Nail Your SEO Strategy: Challenges & Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation
A robust SEO strategy is essential for a brand, business, product, service and even great causes.?
However, SEO success isn't a walk in the park.?
Having worked on hundreds of websites, I want to outline some of the more common challenges and benefits of a well-rounded SEO strategy (and no, it doesn't include a checklist of monthly actions) to provide you with some actionable steps on developing an effective SEO strategy.
Why SEO is Important for Your Brand
Having a solid SEO strategy offers a range of benefits.?
Optimising your website for search engines can increase traffic, improve your visibility and credibility, and ultimately drive growth across more than just organic traffic!
Yes! You read that right SEO does more for your brand than drive organic traffic.?
SEO, when approached correctly, will improve user retention from paid, social and other forms of traffic landing on your website. Meaning the ROI of different tactics will improve too.?
In a nutshell, a well-executed SEO strategy can help companies stay competitive in a crowded market and is one of the most critical aspects for any business looking to grow and gain a share of voice.
Challenges of Implementing an SEO Strategy
Despite the many benefits of SEO, implementing an effective strategy can be challenging.?
Even from my perspective, it is incredibly frustrating to see and hear first-hand what some people's experiences have been with what they call SEO.?
From buying backlinks from Fiverr, sourcing information from Facebook groups and even poor advice from platforms like WiX to the downright shady tactics many so-called 'experts' and 'SEO ninjas' are trying to implement. It really is no wonder SEO is so incredibly misunderstood.?
SEO isn't rocket science. In fact, anyone telling you that is lying to you.?
SEO is thousands of factors that must be addressed and implemented. Yandex alone has confirmed 1922 factors, so imagine the depth of Google!
Challenge #1 - Ever-changing algorithms
With Google's algorithm changing regularly, keeping up with the latest SEO trends and best practices is daunting.?
This is why it's essential to stay up-to-date with the latest industry news and attend training sessions or webinars to ensure you have the necessary skills to implement an effective SEO strategy.
Challenge #2 - One size doesn't fit all
SEO is broad regarding skillsets as it requires content creators, technical knowledge, attention to detail, researchers, strategists, thinkers, doers - the list goes on, but you get my point.?
An SEO that can tick all of those boxes is rare!?
This makes working with individual SEOs more of a risk.?
Challenge #3 - Trust
Resources and talent that can be trusted is another huge problem.?
Unfortunately, the internet is awash with poor and out-of-date advice and guidance, making it virtually impossible to know who and what to trust.
Hands down, the best advice I can give you at this stage is to do some research.?
领英推荐
If you are talking to an individual, ask for references, look at their website, and check platforms like UpWork for testimonials.??
Working with an agency gets slightly more straightforward, thanks to platforms like The Drum Recommends.?
However, I still strongly urge you to research their websites, client websites and LinkedIn profiles to get a feel for the team and expertise.?
Developing an Effective SEO Strategy
You must focus on a few key areas to develop an effective SEO strategy.?
Firstly, know your goals and set your expectations. Have some KPIs to measure and track performance against. These could be as simple as increasing organic traffic by x% or gaining page one ranking for xyz.?
Good SEO can take time, especially in competitive niches.
Just be realistic with your budget. It will only go so far in a highly competitive industry requiring detail-oriented, structured content and outreach!?
Any worthwhile SEO strategy will include a level of fixes and development work. Unfortunately, almost every website is flawed, so plan for time up front to work on and fix errors from within your website. These could be broken links or performance errors like poor load times.?
How a website is hosted is often a big blocker, so in this case, 'you get what you pay for' couldn't be more accurate. Instead, plan and allow for decent web hosting that is maintained and protected. At Solve, we host all of our websites on our green web hosting servers - but that's a topic for another day.
You must conduct thorough keyword research to identify search terms relevant to your business.?
Once you've identified your keywords, you can formulate your strategy with a plan for improving website content, including titles, descriptions, headings, alt tags and UX (user experience), to ensure that it is optimised for search engines.?
With the basics in place, you need to allow for marginal gains. Tweaks here and there can make a huge difference. So review, track and measure your success all the time.
Another vital element of an effective SEO strategy is building trust and authority. This can come in many forms, from reviews and trust signals from verified platforms (Google My Business, TrustPilot etc) as well to high-quality backlinks to your website.?
If you don't know, backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website, and they are a fairly strong factor in Google's ranking algorithm.?
Building high-quality backlinks take time and effort. This is one aspect of your strategy you should not cut corners on as the penalties can be significant if you get it wrong.
Nailing your SEO strategy could be split over many articles and podcasts, so I have kept this to a reasonably simple level for you to enhance and improve upon once the basics are in place.
Measuring SEO Success
Once you've implemented your SEO strategy, measuring its success is important.?
You can use several free tools to track your website's traffic and ranking, including Google Analytics (GA4), Google Search Console, and some premium tools like semrush and ahrefs.?
I mentioned metrics briefly, but you should identify and measure what's vital for you and your brand. This could be:
By monitoring these metrics regularly, you will identify any areas of your strategy that may need improvement and make adjustments to ensure continued success.
Still need help?
An effective SEO strategy is critical for brands looking to succeed online.?
While there are challenges to implementing an effective SEO strategy, the benefits of doing so are significant.?
You can improve your website's ranking and drive traffic by focusing on thorough keyword research, website optimisation and link building.?
Ultimately SEO takes time to do well. So investing time and resources in the right place is crucial to develop and implementing an effective SEO strategy.?