Traditional SEO still matters in a very big way, but not for the reasons most people think. It matters because it promotes online uniformity. It promotes people using the same types of website language, same types of search and find protocols, and the same types of information dissemination. Here is why you still need to care about traditional SEO.
What is Traditional SEO?
Traditional SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is all about picking a primary key phrase/word for each page, adding meta keywords, a meta description, Alt-Tags into your images, and H-tags into your text. It is about avoiding old-fashioned black hat stuff like hiding text or keyword stuffing.
Can a Website do Without SEO?
Yes, a website can do very well and reach the top of all search engines without bothering with any type of SEO. Traditional SEO is not necessary in order to reach the top of the search engines, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned. You do not have to drive on the correct side of the road in order to get to your destination, but you still should.
Search Engines, Web Spiders and Search Apps
Google and Bing may not care about your meta content, but other search engines do (including Google images). Plus, many search apps and website spiders still pay attention to your traditional SEO in order to categorise your content. You lose all of this attention if you abandon the idea of traditional SEO.
Keep People Doing the Same
As mentioned earlier, if everybody abandoned traditional SEO, then the internet would start looking ugly again. It would be harder to find web browsers that can accommodate the sort of mess that the internet would like to flush down into our consciousness.
Keeps People Doing the Right Thing
The fact is that websites are written and created by humans, and humans have their share of flaws. Whereas if people are following the rules of SEO, such as if they are using the Yoast SEO tools, then they are more likely to concentrate on the things that matter.
They will concentrate on the quality of their images, on a smaller set of keywords, and on the way they present their work. They will think more about their title and how their content conforms to user expectations.
Why Do So Many People Believe in Traditional SEO?
People believe that traditional SEO is the way forwards because the real way that SEO works seems very wishy washy and ungraspable. After all, it is based on big data gathered from the Google search engine, YouTube, social media, affiliate advertising revenue, Google Webmaster Tools, and Google Chrome users.
Telling people that their website is being ranked based on data gathered by Google doesn’t seem tangible. So, people continue to believe that traditional SEO helps, and in most cases it does, but it helps because it changes the way you publish rather than because it has magical Google powers.
It is like telling a child that if she eats the cookies, then the monsters will take her away. She doesn’t eat the cookies, and no monsters take her away, so everybody is happy. The rules helped change her behaviour. Traditional SEO is better for your website, but not because it puts you in favour with Google, but because it often makes your web content than it would have been otherwise (it changed your behaviour for the best). Plus, do not forget that if you abandon traditional SEO, then you leave behind all those search engines, web spiders, and search apps that still use traditional SEO.
If you would like help with your SEO and would like to rank up the search engines, then get in touch with us here at SeoExpertDanny.com.