Throughout my career as a consultant, I have had the opportunity to learn from many well-respected business leaders in the technology industry. It amazes me daily how quickly marketing executives will spend millions on search engine advertising (Google Ads) while investing in SEO as an afterthought.
This is a result of a fundamental misunderstanding of how to invest in profitable search initiatives and instead relies upon a flawed assumption about what SEO actually is. According to these executives, an SEO investment is simply updating a website in accordance with search engine best practices. They also believe that SEO is simply about creating content that will appear on search engines.
Does a Business’ Website Need SEO?
Businesses don’t consider them worthwhile investments so they don’t place much importance on SEO initiatives. Although they may be correct in stating that updating websites to comply with current practices and churning content that ranks well on search engines won’t be profitable in most cases, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t SEO investments.
Before you decide if they (or you) should invest in SEO, you need to determine if your audience will be searching for your website via search engines. Search engines are not always the best way to find certain genres. However, if you have a product or an idea that merits an internet search, it would be foolish to not invest in that search.
What is the best way to implement an SEO investment?
After you have determined that your website is a good candidate for SEO investment, you can then decide how to implement that investment. Once you have figured out that search engines are likely to show users searching for your product or service, you can start brainstorming ways to make them visible.
There are many options for building a product around these users. However, the best approach will depend on the business category and user persona.
A few blog posts, a photo collection, or a video series could address user needs. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to users. Every user and every business is different. It doesn’t matter if a competitor uses the same approach, it does not mean that it will work for them.
When you are creating your strategy, these are the questions you need to ask:
These questions will help you define your SEO strategy. Your SEO strategy should be based on user needs rather than search engine requirements.
No matter what you find, it is a significant investment of time, resources, and budget. A half-baked approach to revenue will not work if you are building something, or writing content for humans.
SEO can be an investment in the future. However, it may not be a wise investment. Prioritizing decisions should consider the impact on the company. The business’s position will answer the question: Should I SEO or Not SEO?
SEO is an integral part of your business. All of your SEO investments should contribute to your business’ growth and be measured using the same metrics as your other business activities. You should not invest in SEO based on the “been there, done that” approach. Instead, use Product-Led SEO to make smart decisions.
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