Clients & Fast SEO.

If clients do not understand the premise of SEO takes time then it's likely that the relationship won't last.

You can fix technical SEO issues

You can write new, high quality, topical content

You can beef up internal linking

You can beef up domain content coverage and overall topical authority

You can clean up links

You can build new links

You can bolster brand trust

You can capitalise on GMB

You can take advantage of SCHEMA

You can test title and description adjustments

You can expand domain query coverage

You can test heading and child heading relationships

You can fix cannibalisation

You can fix canonical issues

You can improve and own core web vitals

You can better align pages with end user intent

You can capitalise on positive brand signals

You can test URL changes (pillar / child pages)

You can test external links to internal pages

You can diversify anchor texts

You can develop a content strategy

You can resolve GSC coverage issues

You can improve end user engagement by testing different landing page information and configurations

You can test different above the fold / centre / lower fold content configurations

You can test anchor consistency internally

You can run NAP audits

You can build additional citations

You can revisit content testing different sentiment, tone of voice, depth

You can test weak content culling & consolidation

You can test IP and neighbourhood association

You can test different hosting configurations

You can reduce and eliminate omitted results

You can ensure your index is consistent and not a mish mash of inconsistent URL types

You can ensure your code is clean

You can ensure your use of Absolute vs Relative URLS is consistent

You can test HREFLANG configurations

You can noindex paginated results

You can run mobile-friendly render tests & make sure all resources are accessible

You can address mobile-first indexing

You can take advantage of passage indexing

You can make sure your robots txt contains all the right directives

You can make sure you are not impacted by duplicate content

You can test NLP adaptations to content

You can test improved accessibility

You can run CTR optimisation experiments

You can reverse engineer competitor site structures

You can run link audits and run disavows

But if you aren't given time you stand no chance.

You can do EVERYTHING RIGHT and still have time against you.

Why? because sometimes sites rank and hold rank even if you do better than they do. Google's indexes can remain stagnant for LONG periods - even if you DO the right things.

If SERPS were stupidly volatile, consistently, it would make SEO far less viable.

If it took aged competitors 5 years to rank, what chance do you have with a 3 month SEO retainer?

It's pointless now to:

? Sell SEO on short time frames UNLESS YOU CAN EXPLICITLY see a good reason for position lag (solved by technical fixes)

? Undersell SEO. Good content isn't cheap, good links aren't cheap, digital PR isn't cheap

? Entertain clients/potential clients who cannot accept time factors - equally, you have to educate them, the risk is double sided, they could accept waiting only to be handled by an incompetent or inexperienced SEO - so client education, explanations, nurture and data sharing are a must

? SEO is a hybrid service - part science, part testing, part guessing, part luck. Some accounts you'll win and the positive ranking increases that come could have been "pent up" - as in the previous work was good enough, there just hadn't been enough time for the results to come to fruition

? Rush things - COVID has fuelled a NOW NOW NOW demand for results in an industry that is CONSTANTLY in flux. Businesses, Marketing Managers, HOM's need to accept that a structured strategy with realistic milestones is a much better way to go over (can we expect to see big growth in 3 months)

The fact is, IF YOU DO THE RIGHT THINGS from an SEO perspective, you may still have to wait.

?? IS the SERP reactive or stagnant?

?? Competitor TTR (time to rank) - look back at their rankings over time using AHREFS ranking lookback / SEMRUSH ranking lookback. Also look at their wayback, look at their company age and establishment, in some indexes (especially localised ones) you will find aged businesses can outrank new businesses without the same requirements for links etc.

?? Client domain history - is it a shit fest of crap SEO and dodgy links? historic penalties? anything that would likely impede forward rankings? Sometimes domains can just REALLY LAG from a progression point of view, even if everything is cleaned up

If I could give anyone something to take away from this.

You can do ALL the right things from an SEO standpoint and yet still have to wait for the impact - typical TIME TO RANK factors. Sometimes even through CORE updates and ALGO refreshes, sites that shouldn't rank can persist.

To all the hard working SEOs out there busting it out day and night to keep on top of pandemic induced demand - keep your head high and never give up - even if rankings take longer to achieve than you or a client would like.

#seo #seo2021 #seoconsultant #searchengineoptimisation #google #digitalmarketing #business