Inconsistent efforts, a lack of funds, or limited digital marketing knowledge are among the most common culprits behind a failed SEO campaign. However, SEO is a complex field, and even a robust strategy can be easily undermined but a single, seemingly negligible aspect.
At the same time, for small businesses and franchises looking to boost their ranking on a shoestring, there is little room for trial and error. And, the wrong investment (i.e.: Paying for black hat SEO or targeting the wrong keywords) can quickly become a fatal mistake.
So, what are the pitfalls you should be looking out for? Let’s start with the ones below.
Overlooking The Importance of Local SEO
There is no doubt that keywords are the bread and butter of most SEO campaigns. But when it comes down to attracting visitors to your business’s website, it is no longer enough to stuff your content with general (and often expensive) keywords.
What’s more, nearly 50% of Google searches are for local businesses, information, or services – and nearly 80% of these convert into sales.
Ultimately, not having a local SEO strategy in place can cause a severe backlash: you might be able to rank higher on Google for a certain keyword, but you might not be able to reach those customers actively looking for your services!
The Fix: Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
Of course, investing in local SEO does not make sense for every business or franchise. But if you are looking to boost your conversion rate and increase sales in the local area, it certainly does!
A local SEO campaign has a myriad of facets to be taken into consideration, including identifying user search intent, finding local long-tail keywords, and boosting NAP citations.
But, perhaps even more importantly, you should optimize your Google My Business – or GMB – profile. As search engines’ features continue to evolve, an optimized GMB profile can:
- Help your business appear in the local 3-pack
- Drive visitors to your website
- Boost your rankings
- Provide customers with information about your business
Not Looking Beyond Content Optimization
You might have heard it a hundred times, but it doesn’t make it any less true: content is truly king. The right content can keep your audience engaged, drive sales, define your brand identity, and deliver content to your customers.
But creating content and improving page readability might not be enough to boost your business’s site ranking. That’s where technical SEO and off-page SEO come in.
Technical SEO ensures that a website is secure, accessible, mobile-friendly, and fast-loading – all important elements of a great user experience. Instead, off-page SEO focuses on building relationships with other sites, thus boosting your Domain Authority, reputation, and in turn, ranking.
The Fix: Hiring a Reputable SEO Firm to Help
If your website’s structure is not optimized for security, accessibility and mobile-friendliness, and you are not generating backlinks properly, other SEO activities might be infructuous.
At the same time, business owners or franchise managers might not have the expertise or time to design, review, and maintain a complex SEO strategy in all its facets.
That’s where outsourcing a professional SEO service can help you improve your business’s website and optimize it to boost its search visibility in Brisbane or in other major economic hubs.
Not Setting the Right Expectations
SEO can yield impressive returns and hone your business’s competitive edge – but it is certainly not an overnight job. Even the best-thought-out SEO campaigns can take between 4-12 months to start showing results, depending on your brand reputation, website’s authority, and targeted keywords.
If you have unrealistic expectations about your campaign, or you are not closely tracking your goals, it is easy to end up quitting too soon to see results.
The Fix: Know Your KPIs and Be Consistent
It can be hard to pursue a long-term SEO strategy with no promise of seeing results within a certain deadline. That is why it can help to set realistic expectations and know what KPIs give you an indication of how your SEO activities are performing.
For example, for many, a successful SEO strategy is one that drives an increase in organic traffic to a business’s website. However, other metrics worth tracking include search visibility and rankings, number of links, Click-Through Rate, bounce rate, and average session duration.
When working with a specialized SEO company, you’ll be able to adjust these KPIs according to your business’s goals – and understand what to expect from your SEO investment.