Re:Ask HN: Does SEO still work in 2018?
by debaserab2 on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @01:22PM
(#16860333)
Do things like meta description tags and site map submissions still matter? Just curious.
Re:Ask HN: Does SEO still work in 2018?
by smueller1234 on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @03:39PM
(#16861601)
Sitemaps are still useful. Eg. my previous employer ran a very large site with hundreds of millions of possible pages to crawl. You can use the sitemaps to help the crawler prioritise given limited crawl budget.
Disclosure: work for Google nowadays but have zero insight into anything internal that's search related. The above is just common sense and should apply to most search engines.
Description tags matter in terms of converting a search to a click. So, while Google says there isn't a body for putting keywords in the description, I still do because it gives the searcher confidence that the content on the page will match their search query.
For site maps, it helps Google find updated content if you have a large site. It's not required, but it won't hurt if you submit one.
Re:Ask HN: Does SEO still work in 2018?
by treycopeland on Wednesday April 18, 2018 @11:15AM
(#16868042)
Which in my opinion, those user engaged clicks signal to Google that the link is relevant to that user for that query, especially if they stay and interact on the site. I believe that gives that site a ranking boost for that query. Those are just my opinions and cannot 100% confirm.
I've seen many businesses including my own boom with good SEO. Back in the old days I got to #1 for "movers", but the tricks back then don't work anymore (which is a good thing).
Today, it's much more legitimate and I find the most success with keyword research. It's about finding what your target market is searching for and where your competition is or isn't.
Giving up on SEO is a losing proposition for any business that doesn't have a dominate brand or social media presence, which is most businesses.