SEO – Not Always the Best Choice for Business

Over recent years, it’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of businesses have ceased viewing SEO as something of an optional marketing strategy and have instead singled it out as the marketing strategy of most importance. Most realise how difficult it is to get by with SEO and the majority understand its potential when implemented correctly, but like everything else in the world of online business there’s a time and a place for SEO…there’s also a time to steer clear of it.Though SEO was an all-powerful good that couldn’t fail to be the best way forward for your business? Think again – here’s a quick look at three instances in which SEO will end up doing you more harm than good:        When Quick-Fix Results Are Called ForThere are thousands of different approaches a business can take to trigger a quick and temporary spike in interest…SEO is not one of them. Right from the very beginning, search engine optimisation has always been implemented, at least by professionals, with the long-term future of the business in mind. Almost all effective and white-hat SEO elements take weeks or months to get off the ground and start delivering results, but once the improvement has begun showing itself, it’s there for the long-run. There have been some black-hat SEO tactics over the years that have proven effective as getting things done in a hurry, but Google’s war on spam has made all such spammy approaches nothing short of fatal.So in any instances where quick-fix results are what counts, SEO isn’t for you.You’re Unwilling to Invest Enough In ItThere’s a pretty obvious reason why some SEO agencies will charge a business £4.99 per month and another set the bar closer to £499 per month. Not that paying more or less will always guarantee the quality of service received, but at the same time you cannot expect world-class SEO of enormous power to be handed out for free. As mentioned above, SEO is a long-term investment that needs to be honed and refined along the way to get the most out of it – a lump sum one-off payment of £99 is not going to get you or your business very far.You don’t have to spend the Earth on quality SEO to get your business and its name in lights, but you do need to be realistic.Overdoing It Has Killed Your SiteAnd finally, there’s always the possibility that the old ‘too much of a good thing’ is what’s been holding you back in the first place. With SEO, overdoing it can lead to a site which although pretty great in most respects rubs Google and Co. up the wrong way. If they suspect you’re getting heavy with the SEO, they’ll get heavy-handed with you – it’s as simple as that. As such, if you have no choice but to put your hand in the air and accept that your SEO efforts have been a little OTT to say the least, it could be that the best thing you can do is move away from further SEO and concentrate instead on what it is your business does best.