can also negatively impact your website’s ranking. You need to make sure that any domains that you purchase were used for legitimate sites to avoid accidentally getting your site penalized.
When done correctly, however, buying expired domains is a highly effective way to deliver more traffic to your site.
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