Many individuals have had a hard time getting the real value of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and we clearly understand that. There has been a lot of myth out there about search engine optimization, and it can really make the process more difficult and complicated.

While an effective SEO strategy takes time to yield fruitful result for a company, and the techniques may not make any sense for the beginners, it can make a considerable improvement in the online exposure and profits of a company. Many companies are scared of trying something new that they are not familiar with, but you should come forward and face it, no matter it will carry some risks with it. This can surely lead to a sudden and serious growth. The question that has to be asked is what SEO techniques are worth it, and what should be avoided.

Let’s consider a few of the SEO risks to take.

Experimenting with the Changes

The ultimate goal of SEO is to get traffic and to drive sales on the website. This will only happen when people click on your website in the first place. So, what if your website ranks well on the first page, but no one is hitting a click on your link? Well, there could be number of reasons for this, and it can take some time to understand why exactly your strategies are not working the way you expect.

The only way to do that is through trial and error method. During this period, you may find a combination of result that may work well or doesn’t give any result and ends up reducing what traffic you previously have. The risk you take is worth it, because once you arrive at the right step, you start get better results and eventually more traffic and better returns on investment.

High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are an efficient part of SEO, and companies want to get more and more number of Backlinks they can. They are effective in their way in increasing rankings and building authority.

However, the fact is sometimes you need to take the risk of giving a little back to others. Yes, you may lose a few web visitors by providing a link to other sites, but at the same time, you are proving your authenticity to Google that you are referencing reliable sites with authority.

Keep in mind, websites that knowingly or unknowingly feature links to poor-quality, spammy or malicious websites are often get penalized by Google. At the same time you may also be penalised for getting too many links to your website form those spammy websites.

Buying Available or Expired Domains

Some domains are not renewed, thereby, making them available for others to buy. Buying such domains with a history can potentially be easy to increase the number of valuable backlinks adding some links to your site.

There are often some risks with this technique, and you should only do this when you know exactly what you are doing.

The domain you purchase should be related to your business. It should be professional, because if that domain receives traffic and rankings, those visitors will be yours, and there is nothing more annoying than arriving on a site that isn’t what you are searching for.

Also, expired domains may have spammy links and contents that will also be transferred to your website, causing the ranking of your site to fall potentially and get penalized by Google.  

Preferably, this technique may be inexpensive and has the potential to drive in ample traffic to your site, provided you follow the right practices.  

A Few SEO Risks to Avoid

You have gained an idea of what SEO risks are worth taking, here we summarise a few SEO risks that should be avoided at any cost:

Rejecting Neutral Backlinks

You definitely want good amount of Backlinks to your website, and not the bad ones, right? What about the ones that are neutral, they may not help you, yet don’t affect your website’s ranking and SEO.

Neutral Backlinks may not give that SEO boost your website needs, but they also won’t let your site to face Google’s harsh penalties.

The only way you can tell if the Backlinks on your website are low-quality, spammy and bad is if you have noticed that Google has taken any action on your site. If no action has been taken so far, the Backlinks on your website are safe, though they may not be of high quality Backlinks to boost your site’s rankings.  

Deleting Content or Entire Pages

It is easier for you to delete a page from your website, especially if it about a product or service that has the company has discontinued. Because, once a page is deleted, the keywords it once ranked for are lost. The same thing happens to the URL of the page.

Instead of taking the risk of your site ranking, consider keeping the webpage to remain as it was even if you have discontinued the product/service. You can instead leave a message on the page for the visitor that redirects to a similar page with the relevant product or service.   

Making Regular SEO Changes to a Site

From SEO perspective, it is a great idea to update the content on your website. In fact, Google prefers fresh and updated content. However, constantly updating the content and the look of your website, even too small at a time, will be noticeable by your website visitors or Google.

This means that too many changes to your website will raise red signals for Google which will likely consider your webpage as suspicious and will penalize your site. Eventually, your site visitors will also notice the changes and they may find your site difficult to navigate. Some visitors may have a doubt on your site and will stop visiting it further.

Noteworthy to mention, SEO is the mantra for any business to succeed. There are many risks to undertake when considering SEO, some of which are worth taking because they deliver fruitful results, other risks can hinder a company’s overall online presence.

No matter how risky the SEO is, the only thing riskier is for a company not to take that SEO risk at all.