Can the damage done to a website from improper search engine optimization (SEO) be undone? The short-term answer is no but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fix it. Here’s why:
Search engines like Google Search crawl the web for new content on a regular basis but contrary to popular belief, this might not mean on a daily basis. Much like their secret sauce for determining the rank of websites appearing in Google Search, their crawl process is based on an algorithm. Paired with the fact that regular SEO improvements often take time, fixing SEO errors should be seen as a long-term commitment.
One practice that some outsourced SEO companies enjoy using involves writing content that they then use to spam various websites, especially blogs, social media sites, and pages that allow comments by unregistered users. Some even go as far as paying for incoming links. The end result for the website owner is a temporary spike in low quality website traffic or, worst of all, a complete website ban imposed by search engines.
So what repairs can be made?
Here are just a few of the tried and true SEO practices that we live by in order to help our clients rank well:
1. Rewrite page content to be high quality and ensure that it’s written for people, not search engines
2. Include popular, relevant keywords in the content but don’t overdo it
3. Include descriptive text in each page’s title and meta tags and remove irrelevant text
4. Check page speeds and look for areas of improvement
5. Scan the website for vulnerabilities and fix them immediately
6. Submit a complete sitemap to search engines
One risky strategy that might be employed is disavowing incoming links from other websites. This step is taken when harmful links originating from third-party websites are the main cause of a website’s poor showing on search engines. Disavowing links is risky because its improper use could be harmful to a website’s performance in search results.
Regardless of what has or hasn’t been done to improve a website’s ranking on search engines, like recovering from a broken bone, it takes time to repair SEO efforts. With many SEO companies offering their $99 special of the week, it’s important to remember that like any shortcut in life, there are costs. Ultimately, you’ll get what you pay for — or in the case of poor SEO, you’ll get more than you bargained for.
If you’d like a FREE SEO evaluation of your site, contact us and we will be glad to help. Our free SEO tool provides the starting point for a conversation on where your site currently stands and which improvements could benefit your business.