“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – Albert Einstein
Ah, Groundhog Day… I am not talking about the day where someone pulls a slumbering groundhog out of a hole and tries to determine whether the sleepy eyed rodent saw his shadow or not. No, I’m talking about the movie, where Bill Murray plays a weatherman named Phil, who keeps reliving the same day over, and over, and over again. The world of SEO can often feel like working in a personalized, techie version of Groundhog Day. SEO, someone once told me, was the art of mastering the mundane. You do the same thing, or similar things, over and over again. Write content, promote content, build relationships with other websites and webmasters, optimize meta titles and descriptions, etc etc etc. Rinse and repeat. With much pluck and persistence, this constant repetition pays off in the form of increased traffic to your website, and an increase in profits for your business.
But what happens when the rewards stop coming, but you, or your SEO agency, are still doing the same thing and getting nowhere? Here are some tips to help save you and your business from SEO Groundhog Day.
Reassess Your Measurement Plan
When was the last time you sat down with your entire in-house team and your SEO agency, and took a long, hard look at your company’s measurement plan? If the answer is, “before we installed Analytics five years ago”, it is time to reassess and readjust your entire measurement plan before you change your entire SEO strategy.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are infinitely measurable. However, you need to ask yourself, Are we measuring the right thing? If you developed your measurement plan five years ago when you had one brick-and-mortar store that plan is no longer valid when you have grown to three brick-and-mortar stores and an Ecommerce website.
Before you start to audit your SEO campaign, make sure that your company’s objectives, goals, KPIs and parameters of success match the current state of your company.
Evaluate Your SEO Strategy
A basic way to think about an SEO strategy audit is to ask yourself two questions:
1. What are we doing?
2. Does what we are doing support our desire objectives?
Actually, inspired by Rand Fishkin’s latest Whiteboard Friday I would add a third item to that list:
3. Do we have an SEO strategy, or are we simply employing a lot of tactics?
Too many SEO agencies say they are following a strategy when what they mean is that they are employing a lot of SEO tactics. Tactics are fine, but tactics do not a strategy make. Furthermore, the tactics that may work for one company or industry vertical may not work as well for your company or your vertical.
Which leads us to the 3rd thing you need to consider …
Rethink Your SEO Agency Choice
If your SEO strategy is no longer returning the results you want than it is time to also rethink your choice in SEO agencies. SEO companies have a vicious tendency to get stuck in certain ways of thinking and acting even though the landscape of search engine optimization is constantly changing. That is exactly how many business owners get stuck living the life of Bill Murray.
If you are no longer seeing the return on investment you want from your SEO and SEM campaigns than it is time to seek greener pastures and fresh ideas.
Hey, I Think An Idea can always help …
Larry Madill
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