Digital State discuss SEO strategic metrics.
Last year, it felt like I went through a phase of including a whinging diatribe about no-one loving us in SEO every week in this digest. After a while, I noticed this might seem a little solipsistic and, well, depressing, so I resolved to avoid them.
However, when Cyrus Shepherd has a whinge, everyone should pay attention – not only is he one of the smartest men in the business, he’s also really funny. Whether you’re an SEO zealot, a denier or somewhere in between, this is worth reading for the perspective and the sarcasm!
Most weeks I try to provide a balance between conceptual articles – that is, ones that give an exposition of the best practices that industry practitioners adhere to and the philosophies that underpin them (so that you can understand the reasoning behind why that best practice sometimes almost always changes over time) – and practical articles – ones that assume you either understand (or are not bothered with) the theory and just need the most effective, efficient and productive processes and tools to get the job done.
With this article, we’re sort of doing a bit of both. Firstly, there’s no doubt that understanding the SEO strategic metrics is a conceptual matter – the collection of this data is at the heart of making informed decisions about what is and isn’t working and it’s only armed with this data that you can decide how and why (and what to do next).
However, there’s little fluffy marketing talk in the article – it’s all about free tools, how tro use them and what information you can collect from them. These are all, in my, opinion, invaluable to the process of getting your SEO activity moving in top gear but the philosophy comes elsewhere.
The practical part!
Another one to add to the practical article pile is here (from Receptional). It’s not really telling us anything we weren’t already aware of – the link building techniques here are broadly seen as best practice across most industry authority voices and we highlight and discuss them every week. Again, SEO strategic metrics.
What this article does provide, however, is a real world (that is agency rather than commentator) validation of the impact of these techniques when done well. This body of processes is not just ivory tower, wishful thinking – it works. That’s not to say it doesn’t take time and effort but, to repeat, it works! (and, yes, we implement these at DSC!)
And Finally
Lastly, we’ll touch on the big subject this Spring – the impending incorporation of mobile-friendly factors into its SERPs algorithm. April 21st is not that far away and, if you’ve been reading any related news (either from my posts or from the industry in general), you’ll know why this is important and what you’ve got to do to maximise your site’s advantage. If not, boy are you due a revision session!
To help with that, SearchEngineLand have compiled some interesting (or scary, depending on your POV) statistics on the potential impact from the “Mobile SEO-Pocalypse” as they’ve described it. Suffice to say, you’d be better addressing your site’s mobile usability sooner rather than later – get in touch with DSM as we’ve got some great deals on Website Responsiveness Design Upgrades (sorry, advert over!)
