How are your SEO fundamentals? With March Madness in the air, it’s timely to look in a different place for the answer — Bobby Knight. The legendary Indiana University basketball coach built winning teams for decades by emphasizing sound fundamentals, along with relentless effort and rigid discipline. His principles for winning basketball games work equally well for SEO — let’s take a look.
“You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.” — Bobby Knight
There is a great deal of wisdom for SEOs in the above quotation. Yes, an SEO strategy should include a careful review of the competitive landscape. However, what the competition does, or seems to be doing, should not drive the campaign.
- First, without knowing the results of a competitor’s SEO campaign, it’s impossible to judge whether or not its perceived tactics are effective.
- Second, if you allow SEO to become an exercise in ego gratification, with focus on outranking competitors (on keywords that may have little conversion value), your efforts will be misguided and ultimately ineffective.
- Third, successful SEO campaigns follow industry best practices and require a balanced off-site and on-site attack. It is difficult to observe, much less assess, every component of a competitor’s campaign. Instead of trying to mimic or outdo competitors, focus on Google’s guidelines and strive to execute them to perfection.
“Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” — Bobby Knight
This quote is all about walking the talk. Wanting to win is not being able to win, and the most talented SEOs won’t produce winning campaigns without complete and competently executed preparation. Here are important preparation factors SEOs cannot afford to gloss over:
- Keyword research. Every effective SEO campaign starts with sound keyword research, but it is not a one-and-done proposition, instead it is an ongoing campaign element. Once initial keywords are identified, they must be tested and tracked for conversion effectiveness; new keywords should be identified and underperformers de-emphasized or scrapped.
- Lead tracking and validation. Unless a website can track conversions back to the source, and separate true sales leads from other types of inquiries, it will be impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of the SEO campaign.
- Website readiness. Some companies squander resources by launching a campaign before their websites are SEO ready. To maximize campaign results, a company’s website should first pass Google Webmaster Tools diagnostic testing with flying colors.
- Documented, granular campaign process. SEO campaigns encompass many tasks, some of which are sequential and others concurrent. To keep the work organized, avoid overlaps and prevent gaps in execution — campaign workflow must be carefully structured and overseen by a campaign manager with strong communication skills, who is trained in project management. Otherwise, it will be like sending a team of raw recruits on the court and telling them to wing it.
“People change over the years, and that changes situations for good and for bad.” — Bobby Knight
If you swap “people change” for “Google changes,” Knight’s quote will make a lot of sense to any SEO. When Google changes its search algorithm — as it is about to do in a big way to better reward mobile-friendly websites — SEO campaigns must adapt — or die. To take full advantage of Google changes, SEOs must make certain practices fundamental to their work:
- Stay current with Google algorithmic updates and optimization recommendations, studying them in-depth to determine what campaign adjustments must be made, could be made or need not be made.
- Make link reclamation a component of every campaign: A poor link profile (e.g., one with too much anchor text keyword optimization) can undermine SEO performance.
- In light of Google’s current push for mobile optimization, consider implementing a responsive website and/or making other changes to deliver a first-rate mobile experience to website users.
- Maintain balance. When Google sneezes, it sends shock waves around the world. SEOs should keep Google’s changes in perspective, not rushing too quickly or exclusively into any one technique (such as content marketing). Effective SEO will always involve a mix of tasks …
… At least for now.
How are you keeping up with your SEO fundamentals? Let us know in the comments below...
