You have just launched your first major SEO campaign. Exciting times. Your head is full of numbers and percentages; all of the gains you expect to make.
You’ve done everything right. You followed the rules to the letter. It has to work.
But it doesn’t.
The numbers coming back are nice, but they are not great. Your campaign has not set the world on fire and new customers are not beating down your door to get a slice of the pie.
You try to put on a brave face but even in the back of your mind, the worst possible business f-word is bouncing around.
Your campaign has failed.
Why?
You probably made a mistake or two. But don’t fret, these things can be resolved and a new plan can be put together.
Keep reading to learn some of the most common reasons why an SEO strategy fails to get the momentum it deserves.
1. Unrealistic Expectations Kill Many a Campaign
When running with a new SEO strategy, it can be easy to expect that the returns on your investment will be instant. However, it is a patient man that wins the race.
You need to give yourself and your campaign time to develop, and to filter through the different channels you have set up.
There is no golden number or period of time that says a campaign has succeeded or failed, but don’t expect to make that decision after a few hours or a few days.
2. Did you Harness the Power of Internal Links?
Internal links are still a powerful tool when it comes to SEO success. They are one of the fundamental SEO tactics and can when used well, help boost your campaign.
Not only does it help to get more of your content seen, it ensures you are driving the right people to the right places on your site.
If your campaign is struggling, maybe you should re-check your internal links. Are the appropriate to the piece, is their placement correct, and are they directing the right people where they need to go?
3. Your Keywords are Too Fiercely Used by the Competition
When it comes to SEO content marketing understanding keyword density is imperative. If your strategy seems to be failing a sweep of your chosen keywords could be needed.
You want to pick high activity words but also ones that have as little competition as possible.
What does this mean?
It means you need to get as specific as possible to your niche without going overboard. Following best practices for anchor text ratios can be complicated. A lot of the time, it’s best to leave it to the professionals who do guest posting full time.
4. Listen to Your Analytics
Using a tool like Google analytics is crucial for long-term SEO success. Even if you are using a company to help you, like Mojo Media web design and SEO you should still maintain your own analytics collection.
Nothing gives you greater feedback on an SEO campaign than data. The more you have the more you can understand what is going well.
What works and what doesn’t, and you can make the necessary adjustments in time.
5. Your Content Needs to be on Point
If your SEO content marketing strategy is to succeed, then you need to make sure your content is strong
If you feel as if your campaign is struggling it could be as simple as the wrong content, or even just the wrong content at the wrong time.
Your content needs to be:
- Relevant
- Accurate
- Not too short
- Well linked
- Shareable
- Readable
Tweaking your content is not the end of the world, and if anything allows you to try new things.
6. Are You Using Longtail Keywords?
The days of single word keywords is long gone. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to know that longtail keywords are the way to go nowadays.
When thinking of keywords, you should think about how you search for things online. Do you Google single words or short sentences? The answer is right there. You need to configure your keywords to match the search trends.
Changing to longtail keywords is easy and doesn’t mean you need to rewrite everything you have.
A few small tweaks are all it takes.
7. Pay Real Attention to Your Tags and Metadata
While metadata might not directly contribute to SEO results, it is still an important area to optimize and have aligned with the rest of your site.
You need to make sure you have the right keywords in your metadata and use tags that are effective and useful for visitors.
While the direct impact may be nil, the ongoing benefit of having this aligned is of utmost importance for continued organic growth and success.
8. Did you Sacrifice a Sitemap?
You have a sitemap, right?
If not, then you should consider introducing one.
Sure, Google is effective at finding its way through your site and finding out if the content is yours or syndicated, but a good XML sitemap helps speed up the process and will directly impact how your site performs once the Google machine starts turning.
This is one of those SEO tactics that are not necessary but can give you the extra edge over the competition.
9. Do You Really Understand Your Customers?
You can have the best content in the world, but if it is not actually relevant to your customers or what they are interested in then you are never going to succeed.
If your SEO strategy is on point then you know who your customers are, what they want and how they want to consume it.
- Long articles,
- Short articles,
- Infographics,
- Videos
- Interviews
Once you understand your audience then your results will show.
10. Are You (Correctly) Using Social Media?
Social media is a business must these days. Not only in terms of developing that human connection, but the various advertising platforms are an invaluable source of traffic.
Sure you can rely on Google Adwords, but if you really want to excel then you need to have your content accessible as often as possible.
If your campaign is struggling, take a look at your SEO strategy and make sure you have engaged in social media the right way.
Building a Strong SEO Strategy Is a Journey Not an Event
There is no golden rule that says an SEO strategy will excel while another will fail. There are many different factors that play a role and what works for one niche will not necessarily work for another.
You need to build a base, set your goals and work towards it. Iterate and optimize as you go. Improve in areas that are weak and look for ways to gain extra ground where you are strong.
It’s a long-term strategy and one that needs to evolve as your knowledge and business grow.
Check out some of our other SEO based articles to help raise your game even higher.
