You Did What?
My online rankings have gone from zero to hero and back to zero again. I’m gutted.
Why did I let it go? I was in the grip of grief and then Covid arrived and we got super busy. All my energy and enthusiasm went to my clients but I had nothing left for my own online presence – I was burnt out.
A Bit of Her-story
I first came across the concept in 1998/1999. That is how long ago? 24 years ago. Older than many starting out in this business.
I can’t say I have solely done SEO through out that time-frame. I reluctantly opened the door to it again once I had finished breeding and decided I had more capacity to grow my business. That was maybe 10 years ago.
I thought SEO was boring but a necessary service to offer but my opinion changes after I found the most amazing mentor (whose name I shall not mention until my site is worthy again). Through him I developed a love for SEO and building websites to support best SEO practice.
Looking back at my reports my rankings for my selected keywords were flying. I’m not saying they were perfect all the time but I was on page one for many strong keywords and services we offered.
2019 Was a year of poor health in my family and it was a very sad year. I completely neglected my own online visibility and focused on my clients. We launched a new version of the site and I left it to do its thing. We were at full capacity, the business was flying but my heart wasn’t in it. Everyone had to get on with it. After a long, hard year it ended with the significant loss of someone close and it’s like a piece of my heart broke off, turned grey and died.
Covid
Whilst Covid was not fun we got busier and busier. Clients got more and more difficult because everyone was stressed. They were locked up and all attention became online focused. Everyone wanted an eCommerce shop yesterday and was wondering why they weren’t ranking of page 1 yet. That is not how SEO works. But they weren’t the only ones. Their competitors were focusing on their online visibility and so was Google.
Google’s updates were a game changer. I have countless reports of clients website with a massive increase of keyword visibility around Dec 2019/Jan 2020 and then BAM – everyone dropped. SEO’s were getting fired everywhere. What worked in 2020 is different now nearly 3 years later.
Persecution, Sabotage or good SEO?
I still don’t have the answer to this! What I can say is that the level people go to – to sabotage websites was a shock to me. Just having a website up you will get spammy traffic but the moment you go against a competitor who is doing SEO on their website, things can get dark very quickly. Just good SEO steps will increase your traffic – it is supposed to. But it also attracts dodgy bots or humans. Great SEO and you will get attacked at some point and it isn’t a matter of if – it is a matter of when!
My Point
If I can give some advice here – just know that the moment you publish your site, you will get some negative attention at some point. IT WILL HAPPEN if your site is any good. Prepare yourself or use an agency that will bear this in mind rather than just stick to their blogging lane. SEO is so much more than writing articles. So much more!
Having neglected my online presence and been on the receiving end of some crazy sabotage – I think I am now ready to carve out some time to get my site back in the running! I want to share my journey with anyone who is interested. No haters please. I want to show that it is possible to rise out of the ashes in more than one way. So let the games begin!