When Google originally envisioned SEO, it was seen as the great internet equaliser. It didn’t matter how much money you had or the size of your marketing department, you still had to create a site with quality content that seemed the most relevant to search engine users.
However, spam ran rampant as there is was shortage of people on the internet with incredible computer expertise. So Google tried to level the playing fields again with their constant algorithm updates. However all these have achieved is that now small companies don’t have the time and resources required to conduct SEO on the scale of most large corporations.
Increased Need for Industry Expertise
Some of the main barriers for small to medium businesses looking to pursue Google search engine optimization are cost and expertise. Google have made their algorithm so subtle and unstable that only people who have been viewing SEO trends over some time and tweaking their efforts seem to have a handle on what’s going on.
There’s a whole bunch of quick fixes out there promised by SEO specialists. But the real truth is that, due to the ever increasing competition, even effective SEO takes up to a year to achieve meaningful results and needs to be constantly maintained by publishing quality content and valuable link building.
Possible Funnelling into Commercial Model
There are two views one could take on this development: one could just assume that any given system will automatically be dominated by entities with the most resources and the highest degree of innovation (which is often tied to resources). This traditional capitalist viewpoint has proven incorrect on the internet before though.
The second view is that this is an intentional development engineered by Google. Google Ads PPC campaigns, an arguably more fair system for SMEs who simply bid on keywords instead of heavily optimising around them, have experienced a massive surge in business and high commercial intent clicks in recent years. And seeing as 96% of Google’s revenue come from these sources, it certainly not bad news for them.
How Much Does Your Site Need Google?
Search engine optimization strategy can be a complex thing to organise without the help of an SEO consultation company, as it can take more time to accomplish than the business it can bring you.
It’s important to see if Google optimisation has any real value to your business. If you’re just a small business looking to have an internet presence without necessarily drawing a large amount of business from that touch point, you may benefit more from a modest PPC campaign. That way the rest of your operating areas don’t have to suffer for SEO.