Timothy Carter

How long it takes to rank on Google is dependent on many factors. Make no doubt about it: ranking on the top of the search engines is extremely valuable. Rank one search results get far more traffic even than rank two search results; generally, 33 percent of clicks go to the top result, with 15 percent of clicks going to the second result. In other words, increasing your rank by one can more than double your organic traffic for that keyword ranking. The trouble is, the time to rank in position one on Google can literally take years. SEO is a long-term strategy, and a competitive one; it takes time to develop the authority necessary to reach rank one, and even more time to usurp your top competitors, who are already sitting at rank one. This can be intimidating for a business eager to see quick results. How much time does it really take to your Google rankings to position one? And is it worth the time and effort? Let’s dive in! How Long Will it Take Your Site to Reach Position #1 in Google? In order to give a ballpark estimate of the length of time to rank in Google’s top position, you’ll need a complete SEO audit, which can provide a better timeline estimate. This much we do know: the long term returns of organic search engine optimization, beat paid results. The time it takes to reach rank one depends on many factors: Age of your content Quality and length of your content, compared to the current top positions On-site ranking factors and keyword (entity & LSI) tuning Internal and off-site backlinks Anchor text and diversity of anchors Competition of the keywords for which you’re looking to rank And hundreds of other ranking factors you may be missing! (we list the top statistically significant factors for ranking here) Google is a complex search engine, with an algorithm even experienced experts don’t fully understand, and different tactics yield different results. On top of that, your results will be significantly dictated by your competition, since multiple companies like yours will be fighting for the same territory. The formula and length of time to reach position one on Google is dependent on: the site you’re trying to rank the competitor’s sites and the keyword(s) you’re targeting But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Rank One Pages: A Look at the Data for “Time to Rank” Source: Ahrefs.com Ahrefs conducted a study examining the average age of top-ranking pages, as an indication of how long it took to reach that rank. To do this, they pulled in 2 million random keywords and looked at data for the top 10 ranking search engine results pages (SERPs) for each of them. The average age of a rank-one (not position one) page is nearly 950 days—or more than 2.6 years. Rank-two results averaged about 850 days, with a steady declining trend down to rank 10 Average time to rank in position 10 on ranking page 1 was 650 days. Additionally, only 22 percent of all the pages currently in the top 10 were created within the past year, and just over 1 percent of top-ranked search results were created within the past year. What does this tell us? If you can get to rank one within a year (which is possible), you’re an outlier. Most businesses need to spend multiple years climbing to the top of the SERPs. It’s what some digital marketers have deemed the “Google Sandbox.” The Google sandbox is a hypothetical phenomenon is an algorithmic hold or delayed effect on SEO for months or years until Google sees enough trust signals from your brand. Neil Patel conducted a similar study, compiling data from BuzzSumo, SEMRush, and Ahrefs, to determine the path of the average page to ranking in Google search results. The average highest ranking position, among the millions of data points examined, was 1.81, and the average time it took to reach this position was 3.39 months, or about 100 days. The average total referring domains was 25. This tells us that merely entering the fray—getting to the first page of the SERPs—takes a few months for most businesses. A smattering of other sources confirm these general ideas; some suggest it usually takes somewhere between a month and a year to rank, and some suggest it takes about 90 to 180 days, taking even longer to reach rank one (especially if you’re trying to rank for competitive keywords). Sources vary, depending on what kind of data they’re examining, and whether they’re factoring in anecdotal evidence, but they’re all within the same ballpark. Source: CognitiveSEO Statistically Significant Factors for Reaching Rank One in Google We now have a general idea of how long it takes to reach the top spot in Google search. If you’re at the upper end of the curve (or doing local SEO), you can get there in the span of a few months, but for the most competitive terms, it’s going to take a couple of years. What accounts for this difference? What are the most statistically significant variables that determine the length of time it takes to rank in Google? Factor diversity & keyword entity diversity for ranking first in Google  We discuss factor and entity diversity in other posts, but the most statistically significant factor for ranking #1 in Google results is diversity among the top 100 overall ranking factors for a given page. These represent THE top statistically significant factors (Spearman Correlation between 0.31 to 0.19 at the time of this writing)  to consider when looking to rank a given page in the top position: Number of Top 100 Shared Factors Used Number of Entities Used Number of Top 200 Shared Factors Used Is Inner Page Number of Factors Used Search Result Has Publish Date Ahrefs Referring IP Addresses Ahrefs NoFollow Backlinks Ahrefs Referring Class C Addresses Ahrefs Referring Domains Ahrefs Backlinks Keywords in the HTML Tag Ahrefs Referring Pages Ahrefs Text Backlinks

View these and many other free SEO training videos on our training page.  Video content is another medium you can use in a content campaign; like written, visual, or short-form content, it can cover any number of different topics, offers a reasonable degree of creativity, and can be published almost anywhere. But up until now, video has been one of the less popular content marketing mediums. There are several reasons for this: Search engine crawlers focus on text, making word-rich article writing the “traditional” higher value proposition for SEO. Videos are perceived to be time- and budget-intensive, making them more difficult and expensive to create than other contemporary mediums. Videos haven’t traditionally been as easy to access as written material online. The returns on written content have been sufficient to sustain most campaigns. Video SEO is rising in both popularity and importance for content marketers—but just how important is it going to be throughout this year (and beyond)? Rising User Interest in Video & Video SEO The most important factor you have to consider is user interest. After all, your content strategy is almost exclusively focused on appealing to what your users want and need. If they want and need more video SEO content, it’s in your best interest to supply it to them. There’s no question that user demand for video has grown steadily over the past several years. Some estimates are predicting that up to two-thirds of all online traffic will be intended for video as early as next year. It’s hard to measure this level of interest objectively but take a look at the growth rates of popular video platforms, and how many people you know post and share video SEO content more than any other medium. The prevalence of Wi-Fi and mobile Internet access is also making it easier for users to access videos at any time, furthering the popularity growth spurt and extending it deep into the next few years. Video SEO Benefits We know that written content is valuable for SEO because it provides lots of indexable material to Google and informs search crawlers about your area of expertise. Videos don’t function the same way, but they do provide a number of direct SEO benefits: Higher Search Engine Rankings: Search engines, like Google, often prioritize video SEO in search results. Including videos on your website can increase your chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, your video’s title and description add to Google’s understanding of your brand and site. Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): By using a video thumbnail in search results, search engines tend to attract more attention and clicks compared to regular text links. This higher CTR can positively impact your overall search engine rankings. Reduced Bounce Rates: Engaging video content can keep visitors on your site for longer periods, reducing bounce rates. Search engines interpret this as a sign of valuable and relevant content, which can boost your SEO efforts. Enhanced User Engagement: Videos are more visually appealing and can convey information more effectively than text alone. High user engagement metrics like time on page and interaction can signal to search engines that your content is valuable, leading to improved rankings. Your video SEO popularity, likes, and comments, can contribute to your brand’s overall authority. Increased Backlinks: Compelling and shareable videos are more likely to attract backlinks from other websites, social media platforms, and blogs. Backlinks are a crucial SEO factor as they demonstrate the authority and relevance of your content to search engines. For instance, viral videos can earn you tons of backlinks to increase the domain authority of your site. Improved Social Signals: Social media platforms often prioritize video content, leading to higher shares, likes, and comments. These social signals can indirectly impact your SEO by increasing brand visibility and driving more traffic to your site. Rich Snippets in SERPs: Search engines may display video thumbnails or video carousels in the search results, known as “rich snippets.” This visually appealing format can entice users to click on your content, leading to more traffic. Your video can be indexed as rich content, displayable above the fold on SERPs. Diversified Content: By incorporating videos, you provide diverse backlink and content experiences for both search engines and your audience. This can attract a broader range of users and potentially expand your reach to new audiences. Mobile Optimization: Videos are highly consumable on mobile devices, where a significant portion of internet traffic comes from. Having mobile-friendly content can positively impact your SEO rankings, especially after Google’s mobile-first indexing update. Higher Time on Page: If visitors spend more time watching videos on your site, it can increase the overall time on page metric, indicating to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant. Improved Conversion Rates: Engaging videos can help in showcasing products, services, or brand stories, leading to higher conversion rates. A higher conversion rate can indirectly impact your SEO as satisfied customers may leave positive reviews or share their experiences online. YouTube SEO: If you host your videos on YouTube (the second-largest search engine), optimizing your videos for relevant keywords and linking back to your website can improve your overall online visibility. Your video can rank in platform-specific search engines, like YouTube search, giving you more web real estate. This hasn’t changed much in the past few years, but the accessibility of videos makes these benefits even more appealing. Competitive Edge of Using Video SEO Because so many business owners are worried about producing videos (whether it’s the perceived cost, the lack of familiarity, or just a general fear of change), there’s a significant gap in the content market. There’s certainly no shortage of written content, which has started to approach the brink of oversaturation, so if you want an easy way to stand out, video content gives it to you almost immediately. If you’re in an industry that seldom uses video, this benefit is even stronger—differentiate yourself from the competition by staying ahead of the

SEO (search engine optimization) is the heartbeat of online marketing. Without a sound SEO foundation in place, it’s nearly impossible to generate the kind of results your business needs to enjoy sustained growth and success. But SEO can be highly technical. It’s a skill that requires knowledge, practice, and careful execution. As such, SEO can also be expensive. If you want to grow as a professional and simultaneously maximize resources, becoming an expert in the SEO field is a must. The question is, how do you make it happen? What is an SEO Expert? An SEO expert isn’t someone who works for Google or has some secret formula that takes advantage of a weakness in the search giant’s algorithm. It doesn’t even mean that you need to start a successful SEO agency and have high-dollar clients. Being an SEO expert is about understanding how the search engines work and knowing what it takes to grow organic search traffic on a consistent and repeatable basis. But, unlike other industries where “experts” might be regulated by exams, certifications and a governing body, anyone can read enough to be dangerous and subsequently claim “SEO expert” status. Filtering out the inexperienced can be difficult, especially among those who may be great at selling, but lackluster at delivery. When you’re an SEO expert, the internet becomes your playground. You’re able to breathe life into blogs, websites, and businesses. You also have a thorough understanding of other aspects of marketing – like content, design, and social media – which makes your skillset highly transferrable. The 2 Main SEO Options Before we dive into what it looks like to become your own SEO expert, we would be remiss not to mention the other two options you, as a business owner have: outsourcing SEO to an agency/contractor, or hiring an in-house SEO expert. Advantages of Outsourcing to an SEO Agency An SEO agency is beneficial for numerous reasons, including: It’s cheaper than hiring someone. When you hire someone in-house, you have to pay a salary (regardless of output). You’re also required to cover payroll taxes, benefits, etc. With an agency, you simply pay for what you get – no added fees or expenses. When managed properly, this can make it a cost-effective solution. It’s flexible and scalable. An outsourced SEO agency is more scalable than anything else. As you grow, you simply up your monthly retainer or service needs. You get an outside perspective. Sometimes it’s helpful to work with people outside of your company. They can provide a unique perspective that’s impossible to see when you’re on the inside. You can fire an agency easier. Firing an employee is complicated, emotional, and fraught with legal and financial consequences. An agency, on the other hand, can easily be fired when they don’t live up to their promises. Disadvantages of Outsourcing to an SEO Agency Working with an agency isn’t perfect. There are some disadvantages, such as: Communication can be tough. One of the biggest disadvantages of working with an SEO agency is that you might not ever meet face-to-face. While this can save time in some regards, it can lead to unnecessary friction and frustration in other areas. It all depends on how good the agency is at handling communication. You’re not their only focus. Most agencies won’t sign an agreement of exclusivity with you. This means they have the right to work with your competitors, or any other company. You lose some control. Even if you provide clear instructions, there will always be some lack of control when you outsource to an agency. You must learn to be comfortable with this. You may lose some niche-specific expertise. While there are marketing experts that cover specific niches, broad-based SEO agencies often fail. That’s one of the reasons we’ve honed-in to become experts in lawyer SEO. Advantages of Hiring an In-House SEO Expert In-house SEOs can help your business in many ways: You’ll remain in full control of the process at all times. Most SEO agencies will offer transparency to their clients and strive to get direction and guidance from business owners. However, most agencies also have tried-and-true operations and practices that aren’t easily movable. An in-house SEO expert guarantees you some level of transparency, and gives you near-full control over what strategies get implemented (and how). As long as you trust your expert, you’ll be in a good position. You’re guaranteed to have a representative fully immersed in your brand. Intimate knowledge of your brand is necessary to complete SEO work successfully. Ideally, you’ll be producing content, social media posts, and maintaining relationships with external sites throughout the entirety of your campaign, so if you’re using someone who lives and breathes your brand, you’ll have a greater chance of keeping everything consistent. This advantage is weakened if you also use contractors for your work. You can always outsource parts of the work. Using other contractors is also an inherent advantage of having an in-house SEO agent. Because agencies generally take on all SEO responsibilities at once, you don’t have many options when it comes to work orders. With an in-house agent, you can find other experts and contractors to bring on for portions of your strategy. For example, you can mix, match and hire a team of SEO writers and link builders to suit your strategy best. In-house SEOs can collaborate with your team. The best SEO strategies involve the entire team—designers can make more appealing websites, developers can include more SEO-friendly architecture, and even account managers can help your social media and external link building efforts. Having an in-house SEO means hosting more SEO-related collaboration within your organization. You’ll benefit from cross-training. Your in-house SEO expert might be able to take on some peripheral responsibilities, giving them a dual role, or might be able to impart some knowledge on another one of your team members. Either way, your team will improve through cross-training. Disadvantages of Hiring an In-House SEO Expert There are also some serious disadvantages

As with any Local SEO campaign, one mistake isn’t going to kill you. For instance, posting a piece of poor-quality website content can’t completely ruin your chances at ranking as long as the rest of your content strategy is in proper order. But there are some mistakes in local SEO that can seriously compromise your results. These local SEO mistakes are all too common because they aren’t always apparent or easy to spot. Many entrepreneurs make them without even realizing it and end up with falling ranks, so don’t let yourself become one of them. Here are a few SEO mistakes to avoid at all costs. Discrepancies in Your NAP As you might imagine, one of the most important parts of a local SEO campaign is making sure Google understands where your business is located. The search algorithm scans multiple sources for information that includes your name, address, and phone number, then forms a conclusion based on that information. If it finds a piece of information that conflicts with the others, it is unable to form that conclusion, and as a result, you’ll end up with less authority. If the discrepancies are severe, you may not even end up ranking in the right city. Google Maps, in particular, is serious about NAP information—even small discrepancies can be problematic. For example, writing out “street” on your website while abbreviating it to “st” on your local profile could result in a major problem for your ultimate ranks. The details matter more than you think, so take the extra time to verify that your local Google Business Profile listing is correct on every publicly available location. Fortunately, there are a host of automated or service-based options available to you to make quick work of this task. Incomplete Local Profiles Modern search engine optimization is about far more than just what’s on your website. There are hundreds of external sources, such as local directories and review sites, that all contain pertinent information about local businesses. Google relies on these profiles to form conclusions about a company’s direction, status, and quality, so leaving them empty is a bad idea. Most local directories give you several options to fill out, including details like how many years you’ve been in business and what your mission statement is, along with sections for uploading pictures. If you aren’t filling out all of these forms, and filling them out accurately, you’ll be missing out on some serious web visibility, and that could hurt your ranking. To take things a step further, remember that many individual users consult these local directories when making a purchasing decision. If all they see from your business is a bunch of empty spaces, they’re highly likely to move on without a second thought. Instead, take the opportunity to sell yourself. Inaccurate Categorization Categorization, like your NAP information, is a bigger deal than it seems to be. If you choose an inappropriate category, or if you select conflicting categories on different local directories, you could lose out on authority and rankings as a result. When you first start a campaign, think carefully about the type of category you want to be known for, and once you choose it, be consistent with it on every platform. It also pays to be as specific as possible. For example, listing yourself as a “criminal defense attorney” is much better than just an “attorney” (we get this specific when we provide local SEO for lawyers). This distinction will help you rank in more specific local searches and will help Google understand your business better. Also consider your business category carefully when choosing the type of local directories you seek in your campaign. For example, UrbanSpoon caters specifically to restaurants—you wouldn’t want to list yourself there if you run an auto body repair shop. No Local Content Some marketers make the most common local SEO mistakes, including not drawing a line between traditional/national SEO and local search strategies. They take care of all their local business listings, but then focus on the remainder of their SEO campaign like they would a national SEO program. As a result, their content isn’t specifically targeted to local SEO, and they end up losing out on a ton of local authority. Make sure you write at least one or two local-specific articles every week on your site, being aware that you may be flagged for duplicate listings. Find ways to make your content specific to your city or region, and take every opportunity you can to get involved in the community and write about it in local directories and other local websites. Ignoring Local Connections Finally, don’t lose out on the opportunity to cement yourself further in the community by forging local connections and using them to your advantage. Work with your local newspapers to get some additional press. Mention nearby or similar local business on social media, and share their material—they’ll likely share yours in kind. Donate to local schools and universities in exchange for getting mentioned on their valuable .edu real estate. Enhance your business information in local directory listings, complete with links and references to your local company. The key to enhance your local SEO efforts is to embed yourself into the local community however you can, and use those connections to build your authority. Not Optimizing for Mobile With the majority of searches now coming from mobile devices, local SEO involves optimizing for local search with a mobile-friendly website. That not only means the site should look good on mobile, but it means the site speed should be wicked-fast. Here are some additional ways to optimize for mobile when poor technical SEO may be dragging you down: Use a responsive design A responsive design ensures that your website content and layout adjust automatically to fit the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. This makes your website more user-friendly and easy to navigate on any device. Optimize page speed Mobile users are typically on-the-go and have limited patience for slow-loading websites. Optimizing

There are many topics in content marketing open for debate, but few have been as elusive to evidentiary proof as the length of the “perfect” blog post. To some, the longer a blog post the better, and there’s a clear argumentative case for it; more words in an article mean more “guts” for web crawlers and readers, and indicate that an article is thorough and in-depth. But, let’s look at some high-level stats related to blog post and content length that will be applicable: The average 1st result on Google has a blog length of 1,500 words. Source: Backlinko Content with >7,000 words gets more than 3x the number of shares and links. Source: MarketingCharts Blog posts are getting longer: the average blog post length is now over 1,400 words long. Source: OrbitMedia When it comes to the first five positions in Google, shorter length appears to have a higher correlation to first page rankings. Source: CognitiveSEO  Longer posts (2,000 words+) tend to rank higher and more readily appear in the top 10. Source: CapsicumMediaworks While a correlation exists between longer length, the correlation is small and gets even less important as you look at larger data set (i.e. beyond the top 10 search results), likely due to the fact that more content is getting longer overall. Source: CanIRank  There is a strong correlation between content length and the number of acquired backlinks to a particular blog post. Source: Hubspot Longer content (>10,000 words) can actually hurt your rankings, especially when content is not “on point” and fails to nail search intent for users. Source: SurferSEO 75% of content on the internet is never shared, referenced or linked to. Source: Moz On the other hand, constantly shooting for super-high word counts can leave you with fluff, or can alienate the vast portions of your audience who are interested in a quick read. So what’s the answer? The evidence suggests the reality of an “ideal” blog length is much more complicated than a simple answer of “long” or “short.” Ambiguous Results of Ideal Content Length More important than word count is this: Your article should answer the intended query of the visitor. If it does that in 100 words better than another site can do in 10,000, then you win. Unfortunately, a thorough answer is typically not 100 words long. Having a popular blog is all about keeping your content updated with fresh and informative content. Your visitors are going to like seeing that the blog is kept updated and that the articles they are reading provide them with some information that they happen to be seeking. Whether you make the decision to write your own blog entries or hire someone to do this for you, it is a good idea to carefully consider the word count so that your visitors are kept entertained when reading the content on your site each and every time they happen to visit your blog. For some examples please visit the SEO.co blog to learn more. Keep in mind, many of our blog articles range from 500 words to nearly 20,000. The ultimate length of a given blog post may differ depending on many factors, including: Industry niche. Some queries might require a long, detailed explanation while others could be a simple answer in 200 words or less. Search intent. The intent of the searcher has a sway on how a given piece of content might rank visa-a-vis competitors. Sometimes search intent can be answered quickly. Sometimes not. Website domain authority. You might have the most extensive post or page on a subject, but if your content remains untested and lacks the right signals (e.g. backlinks) it’s less likely to outrank competing pages. Internal signals. Shorter posts with a lot of internal links, including header/footer links, are more likely to rank than orphaned pages buried deep with no internal links. Length has less of a sway in such cases. Average Content Length of Top 10 Google Search Results There’s no simple answer for the “ideal” length of a blog post, but there are some interesting trends when it comes to post length for SEO. According to this recent analysis, about 85 percent of the articles in this golden 25 percent contained fewer than 1,000 words. About 12 percent of articles shared had between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and less than 2.7 percent contained more than 2,000 words. According to this information, the shorter your article is, the better. However, when it comes to the number of shares an article gets, the longer an article is, the better. Average Article Page Views & Shares by Length Articles of under 1,000 words tended to get an average of 3.47 shares and links, with 1,000-2,000 word articles getting an average of 6.92, and articles of 3,000 words or more getting a massive 11.07! According to this information, the longer your article is, the better. This leads to a tricky conundrum, but let me try and simplify it: shorter articles have a higher likelihood of getting shares, but they also tend to attract a fewer number of shares. Longer articles have a lower likelihood of getting shares, but when they do, they attract large numbers of shares. Average Word Count of a Post by Rank But, when it comes to the top 5 results in Google, the length tends to shorten, compared to those further down in the search rankings: Median Content Length by Rank for Top 40 Results When you expand out the view for the top 40 results, the results clearly conclude there is a small (but still evident) correlation between length and rank: Word Count vs. Average Linking Domains There is also a strong correlation between the length of your post and the number of backlinks pointing to it: Average Total Content Shares The vast majority of content online is never shared or referenced: So What is the Ideal Blog Post Length? If you have a niche that specializes in one type of content over another,

There’s a reason you want to practice search engine optimization (SEO). You want to see results. You might want to see higher keyword rankings. You might want to see higher rates of organic traffic. You might want to see higher revenue. You might want all three, and then some. So it makes sense that you want to pay for an SEO agency based not on what they do, but on what they help you achieve. On the surface, it’s quite sensible. But in reality, this approach – which we call “pay for performance” SEO – is a bad idea. In the short term, you might get exactly what you want. But in the long term, you’ll pay a hefty price. Let’s figure out why – and introduce a much better alternative. The Basics: What Is Pay for Performance SEO? As the name suggests, pay for performance SEO is a particular approach to SEO that requires clients to pay not for specific services or hours worked, but instead for results that are achieved. As an analogy, this would be like paying a professional basketball player a fixed amount for each point they score, rather than paying them a salary for the year. Generally, pay for performance SEO agencies charge you money based on their achievements in one or more of the following areas:       Keyword rankings. Pay for performance SEO agencies usually prioritize keyword rankings, charging you based on the number of rank-one positions they achieve or the number of page-one rankings they achieve.       Organic traffic. They may also charge you based on organic traffic, allowing you to pay only for organic traffic increases they measurably provide.       Revenue. Some pay for performance SEO agencies go a step further and charge you based on additional revenue generated by their services. This is a bit harder to calculate, but it can still be done. The Understandable Allure of Pay-for-Performance SEO The general idea of pay for performance SEO makes logical sense. You can technically do SEO yourself, for free, and see decent results. So why should you pay money for an SEO agency that doesn’t bring you results? And why should you pay an absurd amount of money for an SEO agency that barely does better than you can? Pay for performance SEO is a meritocratic system that works in the interests of both parties using it, presumably. The SEO agency is inclined to attract and keep more clients, and clients are incentivized to seek these agencies, so they can ensure that their SEO investments pay off. If you’re only paying for measurable results, it’s impossible to waste your money. And if pay for performance SEO agencies are only making money when they achieve results, they must be doing good work. Right? The Dark Side of Pay for Performance SEO Unfortunately, this type of system has a dark side – and quite an ugly one. The apparent appeal of this strategy rests on its incentive structure. On the surface, it looks like SEO agencies are incentivized, by this model, to produce the best possible results. But there’s an important caveat here. Pay for performance SEO agencies are incentivized to produce the best possible results within a given timeframe; they aren’t necessarily incentivized to seek results for the long term, nor are they incentivized to pursue sustainable SEO strategies or follow best practices. On top of that, if you’re paying one of these SEO agencies for achieving results in only one area, they may neglect other areas. It’s not hard to imagine examples of how this plays out – and we’ve even seen some of these examples in real life. Imagine that you pay a pay for performance SEO agency for each page-one ranking they help you achieve. But because of this incentive, they only go after extremely niche, long tail keyword phrases that have minimal search volume and traffic; as a result, your organic traffic doesn’t really increase. Imagine that you pay this type of agency based on the new organic traffic they send your way over the course of a few months. The agency builds a bunch of spammy links, skyrocketing your traffic, but eventually causing your rankings and your reputation to plummet. Imagine that you pay this agency for the revenue they generate for your brand. They optimize your website for conversions and produce a relentless stream of keyword-optimized content – but after a few months of decent revenue increases, your search rankings collapse and your customers begin to leave. Realistically, pay for performance isn’t inherently bad. It’s just associated with really bad outcomes when this type of agency exploits incentives in violation of best practices. And unfortunately, this happens a lot. And since today’s SEO is more difficult and complex than ever, it’s best to operate under the auspices of sustainability rather than get-ranked-quick gains. Pay for Performance SEO vs. Sustainable SEO The antithesis of pay for performance SEO is sustainable SEO. Sustainable SEO is designed to be followed and appreciated in perpetuity. It promotes white hat strategies, general best practices, and tactics that build a positive reputation and trust. In other words, sustainable SEO doesn’t care about immediate results or vanity metrics. In fact, practitioners of sustainable SEO don’t care about a few slow months; they’re more interested in the long-term benefits of doing things right. Does this mean all sustainable SEO practitioners are better than all pay for performance SEO practitioners? Not necessarily. You can find bad examples of the former and good examples of the latter. What’s important is that you realize pay for performance isn’t necessarily a good thing and should never be your sole determining factor when choosing an SEO agency. In fact, unless you have good reason to suspect otherwise, the pay for performance model should be considered a red flag. The Most Common Pay for Performance SEO Agency Tactics We’ll stress this again: pay for performance SEO isn’t always terrible, and pay for performance