SEO can be tough, it really can. We have all read impressive case studies online documenting enviable organic growth, so it only seems right to adopt a “Well, if they can do it, why can’t we?” approach. However, SEO isn’t that cut and dry.
We have to make it clear that organic growth is unpredictable. You may find yourself optimising your site for some time with little to show for it, and then all of a sudden, a piece of content begins to gain traction. Once it starts ranking, it has a knock-on effect on a few more pages, and you start to witness a steep curve and your SEO efforts finally begin to pay off.
During this period, it takes just one big-hitting page to slip down Google’s SERPs, and you’re right back where you started.
Many of us will have experienced this very thing over the years, but it’s often how some of the most successful SEO campaigns pan out.
Content is king, but promotion matters most
Contrary to popular belief, knockout content won’t guarantee SEO success.
Yes, your content needs to be great.
Yes, it needs to resonate with your users.
Yes, it needs to be closely aligned with the keywords you want to rank for.
The above is undoubtedly true, but if you don’t promote that content like your life depends on it, then it will end up gathering dust in the nether regions of Google’s search results.
It’s also important to remember that it’s common for a large proportion of your organic traffic to come from a very small percentage of your overall content block.
There’s no need to panic if this applies to you. We recommend that you dig deep into what’s making that small number of posts so successful, and re-optimise your other content accordingly.
Don’t just tear down a piece of content and start again if it doesn’t perform as well as you had hoped. There are lots of ways to leverage or re-purpose existing content.
Bolster your backlinks
If you think that some of the web’s most authoritative platforms don’t need to worry about acquiring quality links, you’re mistaken.
Backlinks are a hugely important factor towards ranking for competitive search terms, and they matter just as much to established websites as they do to fresh ones.
Patience is a virtue
If you really want to make an impact with your SEO efforts, you need to plan for the worst, focus as much of your time as possible on promoting your content and don’t make assumptions before you’ve gathered data. Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave whilst we’re waiting.
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