In reality, several situations can derail an SEO campaign leading to unfulfilled expectations from both camps.
I’ve found that there are 7 key factors that when combined harmoniously have resulted in the most successful SEO results. Here’s how to get the best out of your SEO campaign:
1. Hire an Experienced SEO Consultant:
Let’s start with the obvious, the skill, experience and expertise of your SEO consultant (or agency) play a pivotal role in the success of a campaign – of course.
As in any industry, a seasoned pro would have encountered the same problems across the majority of websites and more importantly, learned how to overcome the majority of them.
An experienced SEO consultant not only understands the ever-changing landscape of search engine algorithms and is well versed in content, technical and building authority. They can adapt to new trends and technologies, and they have a solid track record of SEO case studies.
Vitally, an experienced consultant will understand how SEO fits into the context of your business and seek to understand the nuances of your industry rather than just optimising for keywords.
2. Be fully engaged:
One of the most critical aspects of a successful SEO campaign is having a client who is fully engaged and committed to the process. An engaged client is more likely to provide valuable, strategy-defining insights, participate in content creation, give great lead feedback and promptly address issues that may arise during the campaign.
So what does full engagement look like?
Think of an SEO consultant as a personal trainer. They’re there to impart knowledge, get you in shape and help you to get from A to B to the best of their ability and within a reasonable time frame, but of course, you have a part to play.
SEO isn’t a one-and-done effort; it requires ongoing collaboration and communication between the consultant and the client. It’s a partnership that requires constant dialogue – especially at the start of a campaign.
This means:
- Having the time to sign off various SEO activities – If you’ve entrusted content creation to your SEO consultant, do you have the time to proofread and ensure the content is technically accurate? Edits should be reduced over time.
- Having the patience – SEO is a long-term investment and will take time for good SEO to yield results. In the early days, look for progress, not perfection.
- Being open to ideas – SEO is an ever-changing discipline, with new findings, strategies and optimisation opportunities arising. Whilst it may not be possible to implement everything a consultant is suggesting, having the resources and capacity to implement some suggestions is key to business-changing results.For clients who have never engaged in an SEO campaign before, it can be difficult to gauge how involved they need to be. It’s the SEO consultant’s job to help clients understand the expected time commitments before a campaign begins.
Keeping your consultant up to date – Priorities and focus areas can shift quickly. It’s best to feedback on any changes of focus to your SEO consultant as quickly as you can so that they can pivot.
3. Implement suggestions as fast as you can
You can only start to reap the benefits of SEO as quickly as you can implement suggestions. Following on from the above, quick decision-making and smooth approval processes are essential for keeping an SEO campaign on track.
It can take a while for Google to index and ‘understand’ the changes you’ve made, so delays in obtaining sign-off for changes and optimisations can hinder progress.
Clients and stakeholders must understand the importance of timely approvals to ensure that the campaign can respond to evolving search trends and competitor actions.
In focus: For this client in the property sales space, we were able to sign off and implement content changes very quickly which resulted in a significant increase in relevant, converting traffic:
4. Aim for consistent action:
Going back to the fitness analogy, results happen slowly over time, with consistent efforts. The compounding effect of these efforts can yield amazing results in the long term. In the same way, consistency is perhaps the most underrated SEO tactic.
Regularly updating and optimising the website, producing quality content, and building high-quality backlinks are essential components of a successful campaign. Consistency in these efforts can help improve organic rankings and maintain a strong online presence.
In focus: For this client in the building security space, we consistently updated the site with fresh content at least twice a week, resulting in significant traffic (and lead) number improvements over the last 16 months:
5. Find a great web developer:
Depending on the technical set-up of your site, you may need a web developer to implement changes as your SEO consultant may not be able to. A great ‘SEO unit’ includes a skilled front and back-end developer to implement the technical changes that will have a huge impact on your site.
6. Ask questions
Whilst you want to give your SEO consultant some freedom, it’s okay to question the reasons for any specific implementations or suggestions. A large part of an SEO campaign is education and a good consultant will be excited to freely share knowledge and educate you where possible! Get those monthly catch ups booked in and learn all that you can.
7. Give your SEO consultant as much free reign as you can allow
Understandably, some industries have plenty of red tape and strict language/wording protocols. In this case, it’s best that you carefully assess each of the proposed changes to avoid any miscommunication.
However, if you’re industry allows, giving your SEO consultant some degree of freedom and autonomy can yield results much more quickly.
While it’s crucial to maintain open communication and collaboration, allowing your SEO consultant some free rein to update meta data, tweak content, add internal links or upload signed-off content can help to expedite results and reduce any sign-off time.
A partnership: The best way to run a successful SEO campaign.
The best way to run an SEO campaign is in a ‘partnership’ style, with all stakeholders sharing the same vision and all pulling in the right direction to realise it.
When these elements align, the chances of achieving SEO success increase significantly, and the pitfalls that can derail a campaign become less of a concern.
If you’re able to cover all of the points above, your SEO campaign will run like a well-oiled machine, virtually automating your organic visibility growth leading to valuable, qualified, ‘ideal client’ leads that will make a real difference to your business.
If you’re looking for a B2B SEO consultant to help you generate highly relevant, ‘business-changing’ leads get in contact with me today on 01622 231644 or tell me about your business here.
