The proliferation of slapdash, unconstructive information is the single heaviest drawback on the progression of SEO in 2015.

As though it’s not enough to be constantly ensuring our campaigns are up to scratch through careful budgeting, the perpetual quest for top quality backlinks and constant watchfulness of Google’s algorithm updates – we have to contend with our industry’s reputation being besmirched by the pondweed, swindling SEO agencies out there.

Bad practices have filtered through into so many of my new client’s minds, due to their past experiences, that it beggars belief how many delusions they believe are fundamental to attaining high rankings.

Many people don’t believe SEO works at all due to the lack of solutions their previous business partners provided them with. At the end of the day, SEO is a tough nut to crack; it takes years of experience and constant interaction with the inner community to consistently graft out top quality results, and the circulation of shoddy information is entirely inhibitive to this end. Even after showing the dedication required to consistently provide clients with returns on their investment

2015 is a big year for SEO, but to get our industry on the right track, I think it’s essential to outline some of the most common delusions circulates by certain schmucks across the net.

Bargain Hunting SEO, Cheap Backlinks, Cheap Content will maximise your ROI

In a word, this is absurd. SEO is not a shortcut-conducive practice, it takes time, research and daily engagement. Gone are the days of the formulaic approach to SEO, where a few title tag adjustments, tactful placement of keywords and any old backlink acquirement could positively impact on rankings.

With the introductions and consistent upgrades of Panda and Penguin, it’s just not that black and white anymore.

A firm which promises high quality, cheap backlinks and content are either engaging in shady link building practices sure to land you in trouble with Google, or else lying and will actually supply you with thin, practically useless content. Either way, the penalty you’ll incur due to your misplaced faith in these suspect firms will blow your budget out the water leaving you desolate amidst your site’s ruination.

If you choose to invest in SEO, even if you go into business with renowned optimisers, do not expect to organically blow your traffic levels out the water immediately. Campaigns are multi-layered, incorporating long term strategies involving high quality content marketing, social media management to boost coverage all contributing to the overarching building of excellent links.

This all takes time and investment – but the price will always be right for strong SEO application.

Top Quality Content = SEO success

This is a delicate issue. Great content is a cornerstone of SEO success, and thus ensuring your content is relevant to your target audience, flows in the way it reads, is grammatically correct and ranks for the appropriate keywords, is a necessity for your SEO campaign.

However, without adeptly leveraging that content – whether that be through the building of links towards your various articles, infographics, how to videos and promotional pieces or a rigorous social media campaign which places your pieces of content on relevant pages, forums and across a multitude of social media channels – it is most likely your instructive pages will not be seen by an overwhelming proportion of your target audience.

There’s just too much noise out there, even if your content is incredible – it needs to be promoted properly. It’s like Tyson without Don King, Movies without Harvey Weinstein, Compare the Market without Meerkats – you need someone or something that garners you extra publicity, that allows you to shine.

Of course, if you’re a huge brand, such as Huffington Post, Forbes or some other reputable news circulation group,

Well written, relevant content will prevent you from receiving a penalty, sure – but it won’t guarantee you exposure – for that you need both the tequila and the lemon!