Is SEO Worth Investing in for 2023

I think about this question a lot as I am working on my multiple websites. As a small business owner, I know how important resources are and a positive return on your investment is critical when cash flow is tight.

As google becomes more advanced with its algorithms it has become harder to game the system.

I still think google has a problem that they don’t know how to fix.

As I use Google and search for specific issues I am trying to solve. The search results are becoming less and less relevant to what I am trying to find. I find myself having to go through the second or third page before I can find the information I am searching for.

Most content that I find on the first page is just fluff pieces that are optimized for Google search and not to solve the search intent. There is very little real value being created that is original content and not just a rewrite of what has already been written.

I mean if you think about it. What does a content writer do when faced with writing a blog piece? They go on Google, research their topic, and rewrite what they find. Of course, good writers try to make their pieces better by adding more information.

So that brings me back to my question

Is SEO worth investing in?

Yes, I think SEO is still worth investing in just not for every business.

Now that is a very controversial thing for me to say and a little bit hypocritical because I have worked with SEO and digital marketing for over 10 years. But what has changed the most in the last 10 years is the technology and resources that are available to the average website owner.

When I started there were some best practices but not many and it had more to do with testing and figuring out what worked based on experimenting. Now there is a technology that will do most of it for you.

You can use a tool like Surfer or Page optimizer pro and if you follow their suggestions you are going to be 90% of the way there with your on-page optimizations.

Really rankings come down to making good choices with the keywords you are going after. Sometimes no matter what you do, you are not going to rank for keywords with just on-page optimizations.

No matter what google claims it can be really hard to outrank a page that has more backlinks and a higher domain rating.

The only way to beat a page like that is to meet the search intent better, but even if you do that Google still has to give your site a chance to be seen and that does not always happen.

Do I still invest in SEO for my own websites?

Yes, I do. There is specific SEO optimization that moves the needle.

The top ones that I invest in are:

• Technical SEO – this can be everything from having the pages linked correctly, conical tags set up correctly, and there are not a lot of duplicate pages on the website.
• Off-page SEO – this is generally link-building. Link building still works and is one of the best ways to get the domain of your website ranked higher.
• Content creation – There are still search inquiries out there that are not being answered adequately and content that is valuable is still a good investment.
• Guest Posting – I really like guest posting for a couple of reasons. One it raises your authority and gives you a chance to get your work and name on other websites that can get you noticed. Two it promotes your own website and provides readers a chance to discover your website through your link.

I think there will always be a place for guest posting and link building as long as Google continues to reward the websites that have the most links.

Do I think every website should invest in SEO?

No, I don’t. You have to ask yourself what is the investment going to be if to rank number one and what will be the benefit if you are ranking number one. There can only be so many number-one spots for each search inquiry and you need to have a plan B if you can’t even get on page one. Every day it keeps getting harder and harder to break onto page one much less even the top spot.

I would only invest in SEO if you can prove that getting onto page one will have a huge return on your investment. A lot of times it makes more sense to hire a copywriter and just let them consistently create content that promotes your brand and increases your brand authority.

Conclusion:

SEO can be a good investment but it needs to tie into your overall marketing strategy. If your marketing strategy doesn’t include your website ranking high in the SERP then I wouldn’t invest in SEO.

If your whole business strategy is dependent on your website ranking number one I would invest in SEO to give it every opportunity to make it happen.