Your SEO isn’t working. Why not?
You will sometimes hear people talk about SEO as if it doesn’t work. Maybe they’ve had a poor experience with it. They tried to do search engine optimization, hoping to increase the traffic to their website, but they just didn’t see results. They decided that this means SEO doesn’t work as a general tactic, so they’ve given up on it.
What probably happened is that there were significant issues with that specific SEO campaign. The person just made mistakes, whether they realize it or not, that harmed their success. After all, SEO has to be done correctly to be effective, and there are clear mistakes that can derail the process. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Not researching keywords
First of all, when considering keywords, you may start with terms that are relevant to your industry, your products or your business itself. But it’s also important to consider the terms that users are actually searching for. If you research keywords, you can see clear trends. By combining these search trends with the organic terms that you already know are related to your industry, you can create an SEO campaign that generates results. But if you try to optimize for keywords that people aren’t even using, it’s not going to have the same impact.
Competing against generic phrases
Another issue that often comes up is when people want to use the most basic or generic terms for SEO, so there’s simply too much competition. Someone may be trying to optimize for a sporting goods website that sells shoes, but the keyword “shoes” is simply too generic and common to be effective.
One way to address this is to use localized SEO terms. This means choosing a geographical region and including it in those terms. The search term “athletic shoes in Miami” is going to generate far better results, and the local focus means that there isn’t nearly as much competition. Plus, you’re most likely to connect with a local audience that wants to visit your retail location.
Ignoring the algorithm
Finally, remember that SEO is done to draw traffic, but it does this through the algorithm that was created by the search engine company. In most cases, this means Google. They have their own restrictions and rules that must be followed.
These rules include prohibited practices. For instance, spamming a webpage with hundreds of relevant search terms, but without creating helpful content for the reader, could actually harm your ranking. It is far more effective to create beneficial content that people will actually look for, that answers their questions or provides helpful information, while using just a few relevant keywords throughout that content.
Addressing your SEO needs
These are just a few examples of mistakes that can hinder the performance of an SEO campaign. Here at Content Customs, we will work closely with you to address your company’s needs, generate effective content and help you avoid these types of errors. Please get in touch with us today to find out how our friendly team can help your business achieve success.