Timothy Carter

You already know that content is important for search engine optimization (SEO). It’s an opportunity to create new pages, optimize for specific keyword terms, and cater to your users. Creating new, better optimized pieces of content can help you achieve higher rankings and take advantage of new ranking opportunities. Unfortunately, many optimizers take this as a reason to exclusively focus on new content creation. They want to create as many onsite blog posts as possible, viewing each one as a new opportunity and a way to reach new people. There’s certainly nothing wrong with creating new content, and you should do it on a regular basis. But if you want to see better SEO results, you also need to focus on improving, updating – or tuning – the content you already have. How exactly do you “tune” your content for SEO? And why is it so valuable? What Is Content Tuning? There are many different ways to think about optimization of content for search engines. During the content development and on-page SEO process, you’ll likely choose one or more keywords to serve as the target for the new content you create; this is a form of optimization. You may also optimize your content by including certain sections, peppering in semantic variations of your target keyword phrase, adding more descriptive sections, and including links to authoritative sources. But content tuning is a bit different. Think of it this way. If you pluck a guitar string on a guitar that hasn’t been properly tuned, it will probably ring out with a note that isn’t in tune, but it’s close to the note it’s supposed to be. On a tuner, it might register as E, but it might be so flat that any song you attempted to play on the instrument will sound horrible. To correct this issue, we have to tune the string. If it’s flat, we must tighten the string gradually, checking the note with each incremental change. And if we tune it too far in one direction, we might end up with a sharp string that we then need to tune back down. Content tuning is similar. We already have a piece of content in place. It’s already close to performing as we need it to perform. We just need to make small, incremental adjustments until it falls in line with our vision for the content. When we practice content tuning, we’re interested in improving the overall performance of a piece of content. That means we need to think about how the piece of content is ranking, what types of users it’s attracting, the organic traffic it generates, and even the behavior of users who visit the page. Ultimately, even a few small changes could be enough to take a mediocre page seated deeply in your blog and make it a total star on the SERPs. The Core Principles of Content Tuning for SEO If we want a piece of content to be successful in an SEO campaign, we need to tune it with the following core principles in mind: Optimize for user intent. User intent is a way to determine the goals and mindset of an individual user searching for a specific keyword term. For example, a person searching for “bike tune-up near me” is probably searching for a bike shop where they can take their bicycle for a seasonal tune-up. In contrast, a person searching for “bike tune-up tutorial” is probably more interested in learning how to do a bike tune-up by themselves. These are simple and easily understood examples, but user intent gets far more complicated. One of your goals in content tuning is optimizing for user intent. Instead of optimizing for one or a handful of specific keyword phrases, you’ll be optimizing your piece of content to fulfill user desires, according to their intent when searching. This is valuable for several reasons. For starters, user intent is arguably Google’s biggest priority; if you can satisfy user intentions with your content, it’s likely to rank higher. Additionally, optimizing for user intent increases dwell time on your page, while increasing the likelihood that each user will take action on your website. Develop content with users in mind. Next, we need to develop our content with users in mind – and that means human users, not search bots. Too often, content developers and search engine optimizers develop their content with algorithms in mind. They try to include just the right number of keywords, just the right structure, and just the right semantic patterns to trick search engines into ranking their content favorably. Ironically, this is usually counterproductive. It’s usually much better to write for human beings, serve them well, and capitalize on the benefits of providing a good user experience. Increase page relevancy. Another goal of content tuning is to increase page relevancy. In other words, we want to make our existing piece of content more relevant for more queries. Historically, SEO professionals have recommended creating content with a singular keyword focus; you create one piece of content (and one page) for each target keyword or phrase in your strategy. But in today’s era of semantic complexity and advanced machine learning algorithms, such a narrow focus is problematic. Instead, it’s often better to have monumental pieces of content that can address many different keywords and many different user intents simultaneously. Revisit ranking factors. This is also an opportunity to revisit ranking factors as they apply to this individual page. As you add new content sections, delete sections of content that aren’t working for your strategy, and optimize for conversions, see if there are any technical tweaks you can make to increase the likelihood of this page ranking in SERPs. With those core principles in mind, what steps do you need to take to tune your content for SEO? Step One: Look for Opportunities to Tune Your Content for SEO First, you need to decide which pieces of content or pages of your website you want to tune for

Content length is a matter of concern for both SEO and user experience. You need enough content to register in major search engines, but not so much that you alienate your users or appear to be over-optimizing your pages. Writing too much is a pitfall of some search marketers obsessed with achieving a higher rank; they believe that more content is always better, when in reality, that’s hardly ever the case. But content length for SEO DOES matter! While certain best practices should be followed to maximize homepage SEO potential, quality is always better than quantity. The home page is a unique SEO animal for two reasons: The homepage carries the most weight in representing your site to major search engines It’s usually the first (and many times the only) chance you have to capture your users’ attentions long enough to lead them to conversion. From hundreds of iterations and client tests, we have found that the best length for homepage content is a range between 100 and 1,000 words, with the optimal falling somewhere in the middle (400 to 600 words). Homepage content is dependent on the industry, individual user, customer need, search intent, homepage purpose and the homepage content length of the competition. Let’s explore a bit more why word count is important for your home page, and what number of words strikes the right balance between user-friendly and SEO-optimized. General Homepage Text Guidelines for SEO First, it’s important to establish a baseline for SEO. Your homepage text needs to be optimized for search engines if you want to stand a chance of ranking highly for competitive keywords. However, the requirements for search engines are less strict and less demanding than you might think. In terms of onsite text, there are only a handful of guidelines you’ll need to follow in order to get the best results. Aside from your title tags, meta descriptions, and physical site structure, you’ll only need to pay attention to these features in your home page content: Crawlable Text In order to be seen as existing by the robots of major search engines like Google, you will need a minimum amount of “crawlable” text. Robots will scour your site, including your company name, title tag, meta information, and of course, onsite content. In the old days of SEO, that meant including keyword-rich content, so Google search bots would be able to understand what your site is about. Today, Google’s robots are highly advanced, and can detect the meaning and intent of your site without you spoon-feeding it content. So, aside from optimized meta data, you only need to include enough text to convey the main purpose and category of your website to a search engine crawler. Focus on Users, Not on An Arbitrary Word Count It’s also important to structure your home page content appropriately for search engine robots. It’s not enough to simply list a series of power words that describe your business; you need to write in a natural, logical, and appropriate form. That means your content needs to be error-free, straightforward, and written clearly. Google can detect not only grammatical and semantic errors, but also unnatural instances of language that could indicate a non-native speaker or an intention of keyword stuffing. If you write in a natural voice, you have nothing to worry about, but extending your onsite content for the sole purpose of hitting a word count could lead you to write unnatural sentences. In addition, homepage content should favor more toward your brand, your services and your company values, rather than random lists or extended long-form content. In short, you want to rank for your brand, not attempt to create content that, when featured on a blog post, may be displayed as a featured snippet. Best Practices for Conversion That 100 to 1,000 word range is only for search engines’ benefits; remember that your home page is also the first impression most visitors will have of your company. Your word count also needs to cater to your users’ expectations and desires. Your onsite content will need to immediately convey your company’s description to your users, and also catch their attention long enough for them to want to venture deeper into the site. It isn’t the place for long-winded elaborations, nor is it the place for vague descriptions. Concise, Readable Text Instead of focusing on how much text you have on the web page, focus on what messages and ideas you want to convey to your visitor. Then, find a way to convey that information to your visitor in the most concise way possible. Don’t truncate or compromise your message, but cut out any unnecessary or “fluffy” content. Your users don’t want to read excessive material that has no relevance; they want the shortest path available. In most cases, that means decreasing your word count to avoid tiring your audience. You’ll also want to make sure your content is easily readable, with a clear font and appealing design that complements the content’s form. That means it’s not enough to have a paragraph of excellent content squished together in a lump on your page—your words need to be spaced enough to engage your readers. Direction to Fuller Pages & Calls to Action Remember that your home page alone isn’t going to convert readers, and therefore, you don’t need to cram information on it. Let your interior web pages do the bulk of the work. You can have as much content as you want on your About page, your Services page, and of course, your blog and news pages. Keep your word count on the home page appropriate for its primary purpose: capturing immediate attention and directing users to relevant interior pages for further brand engagement. Most important is the need for your homepage to include relevant calls to action. As the most important page on your site (and likely the most heavily trafficked), the homepage should work to convert visitors into leads and customers with the right hook. It’s

Keyword stemming is a sub-strategy of keyword research. Keyword research remains one of the most fundamental SEO practices. Keyword stemming allows businesses and marketers to seek the best and most appropriate keyword (KW) sets, enabling their websites to increase organic search engine traffic. But, what is keyword stemming? How does it relate to keyword research? How can you use keyword stemming to optimize your site and pages for SEO dominance? With this in mind, here’s your ultimate guide to Keyword Stemming and how you can use it to enhance ranking on SERPs and traffic. Before jumping ahead, let’s find out what the term “Keyword Stemming” exactly means! What Is Keyword Stemming? To put it simply, keyword stemming refers to the strategy or practice of modifying various keywords using variations. The variations might be in the shape of a suffix or a prefix attached to the base (root) keyword. You can also utilize pluralization of the word as it’s treated as altogether a different keyword. Google recognizes semantic meanings, i.e., context and user intents behind search queries. This technology has been present for a while and has improved considerably. It allows Google to determine KWs and their variations, understanding if they are utilized in the same context in the content. Benefits of Keyword Stemming The advantages of stemming in articles and blog posts are plenty. To begin with, it can enable you to rank higher for several related and unrelated keywords. KW stemming helps you seek synonyms for your targeted keyword, enabling you to draw organic traffic to the website. In addition to that, while adequately utilizing stemming, you can avoid: Keyword repetition Keyword stuffing Both things may get your website blacklisted on Google. Keyword stemming is critical when a single page is not quite ranking for the head or money term you want. In such cases, webmasters can use keyword stemming as a means of search engine optimization for a specific search query or phrase that may be a bit more long-tail. Apart from the brand’s services and products, keywords are also essential for a range of other things such as: Content formulation Social media marketing campaigns Link building Remember, when choosing and tracking keywords for Google or other search engines, context is key. This is because variations to keywords (KWs) are treated as entirely different keywords. This is where keyword stemming is critical for ranking success for a given, specific search query. For instance, you may turn the KW into plural. In that case, you’ve generated another keyword for the search engine to monitor. While it can cause adverse effects on keyword rankings, utilizing these variations increases the chances of people finding your content quickly and smoothly. This unique strategy is popularly known as “Keyword Stemming,” a practice present for quite a while. How Does Traffic Arrive At Your Site? Let’s assume your targeted keyword is ‘Study tips for pupils.’ The variants can be like: studied, studying, and studies for the base word ‘study,’ and for pupils, the variant pupil can be used. Search engines typically rank single pages for more than one specific keyword. Some pages and posts rank for thousands of words. How that traffic from search engines comes to your website is helpful to understand, so you can optimize your pages to get more organic traffic from more than just the same keyword. Now that you know how crucial keyword stemming is, how will you implement it? How To Perform Keyword Stemming To Enhance Web Traffic? Keyword stemming transpires in two ways, i.e., from “Inflicted form” to “Stem form” and from “Stem form” to potential “Root form.” Let’s revert to the example mentioned above: ‘Study tips for pupils.’ There’s an excellent chance that you’ll utilize the words ‘studied,’ ‘studies,’ ‘studying,’ etc., in your article wherever they are relevant and make sense contextually. Suppose you have written a blog post on the topic ‘Study tips,’ where you’ve employed the word ‘studies’ approximately three times, ‘studying’ five times, and ‘studied’ just one time during the entire piece of content. Here’s the benefit you’ll gain from keyword stemming: You’ll drive immense organic traffic from phrases including keywords such as ‘studies,’ ‘studying,’ etc. Of course, inflectional phrases must be related to the blog post/article. Remember, you can’t force inflectional phrases into your article; they must be: Contextually natural Significant Relevant For instance, in the article ‘Study tips’, you’ve utilized the word ‘studied’ just one time. Wondering why? That’s because ‘studied’ (past participle and past of study) is less pertinent in this type of blog post or article unless you state some anecdotes. Examples Of Inflected Forms in Keyword Stemming Are you having trouble incorporating inflected forms in the article? If so, here are some simple examples to help clarify the concept: To add ‘studying’ for your targeted base word ‘study,’ write in the following manner: “Use your marks and grades to see how good you’re at studying.” Rather than using this sentence: “Your grades and marks can determine how good you study.” Here’s another example: To add ‘studies’ for your targeted base word ‘study,’ try writing sentences in the following way: “If you’re into studies excessively, it’s best to take a break to give the brain some rest.” Rather than using sentences like this: “Consider giving your brain some rest in case you study excessively without taking offs.” Nevertheless, here are a few things you should consider above all to gain higher traffic: Don’t force yourself to spam inflected forms to attract organic traffic from various search engines. Doing this will destroy all your on-page optimization (also known as on-page SEO) efforts, eventually Be natural and organic and utilize different forms of stem words wherever it contextually makes sense and adds up to the meaning When Should Businesses And Marketers Utilize Keyword Stemming? When appropriately utilized, stemming allows content to become more and easily searchable while using the variations of original KWs. Although keyword stemming can help you generate higher traffic, it can seriously affect your organic traffic when

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

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’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