SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines.
To keep your SEO strategy on track, we want to introduce you 4 biggest SEO mistakes marketers often make, shortlisted by Hootsuite’s resident SEO expert, Zak Ramdani.
#1 Misunderstanding the relationship between SEO and social
Ramdani recommends social media managers ensure they aren’t creating social media strategy and plans with the exclusive aim to improve rankings on Google.
Instead, it should be understood that SEO and social media work together as a part of an overall marketing plan which is to boost engagement and improve reach.
The secret is that a solid social media and online presence spiced up with valuable content and community building work together to contribute to increase brand awareness, website traffic, and improved social customer service.
#2. Not sharing content strategically
The biggest daily challenge of social media is finding enough content to share. – Guy Kawasaki
Instead of sharing new content, social media managers need to analyze the performance of the past work and recognize which is bringing much engagement and interaction, which is bringing much traffic to your website. What kind of content is driving the most traffic? What is getting liked and shared the most? What are the most popular topics your audience engages with? These are all questions social media managers should answer before creating social media plan and strategy and before sharing content through their online channels.
As Ramdani says, “Pick the consistently winning horse instead of a beat-up car that’s never won.” Create a bank of your best-performing evergreen content that you can rotate in your social media content calendar, and share these assets alongside your newer content.
#3. Expecting overnight success
Marketers will often expect to deploy plans and receive immediate results. And when they don’t get these results, they immediately abandon that plan.
The open secret is that SEO takes time to pay off, and the impatience is one of the biggest roadblocks for marketing managers.
One of the biggest reasons why SEO is not an overnight success is because of the huge volume of content online. And the amount of data being shared online every minute is staggering.
Always keep in mind, you are not the only one in your industry and you are not the only one who pushes out content. Because of this competition, you need always keep a close eye on SEO best practices, analyze your results and share valuable and quality content.
Influencers and well-recognized brands put a lot of hard work to build an authority and search engines recognize this. Getting trust from search engines and from your customers doesn’t happen overnight.
Once social media managers and marketers recognize the time and effort involved in seeing their SEO efforts pay off, they can concentrate on driving their strategy forward.
#4 Not keeping up with SEO advancements
SEO is constantly changing and it has greatly evolved over the last 10 years.
“Many marketers in 2016 don’t get it. They haven’t kept up, or worse, they’re reluctant to running SEO campaigns because they’re attached to tactics of the past,” Ramdani explains.
A vivid example of this is a keyword stuffing practice. Keyword stuffing is when content on a web page is “stuffed” or loaded with many keywords. This popular practice is being used till now by many marketers. Not only does it look ridiculous and lower the credibility of your content, it can get your website hit with a manual or algorithmic suspension, which is hard to work back from.
It is a MUST for every marketer to be aware of Google updates such as
Panda (which cracks down on keyword stuffing),
Penguin (which penalizes low-quality links), and
Hummingbird (which enables a deeper understanding of search intent).
This is a fast-changing technology which means that marketers need to stay on top of developments and create their strategy and content accordingly.