Things That Impact SEO
There are many things to consider when optimizing websites and web assets including pages and images/videos. While we follow the SEO best practices and keep a close eye on the performance data, there are things besides Google updates that impact our SEO performance and activities.
Search User Interests Change
People’s interests change all the time. These changes are reflected in the search query report. Even the brand name search trend fluctuates causing the traffic to go up and down.
Search user’s behavior also changes. From one search engine to another platform, from desktop device to mobile, these changes also impact your SEO performance.
Business Focus Change
While most companies conducting business online understand the importance of organic traffic and SEO, the executive may have a different idea. Recently, I saw the results of a survey conducted among corporate executives asking what influences their business decisions. Surprisingly, the customer-related information (interests, behavior, etc.) was not mentioned. It was all about the market and economic trends. And their decision will influence where to allocate more budget or decrease the budget, and some projects may postponed till the next fiscal year.
Personnel/Team Change
Any projects including SEO should not be influenced by personnel change, but it often is. I’m sure many people have experienced that every time a person in charge of the project, team, or company changes, the whole direction of the projects or campaigns changes. Some people may not have good experience with SEO to support SEO projects. I’ve heard a company completely shut down the SEO team and refocused all online marketing to paid ads.
What Can SEO Do?
Here are some suggestions to minimize the negative impact of these outside influences on SEO projects.
- Have an annual SEO roadmap showing big/small projects with goals
- Publish monthly/quarterly/annual SEO performance reports showing how SEO/organic traffic plays a key role in business growth – Share them with other departments, including executives
- Monitor search users and search market trends, and adjust the plans accordingly – Be agile
It is crucial that bigger digital marketing teams or other departments are aware of SEO efforts. They won’t be able to deny your project if they understand the value of it to them or the company.
