SEO can be an expensive investment, so understandably, you would want to do your best to get the most out of your investment. But in order to do this, you need to be aware of the common obstacles that can hinder the success of SEO.
In my experience, nine things have historically prevented my clients from getting results. Knowing these obstacles can help you get in the way of them and prevent them from getting into your campaign and derailing your progress.
1. Not defining campaign goals
If you don’t know what goals you are trying to achieve through SEO, measuring success is impossible. Read also : Hiring an SEO e-commerce agency increases resources for increased organic visibility.
Similarly, if you have set goals but have not identified any key performance indicators (KPIs), it is difficult to know how successful you have been in meeting your campaign goals.
There’s nothing worse than having a number in someone’s head (e.g., adding 100 new leads per month through SEO) and not discovering it until months of effort and discovering that you’re not living up to expectations.
Defining goals and KPIs and communicating them with your team will help you have a successful campaign and achieve your results.
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2. Lack of resources
Working with the lack of resources is extremely frustrating and can hinder the success of your SEO. To see also : R.A.C.E to Success: A Strategic Framework to Win at SEO.
Here are some examples of resources you need to run a successful campaign and what can happen when you don’t have them.
3. Poor patience
SEO is a long-term investment. On the same subject : Global Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Market Report 2022 Includes WebFX, The SEO Works, Moz, Wordstream, SEOimage.com, Searchmetrics, SEMrush (US), Boostability, Adlift, & Straight North. It’s not something you can rush into, no matter how many resources you use.
Businesses get frustrated when they don’t see significant gains in the first few months. They may question your investment, decide to reduce your efforts, or disconnect completely.
Please do not assume that your SEO efforts will not work because your site is not at the top of the search engine results pages for the first month. This requires constant time and effort.
The truth is that even when an SEO specialist works, it can take months or even years to see impressive results. As difficult as it may be, you need to be patient and trust the process.
4. Broad targeting
When working on an SEO campaign, it’s important to define the niche you want to target. This includes both your geographic market and your customer base.
Defining a niche at the beginning of your marketing campaign helps you attract your ideal customers to your unique corner of the market. Also, the more specific you are to your niche, the easier it will be to rank well.
Theme groups and keywords in your niche may get less traffic than more general ones, but they also become better and are valuable for both targeting and tracking.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you choose a niche with no search volume or one that isn’t closely related to your products or services. Just look for one that is reasonable to guide you based on the competition and trends in your industry.
I understand that it can be terrifying to choose a specific niche, especially if you want everyone to have a chance to find your site. But, you have to remember, defining a niche does not mean that you will stay in it forever. A niche should evolve over time. You can extend your reach later in the campaign when appropriate. You can develop current knowledge in a variety of topics and niches.
5. Not thinking full-funnel
It’s important to remember that not all Google users are ready to convert when they find your page. You need to think about users at every stage of your journey, including initiation, research, comparison, transaction, and experience.
You can’t assume that all the keywords or topics you target will be converted. This is simply unrealistic.
Instead, you need to choose language-related goals used by a potential user at each stage of the conversion funnel and provide the appropriate content and level of engagement they are looking for during their consideration and customer journey. .
For example, if someone has just become aware of their need for a new type of insurance for their business, they are likely to begin their journey by researching their options and the types of companies that provide it. They’re not necessarily ready to fill out a form or make a call and start a sales process until they research and start moving down the funnel.
6. Ignoring SERPs
Many people who are just starting their SEO journey do not understand how a search engine results page (SERP) works. So you may not even realize that there are several sections in the SERPs and that organic results are usually buried under ads, news, map packs, snippets, and more.
It is crucial to be educated about the anatomy of a SERP so that you understand the many ways in which your SEO efforts can affect the results that are displayed to users.
Good SEO or areas adjacent to traditional search (i.e., local SEO) have the power to get you one of the coveted sites in Google search features (map pack, snippets, reviews, etc. .). But you may need to tweak your SEO strategy to optimize your pages in a way that gets Google’s attention.
For example, schema tagging can help tell Google that you want your reviews to appear on your Google listing. Similarly, having a Google Business Profile list increases the likelihood of appearing in the results of the map package.
7. Bad partnerships
Nothing slows down progress as a bad association. The wrong partner can prevent you from achieving your results, whether with marketers, agencies, freelancers, tools, writers, developers, or people involved in strategy and implementation.
But ending a bad partnership is not always easy, especially if there are contracts. Before disconnecting, discuss your expectations and how this partnership does not meet your expectations. Then develop an action plan to correct the situation.
But in the end, if your association is not recoverable, you must terminate it. SEO is an investment and it is not worth working with someone who does not help you achieve your results.
Do all possible due diligence on the front. Hopefully, you don’t end up in this situation.
8. Disconnection from other marketing channels
As a marketer, nothing bothers me more than working with professionals who blindly think that their marketing channel is the most important thing in achieving their client’s goals. In reality, marketing channels should make synergies for the best possible results. This comes from someone (me) who started their career deep in an SEO silo.
There is a time and place for all marketing channels. For example, if you need fast results and want to increase your listing at the top of Google, paid search is a great option. But running long-term ads can be costly. This is where SEO comes in.
SEO takes time. It rarely gives results in the first place in the SERPs. Therefore, working on your SEO while running ads simultaneously can attract a similar population until your site rises higher in the organic rankings, and finally, the need for a paid ad for that service or product is no longer necessary. In addition, payments and organic may work well together in some cases depending on how the SERPs are structured for specific topics and queries.
Beyond that, we need to know that other channels such as social media, email, and other types of digital advertising can go a long way toward working together and influencing the customer journey. Don’t put all the pressure on one channel if you can avoid it.
I encourage my clients to think about how they can take advantage of all marketing channels and disciplines, including SEO, paid search, content, UX / UI, video, and more, to get the best results possible.
9. Not enough attribution
Data tracking is important. After all, it is the return on investment that your SEO efforts are producing. However, it is a mistake to keep track of SEO data only and not to track business statistics and conversions related to your SEO efforts.
For example, if you have a business based on services such as plumbing, you should expect to see an increase in plumbing-related keywords. However, this means little if you don’t see an increase in conversions as well (i.e. calls or contact forms are filling out).
With digital marketing, we have the power to know if it works and keep track of it to the end. In most cases, it is unacceptable to make assumptions when we can connect dots from print to conversion (and hopefully beyond).
Remove your SEO roadblocks
It is only natural to want instant SEO results, but this is not how it works. Getting the SEO results you want requires constant time and effort. Avoiding the pitfalls described in this article will help you get the most out of your SEO investment.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are shown here.
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About The Author
Corey Morris is a skilled marketer with over 15 years of experience developing award-winning digital strategies and ROI generators for local and national brands. He was recently awarded the KCDMA 2019 Marketing Award of the Year.
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