I know, it’s a pretty bold statement to make so let me start by saying that it’s not actually the tools themselves that are ruining your website. It’s the person using them, more importantly it’s their mindset that is making SEO tools ruin a website.
There is not even one reason that is causing them, but there are several, so let’s go by them one by one and stick around to the end, where I share the fix to these problems. (Or just scroll down to the fix right now.)
Problem #1: The lure of easy money from keyword research
The number one reason that SEO tools are ruining your niche website or blog is because they allow you to start an online business, or more a likely click & GTFO affiliate site, based on keywords, keyword difficulty and keyword volumes.
Add to this the price of a product and the commission that you’ll get and voila you have a calculation that tells you how quickly you can get rich by starting a niche site in this niche.
High volume, low difficulty keywords with an expensive product, or at least a high commission rate, will end up in telling you that there is a lot of money to be made. Easy money, because of the low keyword difficulty.
And enter the era where affiliate marketing, content sites, niche sites, you name it got their reputation of easy money. The same era where regular consumers started to complain about the Google search results getting flooded with affiliate content that did not provide any value to them other than having them click on a link that’d make the site owner some money.
Problem #2: The saturation of Google SERPS with ever similar content
Problem number 2 is somewhat similar, being that everyone looking for niches to make them a lot of money uses the same tools. We all open up SEMrush or Mangools, or find long-tail keywords using a LowFruits.io. As a result, we will all be targeting the same keywords, writing about the same topics…
Create hundreds and hundreds of very similar websites providing the same information about the same topics. More often than not information that was written based on the information found on Google. Meaning that there is very little added value to it.
Again, a website created with the only goal to provide money for the owner. Completely forgetting to help the audience. A website full of content that is not really helpful, well we all know what the impact of the Helpful Content Updates has been.
Problem #3: Optimizing for Google, not the reader
Reason number three is not as much about the old SEO tools providing keyword information, but the newer ones like Surfer SEO. Tools that provide you with information on how to better optimize your articles for Google.
Yes, for Google, not for the reader or in any way for your audience. Those tools are optimizing your articles for Google and Google only. (Fair enough, maybe Bing too.)
Maybe you’re wondering where do these tools get their information from? Easy, from the current Google search results! Using it causes the same exact problems that come with number 1 and 2.
Your unique piece of content, with your own personal tone-of-voice, gets standardized based on what is currently ranking in Google. With information added based on what is currently ranking in Google and probably over-optimized as well.
End result? More of the same content that is already ranking in Google, with on top of that the same part where everyone using these tools is getting pretty much the same results.
Now tell me, why would Google rank your website if it’s for a huge part simply the same information that can already be found? As I wrote in my rant about the responses to the latest Google algorithm updates, it costs a lot server capacity = money to crawl and index all these websites.
Why would you do that if you don’t add any value that did not exist before?
Problem #4: AI writers, reproducing rather than creating original content
Problem number 4 continues on the same path, these days there are plenty of AI article “writers” that can help you create content for cheap. In the old days you needed some Indian or Pakistani copywriters to do this for you, but these days a simple tool does the same.
Names that come to mind are Koala writer and of course Surfer AI. Oh, and you can even just use chatGPT for free, if you really want to be cheap.
I feel like I’m repeating myself, but these tools all use similar large language models. They are trained on already existing content and information. Which means, that apart from hallucinations and stuff they make up, they can only reproduce information that was already available.
AI is smart compared to older technology, but it has no capability of creating original creative work or adding personal touches and experience to a piece of content. Simply because it’s not a human. These tools are not writers, they’re simply an advanced content spinner.
There we go again, another piece of content mostly providing already available information without any added value. More, more and more of what already exists.
The Fix: prioritising value for your audience
How to fix this, can it even be fixed?
Oh yes, it can!
Pretty easily actually, it only requires a shift in mindset and a touch of passion can help too. Start an online business, or niche site, with the goal to help your audience. Ask yourself what value you can provide to them, how you can help them better and what information would be helpful for them.
Do this using your own brain and you don’t even need those SEO tools anymore. It forces you to be human, to share your own experiences and knowledge in order to help people in a similar situation or with a similar problem.
When you focus on your target audience and start with answering the question how you can help them get what you want. Then the money will come, at least if you’re doing a good enough job of helping them.
After this mindset change a SEO tool can help, since Google is still a computer it will help your website if you mention the keywords in your content. Not too much, use your brain again here and do it naturally.
Like using a keyword in the title, in the intro, some sub-headings and a couple of times in your content. Sprinkle it on your article to help Google understand better what it’s about, like how you’re sprinkling garnish after cooking.
This is how search engine optimization was meant to be, you have this amazing article and you optimize it so a computer, the Google bot, can more easily understand what it is about. Especially years ago, when the Google algorithm was less smart, this was a necessary evil.
And let’s be real here, doing this is by no means a guarantee that your content will rank, this also depends on if you’re matching user intent and search intent. But at least you will have content that provides value to your audience.
Strongly increasing the chances of them sharing it with other people, either directly or using social media. Increasing the trust people have in you and creating a foundation of your audience being interested in what you have to tell.
As a result, creating a business that becomes a brand, that gets fans and that frees you from only ever relying on Google traffic. Oh and of course making you good money along the way.
