Google dominates search engines worldwide, and it looks like that won't change any time soon. According to research, building any search engine with realistic goals means starting with a budget of at least 1 billion dollars. That's exactly why most states and companies aren't interested in it. And the companies that are interested only manage to take a small 1–2% share of the market.
At the moment, more than 90% of all searches on the internet go through Google. Users gathering on Google also pulls content creators' attention to this platform. Everyone's interest being focused on one point increases competition and makes it harder to get results.
You can think of it this way: users first go to Google and from there spread out to other websites. In other words, everyone who visits Google chooses the website its algorithms recommend. That means if Google likes your website, you can cut your extra advertising costs, even bring them down to 0.
In short, if you want to exist on the internet, you have to get along with Google.
Getting along with Google is a must
In any business, a good relationship lasts as long as both sides respect each other's rules. The rules of the more valuable side stand out, and sometimes the other side softens its own. In this example, Google is the more valuable side. Applying its rules on your website, even the ones it voices as recommendations rather than requirements, will make your relationship better.
So can you fool Google?
This is a bit different from what we think. Google today takes part in changing sectors worth billions of dollars. To bring the most accurate results forward in those sectors, it updates its algorithms every day. How does it do that? That's exactly why the staggering budget needed to open a search engine, which I mentioned at the beginning, is spent. Thousands of Google engineers work so that everyone reaches the content they're looking for as quickly and as fully as possible. Despite all this work, dishonest people can still fool Google.
How do they do it?
Google is a search engine that always tries to keep its search algorithms secret. But users manage to find them out one way or another. For example, some time ago Google put sites built with WEB 2.0 forward. Some groups that figured this out built hundreds of websites of this type and managed to rise to the top of Google.
If we look at more recent times, Google values links and engagement coming from social networks. Again, some people manage to fool Google's algorithms with fake accounts or in other ways and push a website up to rankings it doesn't deserve.
There are also SEO Booster systems working in this direction. They promise website owners a spot on Google's first page in as little as 1 month and charge large sums for it. But you should know that none of these tricks last. After a short while your site can drop back down the rankings, or even be blocked by Google because of some mistakes, and you get nothing back for what you spent.
That's why the right way is to do proper SEO, create original content, keep a healthy relationship with Google and reach the top that way. Even if it takes a long time, the result will make you much happier.
