{"id":223978,"date":"2020-03-14T11:53:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T06:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qcsglobal.com\/marketing\/seo\/traps-pitfalls-of-seo-for-chief-marketing-officers\/"},"modified":"2020-04-18T17:10:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T11:40:37","slug":"traps-pitfalls-of-seo-for-chief-marketing-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/traps-pitfalls-of-seo-for-chief-marketing-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"Traps &#038; Pitfalls of SEO for Chief Marketing Officers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; border: 0 none;\" src=\"https:\/\/art19.com\/shows\/995c2b73-8f19-4a58-8c35-8ee81c7e8543\/episodes\/24a3a619-059c-4431-85f0-960f0dfc8ccf\/embed?theme=light-green\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Episode Overview:<\/strong> SEO and content marketing efforts are your best bets to creating a winning marketing strategy, but taking shortcuts or violating SEO rules, either intentionally or unintentionally, can effectively destroy your marketing efforts in a single stroke. Join Ben as he continues CMO Week with Searchmetrics\u2019 Chief Marketing Officer Doug Bell as they review common traps and pitfalls to avoid in SEO and how to identify false promises shady SEO agencies and contractors use to deceive consumers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>SEO presents a longer \u201cTime-to-value,\u201d before substantial results can be obtained, but it also means ROI is much higher.<\/li>\n<li>Shortcuts don\u2019t exist in SEO and SEO agencies or contractors who utilize them only yield short-term gains and increase the risk of being penalized by search engines like Google.<\/li>\n<li>Website elements like improving your site speed or presenting content in a categorized, logical way to users are great ways to cause a dramatic, positive impact on your website\u2019s visibility and performance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>GUESTS &amp; RESOURCES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Come to SEO for CMOs Week on the Voices of Search podcast. I\u2019m your host Benjamin Shapiro, and this week we\u2019re going to publish an episode every day covering what the head of your marketing department needs to know about SEO. Joining us for SEO for CMOs Week is Doug Bell, who\u2019s the Chief Marketing Officer at Searchmetrics, which is an SEO and content marketing platform that helps enterprise scale businesses, monitor their online presence and make data-driven decision.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And today Doug and I are going to continue our conversation by talking about some of the pitfalls of SEO for CMOs. Here\u2019s the third installment of SEO for CMO Week with Doug Bell from Searchmetrics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Doug, welcome back to the Voices of Search podcast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks Ben. I\u2019m glad to be back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excited to have you here. We\u2019re halfway through the week already. We\u2019ve been talking about what CMOs think about SEO. What are some of the ways that CMOs who are content marketing forward are being successful? Now we\u2019re going to flip the page and we\u2019re going to talk a little bit about where CMOs get into trouble with trying to get content marketing and SEO strategies off the ground. Where are people getting hurt? There\u2019s a lot of benefits for how SEO and content marketing can help build awareness, help you with nurturing, and get people across the finish line and become your customers. On the flip side, there is some risk to this channel. Talk to me about where CMOs are getting hurt by engaging in SEO and content marketing strategies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, Ben, you covered this really well in our conversation yesterday and I\u2019ll start with the first, which is this time to value trap. And we talked about how for a small SEO project you\u2019re looking at three to six months before you\u2019re seeing results. As we kind of blow that out into a channel level, you\u2019re looking at sometimes up to 18 months. It doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not seeing measurable results. In fact, you quite often see them fairly quickly. Like any channel, there\u2019s always low hanging fruit, but to get to the full, \u201cHey, this is a central part of how I market,\u201d really, that\u2019s a longer journey. So it is true that SEO has a longer time to value, but I have to say things that are foundational like brand, brand identity, building this idea of a brand also take a long time. I would say brands are built over multiple years. So SEO is quicker to be sure, but again, don\u2019t fall into this immediate gratification trap. Understand your time to value is longer because the return is higher.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah. I think just understanding that you\u2019re building a house. When you start with your content strategy and you\u2019re publishing a piece of content, one blog post does nothing. Nobody ever has an effective first blog post consistently publishing content that addresses the pain points of an audience over and over and over again. You\u2019re stacking one brick on top of another on top of another until you\u2019re able to put a roof on it and form a house. Using that metaphor, talk to me about where does that house fall down on CMOs?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I think Ben, they start with poor foundations to continue the metaphor. And the poor foundation typically is a combination of brand and content strategy. And they try and patch that up and that in many ways gets us to some of the other pitfalls potentially. But one way to patch that up is through performance marketing. We\u2019ve talked about how that fairly quickly, it\u2019s this point of diminishing returns, so that has a half-life that\u2019s rather small. But the other is that people tend to fall into this trap of letting their agencies or letting their SEOs go for shortcuts and, Ben, I have to say we\u2019ve done a great job on the podcast of covering some of the pitfalls when it comes to gray hat SEO, but that\u2019s what I bring up. There really aren\u2019t shortcuts when it comes to SEO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s the other real pitfall, which is if somebody is promising you so that\u2019s your agency or in house SEOs is promising you a return that is rather rapid, they\u2019re probably isn\u2019t great head tactics to get there. That\u2019s another thing I would look for and try to avoid because those gains are very much in the short term. Over the long term, Google\u2019s algorithm going to catch up with you. You\u2019re going to experience a penalty and you\u2019re going to lose really a great deal of the gains you\u2019ve gained in the past.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And there is a reason why as a COO you are getting tons of emails that are showing up in your junk inbox that are, \u201cHey, I\u2019m going to get your brand a million links, and I\u2019m going to improve your traffic.\u201d Right? There\u2019s a reason why Google and their email spam filters are flagging a bunch of low end SEO providers that are promising the moon being delivered to your door tomorrow. Don\u2019t fall for it. It\u2019s ridiculous. SEO is a practice that takes time to build.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But Ben, I have to tell you everything that Nigerian Prince tells you is true. Definitely give them money.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Doug, I don\u2019t know how to follow that up. Everybody, he\u2019s kidding. And this is where Doug and I disagree. I\u2019m sure the Nigerian Prince is a wonderful person. But don\u2019t buy any backlinks from him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exactly. But that\u2019s ultimately we\u2019re talking about. I think that I say this in jest, but I think you really make an excellent point here, which is we have the old Nigerian Prince scam from the 2000s. But a lot of the traps that CMOs fall for when it comes to gray hat SEO fall into that category. So yes, please be aware. Be aware no Nigerian Prince when it comes to your SEO strategy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t know about the Nigerian Prince email tactics if it didn\u2019t work. And the same thing happens with the SEO strategies that are showing up in your spam filter. And there are CMOs and there are marketers out there that fall for that stuff. And that think that they can cut to the front of the line without investing in long term SEO strategies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the flip side, there are techniques and tactics that you can use that will have a dramatic impact on your business. You can improve your site speed and if you have great content and if you have a logical structure of that content, Google\u2019s going to eat it up and all of a sudden you\u2019re going to jump forward in the rankings. There are things you can do to make short term impacts. You just have to invest in developing the content and the channel first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Could I share an anecdote with you, Ben?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah. So I have a former colleague who\u2019s the CMO of a tech firm. It\u2019s about 200 million a year in annual revenue. It\u2019s a company that has figured out scale, if you will. And this person of course knows where I work and we were having this kind of long conversation about SEO tactics, if you will. And I shared the idea that at the end of the day if you want to understand whether your SEOs are actually conducting gray hat tactics, because I was talking about how damaging gray hat can be. She asked me, \u201cWell how do you figure it out?\u201d And I said, \u201cAsk them in.\u201d Typically, it\u2019s a point of pride for your SEOs and they will be quite open and honest about it. So if you are worried, you\u2019re listening to this, you\u2019re like, \u201cHow do I know if I have gray hat,\u201d ask your SEOs. Their job is often to dance around that edge and frankly if you find out that they are, pull them back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m going to call it like I see it. The gray hat SEO tactics are not the ones that I am always concerned about. It\u2019s the gray hats that are really dark gray and what is actually black hat SEO knowingly doing something that Google and all the other search engines out there are going to think are fraudulent. SEO is often pushed the agenda in terms of how much content that they can share with Google, how they\u2019re optimizing their content. You want light gray. You just want to make sure that if they\u2019re coloring, they\u2019re using the lighter side of the box.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah. I think we might be scaring CMOs more than we need to Ben, but it\u2019s a thing to watch out for. If our rules about time to value are suddenly broken and you\u2019re suddenly experiencing all these great gains, be afraid, be very afraid.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So, Doug, are there any other tactics that you\u2019ve seen that have got CMOs into hot water by implementing an SEO and content marketing strategy?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I think that\u2019s a great question, Ben. I think that it\u2019s really a function of how you are communicating upwards and how you\u2019re selling upwards. And I think we\u2019ve probably given you lots of tips on that. But the key thing is don\u2019t over promise. So don\u2019t describe how you\u2019re going to reduce your performance marketing spending. By the way, hand raised, if you\u2019ve done that. My hand is up. Don\u2019t promise that the savings are out there or don\u2019t promise that the returns are happening as nearly as they are. Again, think of it more foundationally, but again, don\u2019t fall into this trap of, \u201cHey, we\u2019re going to get a return in six months.\u201d It will eat you alive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. So Doug, the last question that I want to ask you. When CMOs think about driving revenue and success, they\u2019re normally just focused on what their brand is doing, and SEO and content marketing is very much a competitive space. How much does CMOs need to address the competition in the landscape when they\u2019re putting their strategies together and thinking about whether a SEO and content marketing strategy is the right decision for them?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good. I think it\u2019s such a good question because ultimately if you\u2019re looking at a performance marketing perspective, it\u2019s about allocating additional budget and higher keyword bids, if you will, to oversimplify a whole industry. Apologies to performance marketers out there. So the idea of competition exists there, but it\u2019s about your resources, your ability to apply funds. SEO is a little bit more \u2026 What always pops in my head is these crates Time-Life specials. If you\u2019re old enough, you remember Mutual of Omaha and these documentaries about the Great African Savannas and how it\u2019s like this one wilder beast is injured and some animal, some prey animal takes it down.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What on earth are you talking about?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, follow with me. So ultimately it is evolution tested in the moment. It\u2019s live in front of you. It\u2019s happening. It\u2019s the most competitive natural environment in the world. If you get injured or your genes aren\u2019t up to speed, a lion\u2019s going to eat you up, Ben. And that for me is SEO. It is if there is a pitfall that I would strongly warn SEOs about or CMOs about rather it is that really at the end of the day, you\u2019re not going to enter anything as competitive as SEO. It should not scare you, but it should make you understand that whatever your long term strategy is and however you\u2019re approaching this, you\u2019re not just competing with your direct competition. You\u2019re competing with Wikipedia, you\u2019re competing with Amazon. There\u2019s a lot of competition out there. And so when you\u2019re looking at your SEO strategy, don\u2019t think about going toe to toe with the big players. You will lose. Think about your ability to go after the buyer journey and meet their needs as opposed to whether or not you\u2019re beating your competition. You\u2019re beating Wikipedia and that\u2019s really the big thing. Don\u2019t get intimidated by the competition. It is brutal out there, no doubt about it, but if you focus on just the buyer\u2019s journey, you will succeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When in your natural habitat where you\u2019re likely to get eaten by an SEO lion. Great advice, Doug. Okay.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Doug:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That wraps up this episode of the Voices of Search podcast. Thanks for listening to my conversation with Doug Bell, CMO of Searchmetrics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019d love to continue the conversation with you, so if you\u2019re interested in contacting Doug, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes. You can contact him on Twitter. His handle is @marketadvocate, M-A-R-K-E-T-A-D-V-O-C-A-T-E, or you can visit his company\u2019s website which is searchmetrics.com.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just one more link in our show notes I\u2019d like to tell you about. If you didn\u2019t have a chance to take notes while you were listening to this podcast, head over to voicesofsearch.com where summaries of all of our episodes, contact information for our guests. You can send us your topics, suggestions or your SEO questions. You can even apply to be a guest speaker on the Voices of Search podcast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, you can always reach out on social media. Our handle is @voicesofsearch on Twitter or you can contact me directly. My personal handle is @BenJShap, B-E-N-J-S-H-A-P. And if you haven\u2019t subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of SEO and content marketing insights in your podcast feed in addition to the fourth part of our conversation with Doug Bell, CMO of Searchmetrics where we discuss operational tips for creating positive ROI with SEO. We\u2019re going to publish an episode every day during the work week, so hit the subscribe button in your podcast app, and we\u2019ll be back in your feet soon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. That\u2019s it for today, but until next time, remember, the answers are always in the data.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.searchmetrics.com\/us\/traps-pitfalls-of-seo-for-chief-marketing-officers-doug-bell-searchmetrics\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode Overview: SEO and content marketing efforts are your best bets to creating a winning marketing strategy, but taking shortcuts or violating SEO rules, either intentionally or unintentionally, can effectively destroy your marketing efforts in a single stroke. Join Ben as he continues CMO Week with Searchmetrics\u2019 Chief Marketing Officer Doug Bell as they review [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224899,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223978\/revisions\/224899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}