I’m practically famous for my disdain for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as a primary strategy for growth. That’s not to say that it isn’t a useful tool that can and should be implemented in the marketing strategy of every company. There is no point in not doing so.
And of course, there are many SEO wizkids out there who can achieve fantastic results in harnessing the powers of the algorithms that be to bring you large volumes of traffic and potentially increase your sales numbers by so doing. Which is marvellous altogether.
But it’s not to be confused with a tool that you should centre your marketing strategy on and there are several reasons why:
Firstly, SEO is only useful as a tool in markets where predictable numbers of your prospects routinely and regularly search on the internet for relevant information. Relevant here needs to be understood as ‘pertaining specifically to the goods or services that your company provides’. And that is far from every market. I often get pushback on this point from fervent SEO disciples, but it remains true.
It’s particularly true in the case of professional services. I often phrase it like this: Lawyers do not use Google to obtain information with which to advise their clients. Doctors do not use Google to diagnose their patients (and they dislike it when their patient tries to). Accountants do not use the internet to find out how to complete client annual accounts. And we wouldn’t enjoy it much if they did. There are whole segments of markets where your target audience has access to professional information (usually behind a professional body paywall) that serves as their source of information.
The reply is often that they still use the internet to search for things and this of course is true, but those things are general and true of everyone, not specifically your target audience. And even if your demographic research turns up the oddity that a substantial percentage of your audience likes knitting, for example (or something less savoury from the deeper corners of the internet), you then have to find a link between knitting and your business in order to utilise that information.
Generating large volumes of unqualified and irrelevant leads is arguably more problematic than not generating enough leads. When you generate leads, someone has to handle them and large volumes of leads that never lead to revenue is awfully expensive to handle. Not only are your sales team wasting their time and losing the will to live handling pointless leads, but they are also, and rather more crucially, burning through your budget with no revenue to show for it.
Secondly, and this is no less important to consider than the first point, it’s not a channel you own, understand or control. The algorithms that drive SEO are something of a mystery and they are constantly changing. As quickly as SEO experts are finding new ways to game the system, the people who own the systems are finding new ways to limit and restrict those behaviours.
There are countless examples of changes to search engine algorithms, rules and limits that have resulted in an overnight wipe-out of traffic and leads. So, whether or not SEO should serve as a primary strategy for growth at your company depends on your resilience to such an event and the expertise you have available to quickly learn what impact the changes have made and how to remedy the situation.
To my mind, the answer is to focus on creating compelling content that engages your audience. Do the hard yards of experimenting, talking to your audience, attending conferences, interview them and ask questions. If you engage authentically with your audience, then they will engage with you. There aren’t any shortcuts in relationship building.
And when you publish that content, do your basic SEO research and use whatever relevant keywords turn up. Fill in your metadata and complete your SEO checklists. But insofar as possible, own your relationships with the people you hope will become your clients and the channels you use to generate leads – because while it might be slower, you are then building something that no one can take away. And you will experience lasting and sustainable growth as a result.
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