Unless you are an expert on SEO, or someone who can’t read enough literature on the industry, or someone who always knows the latest SEO trends and developments, you probably fall into one of these categories.
- You know you don’t know everything about SEO
- You don’t know you don’t know everything about SEO
Not sure where you fit in?
Five Signs Your Understanding of SEO Has Expired.
1. You Put Too Much Emphasis on Rankings
In the past, rankings were the gold standard that the quality of SEO was measured by. This is no longer the case. In an effort to provide the best user experience (UX) possible, Google customizes SERPs (search engine results pages) based on factors that include, search history, age, and geographic location. Rankings are all relative – What ranks number 1 for you might be number 100 to someone else.
2. You Believe One-Size-Fits-All Campaigns Work
One trend that we wish would quit hanging on is canned, cookie-cutter SEO campaigns. The advanced algorithms that Google uses now have made methods like this ineffective at best, and harmful at worst. A strategy that is tailored to your unique industry and business is always going to be more successful than a generic one.
3. You Think Any Link is a Good Link
This mindset is still hard to shake for some, since for a long time, any link actually was a helpful link– in terms or rankings, anyway. Now, quality carries as much weight as quantity, and in some cases even more. Google might even penalize or ban your site for having certain kinds of links. For successful SEO efforts, your inbound link strategy needs to be focused on earning links that are relevant, diverse and placed on authoritative websites and blogs.
4. You Don’t Think Content Quality Is Important
In the past, content for the sake of content was good enough to impress we crawlers, provided the keywords and word count were appropriate. Today, Google’s search algorithm is far more sophisticated, recognizing and rewarding high-quality content. Without impeccable standards, a company cannot expect SEO content to accomplish much of anything.
5. You Think Keyword Stuffing Is a Best Practice
If you are still cramming keywords phrases into your web content left and right, you’re doing more damage than anything. At one time, several mentions of important keywords signaled a positive response from Google crawlers. Today, Google sees too much repetition of keywords as a way to game its system. Nowadays, one or two mentions of a keyword phrase are enough to get the job done.
How did you score?
If you’d like to discuss your SEO requirements and ways to improve your SEO lead generation, please contact us. We are eager to learn more about your situation.
