IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK

There is a very interesting, yet mind-boggling occurrence in the digital world of SEO in South Africa nowadays. As a professional online marketing agency, one of our specialities is SEO. Yet more and more we are getting clients who come to us for assistance on SEO ranking but then completely ignore our guidance and advice.

I get it – we live in a world where information has never been easier to come by and everyone has an opinion about everything, so sometimes it can be hard to know which SEO marketing company to trust. But that shouldn’t change the fact that SEO ranking is not black magic, it’s a very exact science.

BAZINGA!

I say science because that’s exactly what it is: no one knows precisely how SEO ranking works because no one knows the search engines’ algorithms. But through experimentation, trial and error, and deductive reasoning(science), countless SEO companies (like Yoast, Ubersuggest, Moz, Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.) have made it their mission to find out what works and what doesn’t, and they are more than willing to share that knowledge with us. A little bit for free (to get us more curious), and the juicy stuff at the cost of a subscription.

As an SEO marketing company, developing an SEO foundation for a client requires three different software weapons. Next, they establish weapons to help you battle the SEO Ranking Dragon and also charge you additional coins to use those weapons. Then you also need to continue on your SEO quest and use even more weapons like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, etc.

It’s a little bit of monkey see, monkey do. You see what works for others, follow the proven formula for success, and apply it to your garden to see the beautiful little organic flowers bloom. The recipe is the same every time, and if you play ball, it works the same for one as it will for the other.

HERE COMES THE CAVALRY

Now, if you choose to call in some backup from an online marketing agency, as with anything in life, you will get many different service offerings. What do we offer you at our all-you-can-eat website ranking buffet? Well, we offer many different levels of assistance for your SEO journey, depending on how deep your pockets are, or how much time you have to invest yourself. Here are some options:

• We can do a complete overhaul of your website’s technical SEO, including a full site audit and SEO snagging.
• Another must-have: we can develop an SEO foundation strategy and implement the first phase for you on your website.
• Next up, we can develop SEO-compliant content based on your specific SEO strategy and business goals.
• Another critical piece of the SEO puzzle – we can develop and implement an SEO-compliant social media strategy for your business.
• And the icing on the cake – an SEO maintenance and management retainer package, where we track your keyword ranking and constantly optimise and adjust accordingly every month. We also monitor and snag any technical SEO issues on your website continuously.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

For SEO to show any measure of success, all of the above is needed. If a client pays us to do it all on their behalf, it’s like them getting into a Limo and being driven wherever they want to go. But Limos and chauffeurs cost some coin. If a client takes only some of the above, it’s like going out and buying a GPS to get turn-by-turn instructions, but they will still have to do the driving themselves and probably get lost a few times along the way. If they opt for only the foundational Strategy and decide to do all the rest of the work yourself, it’s like going out and buying a roadmap. It’s old-school but still better than roughing it with only a compass and a swiss army knife. It will tell you exactly what to do to get to your destination, but it takes a lot more caffeine and late nights on your end. Remember, it’s not black magic! There are no overnight success stories here. If you want instant results, you need a paid advertising strategy (PPC).

At the end of the day, if you start with SEO in South Africa, you need to know what you’re signing up for, and you need to go all the way with it, otherwise, you won’t get anything worthwhile from it. If you’re not willing to go all the way, then save yourself a whole world of hurt and don’t even start. When it comes to SEO ranking, if you’re not number one, then you’re nothing. According to Yoast, 60% of organic clicks go to the first 3 results on a Search Engine Results Page.

So, when it comes to SEO ranking, if you ever feel like following your heart or doing what feels right, STOP. Take off your Hogwarts uniform, put away your magic wand, and find yourself a Sheldon Cooper approved whiteboard. (or hire yourself a Sheldon Cooper approved SEO marketing company. SEO is not black magic. To get anywhere with your SEO in South Africa, you do not need to learn any BING incantations or sacrifice any prize chickens to the GOOGLE gods. Anyone can improve their search engine ranking – just follow the tried and tested scientific formula.