• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Apr 12, 2021
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

Tax Bandits banner
Home / Sales and Marketing / Online Marketing / The Downside of Overly Aggressive SEO Strategies
The Downside of Overly Aggressive SEO Strategies

The Downside of Overly Aggressive SEO Strategies

2215 Views

Aug 1, 2013 By Ryan Kettler

You’re probably already familiar with the words “Penguin” and “Panda.” Not because you’re a zoologist, but because you’re a small business marketer with a finger on Google’s algorithmic pulse.

 
Whenever Google (see Matt Cutts) puts out any changes to their algorithms, you know exactly what they mean and how they affect your website. You’re not worried because you’ve been doing things the right way. Writing and curating content, publishing it, promoting it, etc. Good stuff.
 
A lot of small business marketers and other marketing professionals experience the exact opposite. They go into a tizzy because their websites have been directly affected in a detrimental way (i.e. lower rankings, less traffic) by these changes. They shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, these algorithm changes have everything to do with rewarding relevancy and penalizing those who take advantage of best practices by abusing them or using them maliciously, a.k.a. black-hat optimization.
 
I recently read an article on UpStart Business Journal detailing the extreme downside to having an overly aggressive link-building strategy. In the article, Vladimir Gendelman, the founder and CEO of Company Folders describes how he put all of his SEO strategy eggs into one basket by building a massive cache of irrelevant inbound links to his website using a link farm.
 
Vladimir was seeing great results in the form of high rankings and traffic, yet he knew he had built a house of cards. In the blink of an eye, Google released Penguin and his organic traffic numbers from Google dropped by 76% and his overall site traffic dropped by 64%.
 
SEO Strategy Lessons Learned
 
In the end, Vladimir admitted his mistake. This was a good business move on his part because every good CEO/CMO make mistakes, but the great ones learn from them and make their strategies better, more air-tight, avoiding future issues.
 
Vladimir demonstrated this by doing more of what Google is looking for: content marketing using ethical, white-hat SEO techniques:
 
“In expanding our marketing plan, we created the Company Folders blog, which provides our audience with helpful facts, tips and tutorials. We also began writing articles for other publications and increasing our outreach on forums and external blogs.”
 
Atta boy Vladimir! Now you’re building relevant, inbound links the right way—writing stellar content that is useful, valuable, and unique. This content has a high viral coefficient, meaning it can be shared easily, creating more and more inbound social links (which Google loves). A new page of content on a small business website receives on average 55 new unique website visitors each month (Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8792868.htm). Also, companies with blogs get 55% more website traffic, and that number goes up exponentially whether you post once a week, twice a week, and then up to several times a day – wherein you become a thought leader in your field (HubSpot eBook).
 
Looking back, Vladimir said, “These changes led to a vast improvement across all fronts. Last May was our most successful month to date in terms of revenue. Our clients are happier with the products and service they receive (and refer us to others), while our employees are proud to be a part of a more stable, successful company. We’ve even gotten an increase in our traffic from Google! Not the same levels of traffic as before, mind you, but it’s steadily growing.”
 
Long-Term SEO Strategies Pay Off
 
BoostSuite only uses SEO strategies that are long-term and safe for reliable traffic growth. In fact, small business marketers who adjusted their websites to comply with basic search engine guidelines using BoostSuite increased website visitors on average by 214% and purchases on average by 146%. (Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/6/prweb10874116.htm)
 
If you’re a marketer looking to take your website marketing results to the next level using proven techniques and strategies, follow the aforementioned link and create your free BoostSuite account today. We guarantee results in the form of more traffic, leads, and customers. We’re looking forward to helping you!
 
This article was originally published by BoostSuite

Filed Under: Online Marketing Tagged With: Content Marketing, Google+, Marketing, Mistakes, Online Marketing, Ryan Kettler, Search Engine Optimization

Ryan Kettler

Ryan Kettler

Ryan Kettler is Director of Communications for BoostSuite. Ryan is a sports fanatic, devoted runner, avid golfer, beer connoisseur, Internet marketing zealot and live music enthusiast. When he’s not helping BoostSuite customers he can be found running 5ks, sampling IPAs, and cheering on his North Carolina State Wolfpack. BoostSuite is a web marketing optimization product for small business owners. Unlike current products that bewilder and discourage small business owners, BoostSuite allows novice web marketers to build more website traffic and convert more online visitors into customers and leads for their businesses. BoostSuite is free and takes only one minute to set up, is easy to learn, and can be used by anyone.

Related Posts

  • 8 Marketing Hacks Every Startup Should Perfect
  • 3 Best Things to Sell Online to Make Money
  • 7 SEO Marketing Trends for 2021

Primary Sidebar

Random

Startup 101: The Importance of Tax Planning

Apr 12, 2021 By Andrew Deen

4 Ways to Best Support Curbside Operations

Apr 12, 2021 By Eleanor Hecks

5 Common Causes Why Your Website is Slow 

Apr 12, 2021 By Jason Chow

3 Secrets to Optimize Your Business Online Presence in 2021

Apr 11, 2021 By Luke Hyde

Diversity & Inclusion: Best Practices for Project Managers

Apr 11, 2021 By Michelle Symonds

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy