Loading ...Not so long ago, sites could rely on natural methods when they wanted to feature in the search engine results pages. Doing some search engine optimisation helped, certainly, but it was still possible to appear in the first 10 or 20 results just by putting up a decent site.
Even today pages find themselves at the top of the list for some keywords without ever having considered SEO. This is great for the site, just as long as the business doesn’t come to rely on being top dog forever. You can’t rely on luck for your long-term rankings health.
The way it works is this. The search engines are built to find sites that naturally answer the needs of internet users. When an internet user looks for a site about greenhouse plant growing, the search engines assess all of the greenhouse plant growing sites and list them in order of relevance. If your site specialises in greenhouse plant growing advice, you’ll naturally appear higher because you mention that keyword a lot. If you’ve been established for a while, you’ll appear higher again. If everyone comes to you for greenhouse plant growing advice, you’re likely to have a lot of links that are pointed to your site, so your listing will appear even higher. The search engine algorithms are based on the natural way of things.
Search engine optimisation is based on the natural way of things as well, which is why SEO professionals encourage clients to plant keywords in the right places and enhance their off-page reputation where possible. As more sites become good at appearing to naturally answer the needs of the internet user, competition heats up. Your site still may have some natural appeal, but other sites have more of it.
Why you need to SEO
What usually happens in these circumstances is the page is gradually edged out as SEO-minded competitors work their way along the rankings. A page that never considered search engine optimization isn’t as finely attuned to the specific things the search engines are looking for. If your competitor has a page with just the right range of keywords and links to the right people, they’re going to rank higher.
Fixing the problem if you’ve never approached search engine optimization before requires a bit of work. As the page was never properly targeted for that keyword, getting back in the top listings isn’t just a matter of a few tweaks here and there. Many sites, however, try just this method, and wonder why their page continues to dive in the search engine results pages.
Unfortunately, the only real way to fix your rankings if you have never approached SEO before is to bite the bullet and optimise your site. An SEO analysis may reveal a number of natural assets that your pages have, which can be used in your SEO plan. You can talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about SEO analysis. Without knowledge of what you’re working with, however, you’re working in the dark.
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