Also on Medium — There is no SEO
I remember my first encounter with online promotion: it was the mid-2000s. About 20 years ago, mind you. The novelty and primitive search algorithms lured blackhat SEOs with easy money, and lured me with the chance to put my graphomania to practical use. Randomly landing on the first pages or even in the top spots of Google search (without any effort or investment) flattered my ego and was as addictive as a drug, pushing me to experiment with content. I remember my design blog sat firmly in the top 1-3 for “designer in Minsk” (where I actually lived), and the article Web Design Courses in Minsk (a highly critical piece about the very idea of quick courses) held the #1 spot for about 5 years, until kind corporations and honest coaches with “Senior designer in 3 weeks” programs fixed that unfortunate misunderstanding.
There were funny side effects too. While playing with the idea of email on a personal domain, I accidentally made it to the top for the query Pavel Durov. I had to put up a red banner explaining that it wasn’t me. Still, dozens of people emailed me demanding their wall back, or the money they had sent to scammers as a prepayment for a lottery win.
All in all, it was fun.
Then came the era of “smart algorithms”, which in the end boiled down to buying links in bulk for a better place in the sun. And I went cold on SEO faster than a gold digger goes cold on an investor the moment his crypto portfolio gets liquidated.
On the third day God created SMM. Social networks started to grow, and monotonous link exchanges and ads gave way to viral marketing. Or rather, just moved over. A simple meme started promoting small businesses more effectively than an expensive billboard downtown. The only problem is the thin line between a funny meme and cringe advertising:
Then the zoomers grew up, and quick, easy-to-digest content came into fashion: Vine, TikTok, etc. Bloggers with millions of followers appeared, making hundreds of thousands streaming video games or selling their dirty bathwater. No judgment, by the way, it’s just a new turn of the information society.
Online promotion tricks and techniques changed along with new technology, but there was something they had in common. Google (and later social networks) kept rolling out updates to their smart algorithms, and users (bloggers, advertisers, SEOs) never stopped criticizing those very algorithms. Not smart enough, they said, and not “fair”. Although it’s very strange to call algorithms smart if their job is to promote dance flashmobs of 15-year-old schoolgirls, if that’s what the audience wants at the moment.
And of course, in every era there are sellers of information who claim to be close to the great secret of SEO. And what if I told you… there is no secret. And there’s no SEO either, if it comes to that, because optimization over content is exactly what search engines are trying to avoid with their “smart algorithms”.
Money, consistent effort, luck (in no particular order): that’s the whole secret, the secret of SEO… SMM… and not only. The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Even if you take luck out of the equation, you’re left with an almost foolproof algorithm. It’s very hard to imagine a project (thoughtful and unique) that you pour money and effort into (constantly, maniacally, desperately) and that in the end doesn’t bring results. And if you add some luck on top… no algorithms or crises can stand in your way.
The catch is that consistency isn’t for the lazy. And investing money in your own project isn’t for the faint-hearted. But you can start small.