Why the best SEO is boring

Personally, I’ve been doing SEO since 2006, which means I’ve seen a lot of so called “SEO Experts” come and go over the years. The people that like the “hustle” of something new and sexy. For a while, SEO was all about the latest technical advances, tools, and all kinds of other shiny objects. But, as SEO became more about being a legitimate part of a marketing strategy, things started to get boring.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing 3 boring but powerful tactics to use to boost your SEO. No more weird technical plug ins, no more “hacky” link building tricks… This is all about doing the boring stuff that will always work.

Boring tactic 1: Get your Content right.

This one is kind of a no-brainer. But, I’ve seen it too many times where people are pushing out content without any regard for SEO. It doesn’t happen overnight but if you’re not focusing on this, then your competitors will eventually surpass you by having their site rank higher in search results than yours because they have better access to visitors from organic traffic sources like Google and Bing.

And it’s not always about “sexy” stuff like keyword density and etc… Sometimes ya just need to get down and dirty and describe your product.

Boring tactic 2: Organize Your Site’s Architecture (i.e., URL Structure)

Okay, so this isn’t actually “boring” per se… but doing things that seem boring at first can really boost your rankings over time with all kinds of other benefits! A good organizational structure goes beyond just making sure each page doesn’t have an “ugly” URL. But, it’s also about making sure that each page is meaningful and helps to tell your story in the best way possible…

On top of that, make sure each page is designed with your customer in mind. This means you need to think about what they’re looking for when they come across your page.

Boring Tactic 3: Getting Backlinks that matter

I can’t stress this enough… Don’t worry about getting MORE backlinks. Instead, focus on getting GREAT backlinks!

Over and over again my clients see success in their rankings because we do great things in the community that generates high quality links over their competition that are just getting hundreds of directory submissions.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that if your SEO agency is proud of the fact that they’ve gotten you a high volume of links, look out for a time machine and see if it’s stuck in 2012… That stuff doesn’t work anymore.

Instead, work with your local press, industry publications, and do some genuine good to get recognition.

Boring Tactic 4: Tracking your data

It’s not sexy. It’s a lot of work to get started. But, without tracking your data you’re just shooting in the dark!

For example, if we track our stats we may find that one page gets twice as many visitors from organic search than another. This might mean we need to focus on that page more.

This is also important because proper tracking allows us to gain insights on what our customers are experiencing.

Boring Tactic 5: Consistency is Key!

SEO can be unpredictable. But, what we do know is that anything worth doing takes time and consistency. So, don’t worry if you’re not seeing immediate improvements in your rankings… just keep working! You’ll see the results over time. I promise it’s so much more gratifying than chasing quick money-grabbing tactics from “gurus” on Twitter who will probably be gone tomorrow anyway.

This point is actually a great summary point about why being boring with your SEO is so important… Time is a baked-in part of the Google Algorithm. What you do today may yield results MONTHS down the road. So, if you’re focused on doing the “sexy” fly-by-night tactics, Google could ban them and you’re left with nothing on your website.