The art and science of search engine optimization (SEO) is a complicated beast to tackle for most internet marketers, website & small business owners.
So its no surprise that the SEO question I’m asked by most people when the topic of search engine optimization comes up is this.
Does SEO still work?
Yes, it does.
However, that’s a lot trickier and more difficult than it sounds and in 2021 the SEO marketplace demand for Google first page rankings in the search results pages is more competitive than ever.
This leaves many people (webmasters, site owners, app developers, ecommerce stores, etc.) asking this same question and wondering whether or not an investment into hiring a search engine optimizer or an SEO agency is going to be worth the cost given the competitive landscape and high demand for first page SERP listings.
Start learning about the basics of search engine optimization in this SEO starter guide from Google.
While I’m naturally biased because I’ve been a search engine optimizer for over two decades, I believe that SEO does still actually work in 2021 and will continue working for years to come for businesses and websites that manage to do SEO properly.
That’s the catch!
“Business and websites that manage to do SEO properly”
There’s thousands of so called “professional SEO company” businesses & digital marketing companies that you can find online selling “SEO services” on just about every major internet marketing community and freelance search engine optimization destination on the internet.
Can you trust all of them?
Absolutely NOT!
The majority of digital marketing and search engine optimization agencies all offer this same cookie cutter strategy & approach to off page SEO optimization (back link development) for example:
- Social Bookmarking
- Image Submissions
- Profile Submissions
- Business Listings
- Infographic Submissions
- PPT and PDF Submissions
- Blog Commenting
- Video Submissions
- Classified Ads Submissions
- Blog Posting
- Directory Submission
While this way of building backlinks to your website may work for low competition longtail keywords, it won’t work in any highly competitive industries such as SEO, web hosting or internet gambling for example.
These are three of the most competitive markets to compete in and learning how to be successful with SEO in these industries is incredibly difficult to SE optimization beginners and online marketing industry newcomers.
Which SEO companies are good?
There’s actually LOTS of good SEO companies that you can hire to help with your business search engine optimization needs.
Some of the best SEO companies don’t offer SEO services but instead they focus on providing tools, data, information and analytics to help webmasters improve their organic search footprint.
Companies like ahrefs and SEMrush provide marketers with useful SEO tools that actually work and help businesses to better optimize their websites for the search engines such as Bing and Google.
BenjaminOgden.com is an SEO agency lead by yours truly, Benjamin Ogden, a twenty year search engine optimizing veteran.
Click the button below to learn about my fully managed SEO service to start optimizing your website for the search engines.
Using SEO tools to create an effective search engine optimization campaign
Keyword research tools are incredibly valuable to creating a search engine optimization campaign that actually works.
Competitor analysis tools are also incredibly helpful SEO tools identifying gaps between your website and your competitor’s website that’s ranking above you in Google search results.
Marketing tools are a powerful addition to any digital marketers toolkit they use to approach organic search marketing.
Why organic SEO works best + 5 steps for success
Organic search engine optimization, otherwise known as organic SEO, works best for online marketing professionals working to improve the rankings in the search engine(s) (Google) because the Google core search algorithm(s) are super-intelligent and they do an excellent job of ranking the best content in the tops of the SERPs.
Building an organic search footprint that’s naturally fitting with major brands in your industry goes a long way with ranking better in the search engine results pages.
Five steps to building a successful organic SEO strategy
- Develop a brand, something original that people can identify with and relate to. For example, I’m offering my SEO services on BenjaminOgden.com because I’ve been a leading search engine optimizer for the last two decades and I personally work on the development of every single marketing campaign that our SEO agency handles for our clients.
- Conduct keyword research and don’t ignore the longtail search opportunity. Scoring a Google first page SERP ranking is very difficult for high volume competitive keywords such as “web hosting” and “SEO”. Longtail SEO opportunities are much easier to rank for and can make up for search volume with longtail keyword diversity volume such as “SiteGround vs Bluehost“, “best web hosting companies in USA” or “cheapest WordPress hosting India”, etc.
- Create fast web pages and super-fast websites. Google offers a very useful tool for measuring website speed, SEO and other important search engine ranking factors. Try Web Dev by Google to get insightful feedback based on Google’s technical analysis of numerous speed and other important SEO factors that influence your website’s rankings on Google search.
- Share your latest content on your social media channels. Building Facebook pages and Twitter accounts are an essential part of creating organic content that goes viral and generates countless backlinks naturally in a 100% white hat way. LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok are also powerful social media marketing channels that can help boost your website’s organic SEO footprint.
- Link to highly authoritative & relevant web pages that are on topic and useful to your readers. Websites such as Wikipedia provide an abundance of useful information on just about every topic under the sun. Linking to industry journals, blogs, news sites and forums is a good way to keep your readers coming back. Plus, spiders and website statistics sites will pick up those links and can often lead to new backlinks from other websites linking to your pages linking out to authorities.
Benjamin Ogden SEO Agency
In addition to managed optimization services, BenjaminOgden.com is an all-in-one digital marketing SEO agency writing about search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, technology news and reviews in our search marketing blog.
Browse our website to learn SEO tips that actually work and study the art of search engine marketing on BenjaminOgden.com.