Why We Don’t Rely On Google For Clients

I’m a huge fan of the saying, “don’t keep all your eggs in one basket”, and that is sound advice for every business. There are so many companies out there relying solely on free Google traffic, and this is a scary thing. I’d like to talk a little about why we don’t care too much about search engine traffic for leads. Hopefully this wakes some of you up to start thinking about a better business plan.

I’m taking a break from writing a post on B2B marketing strategies because I’d like to vent a little. Google’s SERPs for anything worth ranking for is still being dominated by nefarious link building tactics, and I haven’t seen much change in 5 years. They tell you to write great content to obtain links, while this does work, it’s a big fat joke if you actually want to make any money.

Let’s take our company for example. We’d ideally want a top 10 ranking for the keyword “link building service”, but a quick look at the top 10 shows nothing but paid links and link spam ranking almost everyone. Everything from low quality linking services to paid link building companies are showing up here. Only one legit and respectable SEO firm stands in the top 10 which is shocking. Half of the other sites ranking there have been there for years on paid links and spammed anchor text links.  I’m not going to name names, but it’s pretty lame of Google.

The results will be a little bit different for everyone, but this is the current outlook of “link building service” in Google;

This is a shame because it will only lead to more companies blindly signing up and paying for lousy link marketing tactics. I hate this! So many companies are going to be putting their business at risk without even knowing it. While I know this won’t last forever, you should be well aware of the coming link valuation changes to Google in the next year.

I know a lot of our readers are seeing the same thing for their SERPs and are sitting on the fence about going with a different hat, and I don’t blame them. Hell, I’ve even thought about dipping into the grey areas to get more bang for my Google buck. Thankfully our networking, online relationships and branding keeps bringing in the clients.

So to sum things up, this is why building relationships online should be your key focus. Becoming a leader in your niche/industry will keep your business thriving, so keep fighting the good fight. Great content does attract links but it’s a harder thing to do these days, and it isn’t cheap to do properly. Keep being creative, don’t copy what others are doing and network in your industry as if you business relied on it(because it does).