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SEO Checklist: 6 Reasons Your SEO Campaign is Not Effective
Let’s face it: Your website being on Google does not guarantee success for your business.
Keep in mind that the majority of search engine users will not click past the first page. Hence, you need to implement Search Engine Optimization tactics that will help place your website on the first page.
But what if you did everything you can and you are still not seeing any results? This is no reason for you to give up. It could only mean that your SEO plan is ineffective.
Luckily, there are various ways on how you can fix your ineffective SEO campaigns. Search engine optimization can be challenging and time-consuming and requires both knowledge and time to succeed. The best is to turn to an SEO agency that is an expert in the field to achieve the best possible results.
1. Poor Keyword Selection
One reason your SEO campaign is ineffective is because of your keyword selection. According to Jacinda Santora, keywords are the words and phrases that give you an insight into what your target customers are searching for.
First and foremost, you need to look for keywords that are relevant to your business. For instance, you sell t-shirts in a retail store. Of course, you should only target keywords like “men’s t-shirt” or “t-shirt for men.”
Next, you need to consider the monthly search volume and competition. Tools like the Google Keyword Planner can help you gather those kinds of data. Either way, the aim is to look for keywords with high monthly search volume but low-to-medium competition.
Lastly, consider the intent behind the keywords. “Men’s t-shirt” could mean that the users are just looking for a sample t-shirt design for men. On the other hand, “men’s t-shirt for sale” could mean that someone is willing to buy a t-shirt for men.
Depending on your campaign goal ‒ if it is for brand awareness or to generate a sale ‒ target the keywords that are relevant to you.
2. Ignoring Google Algorithm Updates
Back in October 2019, Google launched a major algorithm update called Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers or BERT. That said, chances are high that a lot of SEOs and website owners got baffled by it.
Sure, future-proofing your website against algorithm updates is not something that service providers include in their SEO packages. However, it is their job and your job to keep up with search engine algorithm updates. After all, your website’s search engine performance can suffer should you fail to recognize the changes.
Nonetheless, the key to keeping up with algorithm updates is to check out major online digital marketing publications. You can also follow known SEOs professionals, as these people tend to share whether they are seeing changes in search engine results. Lastly, make sure that your website is well-optimized in compliance with search engines’ SEO guidelines.
3. Aiming for Instant Result
Here’s the thing: It takes a while before you can see results in relation to your SEO campaign.
In fact, it is normal to see negative ROI during the first few months. But as you start investing time in honing your SEO skills and strategy, you should see an increase in results. This includes improved search engine ranking, increase in click-throughs, conversions, and sales.
As Jayson DeMers put it, “Remember that SEO is a strategy that pays off in compounding returns.”
Nonetheless, you should learn how to set realistic expectations for your SEO campaign.
4. Publishing Thin and Duplicate Content
Since the launch of Google Penguin and Google Panda, there has been a growing emphasis on the production of high-quality content. And by “high-quality content” we mean long-form, multimedia content that resonates well with your customers.
Content that are less than 300 words is less likely to engage a website visitor (unless it is a product description). On the other hand, copying good content from another website will only distract search engine bots for a bit. The thing is that the age of content and domain plays a role when it comes to search engine ranking.
So, if you copied a post about “popular t-shirt designs for men” from five years ago, you are less likely to rank for that keyword. Search engines will still consider the original post as the most relevant one ‒ giving it a better ranking. Not to mention that doing so risks your website from getting penalized and de-indexed by search engines.
To avoid that, start creating original content that your target customers will find useful, and then optimize it based on your target keywords.
5. Not Leveraging Social Media
Google may not admit it, but it appears that there is a strong correlation between social media and SEO.
In fact, Larry Kim of MobileMonkey, Inc. conducted a study, revealing that Facebook posts with about 6 to 13 percent engagement rates tend to have above expected organic search CTR.
So, if you deem that your SEO efforts are not working, you might want to check how you are doing with your social media marketing efforts.
According to Mark Traphagen of Airmclear Digital Marketing, here are some quick SMM tips that you can use to boost your SEO campaign:
- Create Link Opportunities: Use social media to promote your best evergreen content, and establish a procedure to ensure that it gets shared regularly.
- Let People Talk About Your Brand: If a particular unrecognized brand gets a lot of mentions online, it will drive Google to view the brand as an entity ‒ something that deserves attention. This can have an impact on what your website can rank for.
- Build Strategic Partnerships: This includes connecting and fostering partnerships with local influencers to drive engagement with your business on social media.
6. Implementing the Wrong Campaign
While SEO looks linear, you can actually work it our depending on your campaign goals.
Using our t-shirt retailer example earlier, you can create an SEO campaign to generate online sales and bring in more customers to your physical store. The former requires a Commercial SEO campaign, while the latter is achievable with the help of Local SEO.
That’s why it is important that you lay out your goals first before strategizing and implementing your SEO campaign. Otherwise, it is like driving with your eyes closed.
Just because your SEO efforts do not bring in expected results, it does not mean that it is not working. Perhaps, all you need to do is review your entire campaign and see which part you overlooked. And then work your fix from there.
