In this post I want to share personal experience with clients. Sometimes it is difficult for people to adapt to new challenges of search algorithms. Until now, they have been asking me how many links I will buy for the project and where, whether it is possible to bring the site to the TOP-10 in a week and how much it costs to be in the TOP for one request, and the client does not need other requests.

Therefore, before starting work, I always send a brief. It is simple, but makes it clear how seriously the customer is aimed at work. If I see that the desires and approaches of the customer do not coincide with what can really be done and received, then before the start of promotion I try to explain this. It turns out - we are working.

In my opinion, it is important to convey to customers the following simple but important SEO principles.

1. Promotion is a Process

There were times when after optimization and promotion it was possible to enjoy the site’s long stay in the TOP-10. But these times are long over.

Today, promotion is a process that does not stop for a minute. The fact is that search engines in recent years have significantly expanded the list of factors that they take into account, and a number of important factors have been made dependent on user behavior on the site.

Have your competitors made a new feature on their site that visitors have become actively using? Search engines “see” that users began to spend more time on a competitor’s site than on your project. You go down, the competitor - up. To return the TOP, you need to make the site even more convenient for visitors than competitors did.

And how to make the site more convenient? Web analytics answers this question. A modern SEO expert in Pakistan must be able to analyze the behavior of visitors to the site and understand what they need.

2. Promotion Requires Customer Involvement

Typical situation: competitors are audited. It identifies weaknesses on the site. To eliminate them, you must post additional information on the site. For example, update photos, add prices for goods and services, collect and post customer reviews. These are very simple recommendations, but they affect the behavior of visitors (everyone likes beautiful photos and positive reviews).

An audit is sent to the client and ... silence. There are no photos, there are no reviews, the answer comes to the proposal to add prices: "We can not publish prices on the site." And this is at a time when search engines are calling to be as open as possible and publish as much commercial information as possible on sites.

Can an SEO specialist in Pakistan do something in this situation to improve their position? Something can, but it will be difficult to get around competitors who work closely with their SEO specialists and implement all their recommendations.

3. No Marketing - No SEO

If your business cannot provide real advantages to customers compared to competitors, then it will be difficult for him to find. Regardless of the design, optimization of texts or links.

A simple example: two online stores. The first has a large assortment and low prices, free delivery. The second has a small assortment, high prices and you need to pay for shipping. The first store will be higher than the second, because it is in the first store that customers will stay and buy.

This is a very simple example. In practice, marketing is more complicated and not so simple. It is necessary to identify the needs of customers and analyze how best to close them. It depends on what site you need to do, what to write on it and how to attract customers. Apart from the owner, alas, no one can answer these questions.

One day a man came to me who had a message board made. He wanted to compete in extradition with Daraz and make a profitable project in this niche. Honestly, it’s better not to spend money on SEO, but to write off or think over the bulletin board in a narrow niche. You can compete with Daraz only with comparable resources and budgets, which was not the case in this situation.

4. SEO Works Better in Conjunction with Other Channels (Context, SMM)

Projects that receive traffic not only from search, but also from other channels (primarily social networks) are generally ranked better.

The logic of search engines is simple: if a site receives traffic from different sources, then the project is interesting to the audience. Links to it are shared on social networks and on other sites where visitors come from. If the site receives only search traffic, most likely it is made exclusively for SEO. Search engines consider such projects less quality.

It’s important to seriously engage in other channels. It’s pointless to create a group on a social network and wind up bots-subscribers there. Such a group will not give traffic to the site.

The minimum set of channels for a modern site is SEO, contextual advertising and SMM. If you have budgets, you should connect newsletters and promotion using PR on popular sites and in the media.

5. SEO Does Not Give Instant Results

Search engine promotion still remains the channel with the lowest cost per visitor. However, SEO cannot be a magic tablet that solves all business problems quickly and easily.

It takes time, effort and client involvement to get the site into the TOP-10 and stay there. You must have real advantages over competitors that are important to your customers. Examples of advantages are a unique assortment, low prices, a network of offices or stores (respectively, it will be convenient for customers from different areas to contact the company), additional service (delivery, installation, service), a strong brand, and much more.

SEO is still effective and profitable, but approaches to effective promotion are changing. It is better to follow them to get the maximum result.get the site into the TOP-10