Every day is getting harder and harder to stay on top of the SEO industry with so many changes happening in lapses of weeks rather than months now, frustration is taking over webmasters that for years collected the benefits of minimum serious work. The competitive landscape is also tougher now that it was before with so many businesses engaging in SEO for organic traffic. This might sound discouraging but it is actually a positive thing, the key here is to start thinking in long term SEO success.
Stop Chasing Your Competitors
For years this was considered by many a smart SEO strategy however search engines have always advised not to do it as you can make better use of your time by building a better and unique website. In order to outrank your competitors in the search results you have to offer something unique, something better and useful but you are not going to outrank them by offering a refurbished version of your competitor’s site.
Chasing your competitors’ link profile is a waste of time as there is no way to know which links they have that actually provide some value, they might be acquiring the wrong links and in that case you will be too. Instead use your time to build solid and positive relationships with other good webmasters in your niche and the links will come natural.
Don´t Fall into Temptation
All over the web you will find many so called “SEO experts” offering fast and easy ways to rank high in the search results, they often offer things such as link network subscriptions, blast linking, content spinning, etc. Stay away by all means from these fake promises that are almost guaranteed to hurt more than help you. The road for long term SEO success is hard and there are no shortcuts.
You definitely don’t want to ruin your hard work over one bad decision, although the idea of fast results is tempting and in some cases these methods might actually work for a while you are set for failure in the long term.
Set Realistic Goals
Here is where most webmasters get discouraged and start engaging in shady SEO practices. Patience is the key in a business where everybody seems to think they are entitled to succeed. When you begin a new SEO project you might have to wait a few months before noticing results, in general the rule seems to be 3-6 months however this heavily depends on your niche and how competitive it is. In a very competitive landscape you might have to wait even longer.
