Banksy’s latest stunt, shredding his art piece seconds after selling it for £1m made me think about the old debate of whether SEO is a science or an art. I personally think it’s both but with a bit more weight on the art side. This is because mathematical and algorithmic models can’t usually establish precise business goals, tell convincing stories or know why your audience buys your product or not, even if things are moving tremendously fast with AI.

Protection against penalties

So, if SEO is more of an art, how do you make sure you protect your SEO investment? While a number of experts may argue that Banksy’s shredded painting may now be worth double what it was originally sold for, others are arguing whether the buyer should still pay for it. This reminded me of similarities in the SEO industry, where a website can loose its entire visibility and organic traffic if penalised. Website-owners risk big when they go against Google Webmaster Guidelines and/or get involved with shady SEO practices. Now and again companies make large investments in lengthy SEO campaigns, only to end up loosing all organic performance through unethical techniques employed by black hat SEOs.

Protection against negative SEO attacks

Unfortunately, not every SEO professional plays by the rules, some of them can attack your website in the hope of making it drop its hard-earned rankings. This happens when your competitors can’t seem to find a way to catch you at the top, they can get frustrated and find it easier to attack than to do better than you.  “To destroy is easier than to create” said Ivan Klima, and this is very real in the SEO world. One of the common negative SEO tactics is to get lots of spammy links pointing to a competitor’s website. Doing regular link audits is a good practice for SEO protection. Keeping an eye on your backlink profile and disavowing incoming dodgy links are good ways to keep your SEO protection healthy.

Being aware of SEO trends

Since the birth of SEO it seems that every year Google gives us a new ranking factor, while phasing out old ones. For example, mobile usability was a clear ranking signal in 2015, but then Google’s algorithm ‘Rankbrain’ took over the following year, and now in 2018, one of the strongest ranking factors is mobile page speed. It is critical therefore for website owners and marketers to know the SEO trends and have a sense of direction on where to focus their strategies. This doesn’t mean everyone should become a digital geek, and get stuck into technical tasks, but knowing the trends can aid businesses make the right decisions. Being informed helps you view your site in a whole new light, which can positively influence your next digital marketing strategy.

Why expert advice is essential

Banksy’s latest stunt caused a big stir in the art industry, with a few art collectors beginning to think that shredding their own Banksy art piece could make their value go up. But experts in the art industry, being wiser, stopped them from doing so. Similarly, the value of SEO can at times be hard to grasp and consequently it can be easily lost. Taking advice from seasoned, experienced SEO experts therefore, can protect your business from making bad SEO moves.

The dangers of replicating content

In addition, replicating the content published by one or more of your competitors will not guarantee you the same SEO benefits.  In fact, it can be quite the opposite. With this kind of strategy, your website is at risk of getting a red flag from Google. Thus producing unique content is the way to go with SEO, as long as it’s content that’s relevant and resonates with your audience. Producing content for the sake of ‘uniqueness’ is also a common trap many fall into, and should also be avoided.

The value of investing in long-term SEO

SEO is known to be a slow burner because it can take time to carefully research, plan, create, deliver and promote your campaigns. The entire SEO cycle can take time, but the rewards are worth the effort. And going into the SEO vs PPC debate is actually irrelevant because they both have their strengths, benefits, and drawbacks along the journey. The best approach is an integrated approach. Use both to some extent, depending on your campaigns specific goals. Having your site correctly listed and naturally ranked in top positions is an achievement.  Not every website has the ability to gain visitors naturally, and get them to convert. Getting to the top of the search engine listing is hard work, but if you do your SEO right, you should get there and stay at the top. Even in this, there are similarities to the art world, with masterpieces gaining more value over time. Therefore, view your website content just like your very own piece of art, allow it to gain value through time.

If you’d like to find out more about SEO and how it can improve your business, get in touch with one of our SEO experts.