Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a topic that brings about a terror or fear to many marketers because of its complexity and great involvement. In addition, there are so many changes being made to algorithms used in search engines that marketers are having the feeling of being lost in the dark. For example, Google changes its search algorithms around 500-600 times per year. That’s a lot of shifting to keep up with leaving marketers with an overwhelming feeling.
Product Manager Steph Ferrel compares algorithms to that of a horror movie scene. “Sound like the opening scene of a horror movie? While it very well could be, fear not: we’re talking about SEO strategy here. Yet for most marketers, SEO generates the same kind of unease and suspense as your typical tale of terror” (Ferrel, 2019).
Summary
In the March 4, 2019 newsletter by Skyword, a marketing firm, Product Marketing Manager Steph Ferrel in her article “Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy” advises marketers on how to deal with the overwhelming fear of changing algorithms and fuel your strategic SEO strategy by leveraging competitive keyword.
Ferrel says, studying every algorithm update will drive you mad, so don’t focus on the number. Here’s a few tips she advises marketers to do to break ahead (Ferrel, 2019).
- Keyword Benchmarking. Keyword research and competitive intelligence are critical in this effort. You need to build a smart, competitive keyword strategy that can answer these questions: In relation to your competitors, how do you know where to focus and where not to? In the overcrowded world of search, which keywords are worth targeting to beat your competitors and which should you avoid entirely?
- Track and improve upon your SEO strategy based on performance and insights. You must be continually tracking and improving upon the performance of your strategy. Tracking your keyword performance can be difficult if you don’t have the right tools to keep tabs on how Google is—or is not—ranking your individual pieces of content.
- Engage in SEO best practices by staying on top of trends, not the updates themselves. This is a continual practice. While the algorithms are constantly—and frustratingly—being updated, keep in mind that they’re rehauled in support of a now very constant pillar of SEO: positive user experience. Google prides itself on creating great user experiences, and that means finding and serving content that picks up right where Google leaves off.
Ferrel states “At the end of the day, your content needs to put the consumer first: with friendly layouts, useful topics, and high-quality content (Ferrel, 2019).
Reflections and Analysis
I connected with this article. SEO is one of those topics that can be frustrating and sometimes overwhelming without the changes in algorithms, at least for me. Deciding whether to use On-Site SEO, Off-Site SEO or both to optimize your website and keyword research is already enough to drive you crazy. Tasking search engines to perform searches based only on a very small clue given by the users is very difficult. The truth is, algorithm changes in a search engine, whether Google or some other search engine, leaves a website vulnerable to losing some of its rankings. Sites are sometimes affected negatively by these changes.
Search engines have undergone constant evolution since its beginning. There are two main factors contribute to the continual algorithm changes. First, search engines must continually combat against black-hat SEO tactics. Spam websites that don’t provide any valuable content and wishing to rank well are a constant threat to search engines. Creators of spam websites are constantly discovering new ways to manipulate search engine results, so search engines must continually update their algorithms to fight against these manipulators. Second, a search engine can never achieve perfection, so there is always room for improvement and innovation (Larsen & Draper, 2018).
So how can digital marketers overcome the overwhelming feeling of fear and dread to stay ahead of these changes? The first step is to keep yourself informed. Check sites, like Moz.com, that report on Google’s algorithm updates, or Search Engine Land articles. Second, study the history of Google’s major algorithm changes so you can better understand the trend of the changes and why.
In conclusion, SEO doesn’t have to be like that of a horror film or leaving a feeling of overwhelm and dread. Using the tools advised by Ferrel, can help you feel confident about your SEO strategy and execution. The goal is to be found, and for your site to be more discoverable than that of the competition. Not doing the SEO right, because of fear or dread, jeopardizes the success of effort and web content.
References
Bentz, J. (2018, December 4). Competitor Benchmarking: How To Stop Competitors From Eating Your Lunch Read more at https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/competitor-benchmarking-how-to-stop-competitors-from-eating-you. In Business 2 Community. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/competitor-benchmarking-how-to-stop-competitors-from-eating-your-lunch-02146136
Ferrel, S. (2019, March 4). Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy. In Skyword. Retrieved from https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-you-need-keyword-benchmarking-in-your-seo-strategy/
Larson, J., & Draper, S. (2018). Digital Marketing Essentials (Fall ed.). Idaho Falls, ID: Edify Publishing.
The Digital Marketing Cafe 
Hi Christina, great post, I especially enjoyed reading your opening paragraph, the part about search engines and how they frequently change their algorithms. I totally agree, it is a nightmare keeping up with all the changes, because just when you think you got the correct formula, you know, that one that will give you the spot on the SERP you’ve always wanted, you get pushed back and thrown in with all the others again, having to revamp and hopefully, just hopefully you don’t stumble upon any possible pitfalls that gets you banned from the search page. As far as the article written by Steph Farrel, I must say, she has an overwhelmingly inside track on SEO, at least from my perspective. When Steph Ferrel states that, “At the end of the day, your content needs to put the consumer first: with friendly layouts, useful topics, and high-quality content” (Ferrel, 2019), I think she nails it.
References
Ferrel, S. (2019, March 4). Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy. In Skyword. Retrieved from https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-you-need-keyword-benchmarking-in-your-seo-strategy/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Christina, great post, I especially enjoyed reading your opening paragraph, the part about search engines and how they frequently change their algorithms. I totally agree, it is a nightmare keeping up with all the changes, because just when you think you got the correct formula, you know, that one that will give you the spot on the SERP you’ve always wanted, you get pushed back and thrown in with all the others again, having to revamp and hopefully, just hopefully you don’t stumble upon any possible pitfalls that gets you banned from the search page. As far as the article written by Steph Farrel, I must say, she has an overwhelmingly inside track on SEO, at least from my perspective. When Steph Ferrel states that, “At the end of the day, your content needs to put the consumer first: with friendly layouts, useful topics, and high-quality content” (Ferrel, 2019), I think she nails it.
References
Ferrel, S. (2019, March 4). Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy. In Skyword. Retrieved from https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-you-need-keyword-benchmarking-in-your-seo-strategy/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Christina, great post, I especially enjoyed reading your opening paragraph, the part about search engines and how they frequently change their algorithms. I totally agree, it is a nightmare keeping up with all the changes, because just when you think you got the correct formula, you know, that one that will give you the spot on the SERP you’ve always wanted, you get pushed back and thrown in with all the others again, having to revamp and hopefully, just hopefully you don’t stumble upon any possible pitfalls that gets you banned from the search page. As far as the article written by Steph Farrel, I must say, she has an overwhelmingly inside track on SEO, at least from my perspective. When Steph Ferrel states that, “At the end of the day, your content needs to put the consumer first: with friendly layouts, useful topics, and high-quality content” (Ferrel, 2019), I think she nails it. Thanks for the read.
References
Ferrel, S. (2019, March 4). Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy. In Skyword. Retrieved from https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-you-need-keyword-benchmarking-in-your-seo-strategy/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Cristina,
Great Post! Interesting article. Benchmarking SEO current performance of a company is essential, and when a company’s website does this, they can see vast improvements overtime. Having the right keywords is important for SEO. Keyword ranking has been a way to achieve this. With keyword ranking, a company can see whether or not their website is growing. In time, a company should see rankings improve, as well as the total number of keywords your site is ranking for. With company’s selecting keywords, it would be advisable for them to be able to identify search volume, relationships, and competitiveness. Also, it would be unnecessary to target those that generate the most traffic. Rather, companies choosing those most relevant to their website that can actually be achieved. Its important that keywords need to generate profitable traffic to a business’s website and not be too competitive. Also tracking and improving your SEO strategy involves monitoring. When it comes to deciding to use either onsite or offsite SEO companies should look at their options. For example, on-site SEO is the art of making your website friendly to search engines. This can be achieved by adjusting particular components of your site so that search engines understand the intent of your content and the structure of your website. However, off-site SEO is the promotion of a company’s website and content to external websites. Guest blogging, social media, reviews are all critical components to a successful marketing campaign. The combination of onsite and offsite SEO can make a company’s website more visible to potential customers.
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Some great tips – thanks for sharing!
I try to implement off site and on site SEO – It is amazing how much on site SEO has helped my sites
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