Several years ago, it became apparent that what we were doing wasn’t working. We were trying to create easy to understand SEO programs for potential clients, outlining what would be done each month on the prospect’s behalf should they sign on the dotted line.
A typical monthly plan might look something like this:
- Optimization of meta titles for 10 pages.
- Site speed optimization for 10 pages.
- Schema mark-up optimization for 10 pages.
- Optimization of content on 10 pages.
Anyway, you get the picture. We were trying to create a simple laundry list of items that would be done each month in the hope that our efforts would result in success. Guess what – that to-do list never resulted in success. In fact, usually by month 2, the to-do list was forgotten. I’m not trying to brag, but merely state a fact: We have a great team that knows what it takes to make clients money online. And we aren’t the only agency or in-house team that possesses this skill.
There are many competent digital marketers who can show their constituents – whether that be in-house or agency clients – great success. It doesn’t matter how good you are though. No one can build a skyscraper if their toolbox is limited to just a hammer and nails. And in modern SEO, many clients and even practitioners are frequently tossing necessary tools out of their kits.
What Is SEO?
The definition of what constitutes SEO is different depending upon who you ask. I know, because I asked. I asked a bunch of well-known, well-respected SEOs what they do that many don’t consider to be SEO. The answers covered a myriad of tasks that touch the entire advertising and interactive landscape.
Some of the answers included:
- Security Issues
- Content Creation
- Branding Exercises
- Analytics and Data Analysis
- ADA Compliance
- Conversion Rate Optimization and User Experience testing
- Audience Research
- Sales consulting (teaching sales teams how to sell better)
- Marketing Automation
- Basic Copyediting
- Coordination of efforts between disparate teams
The list goes on and on.
Some of the items people spoke about, I considered core SEO duties. Some of the items I thought well beyond what a traditional SEO is expected to perform. But the one thing that was clear – there is no cohesive list of items considered to be SEO. What you consider to be SEO duties and what I consider to be SEO duties are most likely very different. And this can create a problem for clients and consultants alike.
Read the article in it’s entirety on Search Engine Journal: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/do-seo/326453/
