TL;DR
- SEO is not easy, but are we overcomplicating and missing the basics?
- Our job is to help the users solve their problems, are we doing it? Or are we too focused on complex Google issues?
- There are numerous issues we need to focus on as SEOs, but have we accomplished the basics before moving on to the complex ones?
SEO is not easy!
But I do believe that we have overcomplicated it so much that we are missing the basics.
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Google
Accessible and useful are the two key terms there. Our job as SEOs, content marketers, digital marketers or any similar role is to help our users easily solve their problems.
Every page on your website is an employee/representative of your company. Are those employee’s doing their job? Carrying their weight? Making you proud?
If not, this is where you need to step in and optimize accordingly.
Unfortunately, I see a lot of websites ignoring this. They are focused on making their website blazing fast. Or implementing every type of structured data. They are not solving their user’s problems as best as they can, but you better believe they are blogging 5 times/week because a blog they read said content is king.
Page speed, structured data, backlinks, hreflang are all EXTREMELY important in a successful SEO strategy. Unfortunately, I see too many websites putting the cart before the horse and focusing on those complex problems before even ensuring their user’s basic problems are easily solved on their website.
Why Are We Overcomplicating SEO?
We are constantly dealing with algorithm updates, fluid competitive landscapes and internal resource battles. Why are we overcomplicating things by worrying about page speed, code to text ratio, and keyword frequency before the basics? Doing all of this and not paying attention to the basic question, did we satisfy the user’s needs?
Is it the numerous SEO tools out there in the market? They all need to have some sort of competitive advantage so they advertise they check 200 common SEO errors. In my experience, 90% of these are fluff but get so much attention. That attention distracts from the main goal of search engines, to organize information that is accessible and useful.
I’ve worked with lots of clients that have put too much emphasis on complex issues without ensuring their users are satisfied:
- Reverse engineering Google’s algorithm
- 100 on Google Page Speed
- Keyword frequency
- Redirecting similar/misspelled domains
- Way more strange asks that distracted from the main goal
So many issues that really do not help search engines easily find the content that answers your user’s questions.
Is SEO Hard to Learn?
Almost anything is hard to learn depending on your motivation. Luckily for anyone interested in SEO, we have some awesome people in the industry that have created amazing resources that will help your journey. In my article ‘Best Way To Learn SEO‘, I cover my journey of how I learned and continue to grow in my career. No matter where you are in your career I would recommend LearningSEO.io. This place has it all, organized in a very logical way with a spreadsheet to track your progress.
SEO is very logical and structured so it can be easy to learn when you know where to look. The post above will get you started, but you need to be careful where you get your information from. There are so many hacky websites out there offering courses, tips and tricks that can be very counterproductive to anyone looking to learn. This is one of the main reasons I think we are overcomplicating SEO. Some people have built up audiences and fed them incorrect information and it has spread too far.
How Hard Is SEO?
SEO can be very hard if knowledge isn’t shared.
The more people understand the benefits and impact of SEO, the easier it becomes. Anyone that is involved with the website should have knowledge of SEO. That is another role of SEO, education. If work is not getting done on the site it is likely because the decision-makers do not understand what is at stake.
John Morabito recently asked on Twitter about tips on closing and/or retaining clients for SEO. I responded by saying ‘teach them like they will no longer need you one day’. This means education should be tied to everything. The more everyone understands the ‘Why’, the more likely you will be successful.
SEO gets a bad rap because there are a lot of shady people out there selling SEO, but not really doing SEO. I’ve worked with many clients who really disliked SEO because they had a bad experience with it in the past. They had no visibility into what was happening, no reporting on metrics, little communication, but the checks kept getting cashed by their digital marketers.
SEO is not easy! But we can make it easy by being transparent. Be forward with education, expectations, needs, reporting, successes, fails. Everything!
The more we try to sneak, hack, trick or game the system (clients, users, search engines) the harder your life will be.
How to Make SEO Easier
There is no exact way to answer this because everyone is different.
My advice would be to get processes into place:
- Find reputable sources of information!
- Set aside time to learn new information.
- Set aside time to educate those who work on the website (content, development, project management).
- Test theories – if you think something will work, you have to try it. Over time you will get a better idea of what moves the needle.
- Stay curious!
There is no exact way to make your life in SEO easier, but hopefully, these steps can help get it started. Let me know if there is anything that should be added here!
