SEO 5 SEO Lessons I’ve learned over years

[Cpvr]

5 SEO Lessons I’ ve witnessed over the years


Hey everyone! I’ve come across a lot of SEO-related questions on admin forums, and some of the advice has surprised me—until I realized that many of the responses were from SEO agencies promoting their services. No shade toward them; every business has to market itself. However, I wanted to share a few tough lessons I’ve learned firsthand while building a startup and figuring things out the hard way.


1. Domain Authority Matters More Than You Think





No matter how perfect your on-page SEO or content may be, if your domain is new and lacks quality backlinks, ranking high on Google will be tough. Authority takes time to build, and without it, even the best content won’t get the visibility it deserves.





2. Buying Backlinks Happens More Often Than People Admit





You’ve probably heard people say not to buy backlinks, but the truth is, many successful startups have done so at some point. It’s not widely discussed, but it’s a common practice—whether openly or behind the scenes, however, it’s not a practice that I’’m a fan of and I don’t condone it as an seo specialist. I don’t recommend buying backlinks unless you really want to and need to.

Build them organically. That’s the best way.




3. Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal


Buying backlinks isn’t the issue—buying the wrong ones is. Avoid purchasing backlinks from random providers; instead, focus on acquiring them through avenues like press features or guest posts on reputable sites. Be prepared to invest wisely, as high-quality backlinks are a one-time investment that can make or break your SEO efforts. That is if you want to purchase backlinks instead of building them organically.





4. You Don’t Need to Hire a Content Writer





Once your domain’s authority is in place, hiring an external writer who doesn’t fully understand your business might not be necessary. In the era of AI tools, you can easily generate decent content with minimal effort. Spend a few minutes each week using tools like Frizerly to create posts. The key is staying consistent.





5. SEO Is a Long, Unpredictable Journey





SEO should never be your only go-to-market strategy. For us, the goal was simply to ensure our business name appeared first when searched. Most of the content we created was for existing customers. Then, about six months in, Google unexpectedly started quoting our blog for a high-traffic query. To this day, that blog brings us a steady stream of signups—proof that SEO can surprise you in ways you don’t anticipate.





I hope these lessons help fellow entrepreneurs starting their own SEO journeys! Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments!

 

[ken_gitahi]

Domain Authority Matters More Than You Think

This is why buying old domains works as well as it does.

Buying Backlinks Happens More Often Than People Admit

No one has to tell you it happens, you just have to look at their backlink profile history using tools like Ahrefs. If you see a sudden jump in backlinks, they likely bought them. As with anything else, gaining backlinks naturally is a slow and gradual process. However, you also have to consider that some websites or content pieces go viral or become popular suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere and earn a website a ton of backlinks all at once.

SEO Is a Long, Unpredictable Journey

I just hope every business owner who hires an SEO expert or agency gets to understand this. Many want to "rank number one next week or next month" not understanding how SEO works and how slow it can be to see results.