You need to treat Search Engine Optimization like stock. It is for those who want to make a long-term investment on their website and increase their returns over time.This is what the compounding effect of SEO is all about!
In SEO, consistency is the key. So is patience. It is hence important to dedicate your time to making content and building a brand that will hold value for years to come. The article talks about the multiplier effect in SEO and the strategies to get it right!
SEO isn’t about adding, but multiplying!
Let us do a Grade 10 mathematics. In the case of compound interest, if you make a $20,000 investment for 20 years and given that it gives you only 10% returns each year, you get a return of $134,550.
Sounds a lot, yes?
The same goes for website SEO and traffic. For example, according to SEO-Hacker, only 10% of people go to the second page of SERPs. There is a funny saying on the internet, “the second page of Google is the best place to hide a dead body.”
We can study this exact behavior to explain the compounding effect of SEO. The difference in the traffic between the page in the first position on the second page and the page in the last place on the first page is tremendous, even if they are only one ranking apart from each other.
The compounding effect of SEO content: Why you should only focus on long term results?
Experts say there are more than 200 ranking factors for Google Search Rankings.
Given that Google hasn’t publicly stated all of them, we can’t point out each one of them. Anyway, one thing that we can say for sure is that with the things that we know, Google has always preferred evergreen websites that serve relevant content to the people.
So, what is Compounding SEO?
Most leading growth marketers agree that the fruits of dedicated SEO efforts on a website can be reaped year after year. And that is what compounding marketing is all about!
Most websites that implement strategic SEO on their web content in the first place continue to see a steady growth in terms of web traffic. And what’s more noteworthy is the fact that the rise in the growth curve is steady even when no significant changes have been made on a website for some time (needless to say, it is still important to ensure that the content available on the site is not past it’s expiry date!)
While the compounding effect of SEO significantly boosts a website’s traffic and rankings, another integral aspect that cannot be overlooked is the enhanced visibility it offers.
In the digital landscape, visibility is synonymous with existence. The amalgamation of well-optimized SEO strategies ensures that a website not only appears on the first page of search results but also makes an effort to meet the search intent.
So how does the compounding magic really work and why is SEO an effective tool for compounding marketing?
When a website attracts traffic on Google, it creates a network of increasing demands that keep expanding as time goes on.
This could be in terms of organic links, better visibility, positive reviews, enhanced user experience, etc. Additionally, the content that is created using SEO tools will bring in more shares on the social media and will get consumed at a faster pace. This in turn will send ranking signals to Google, year after year.
Further, as the content attracts more backlinks and gets authoritative (E.E.A.T), Google will automatically keep pushing it up the rankings creating a cycle that attracts new and more readership, shares, backlinks.
And when your SEO content gets more authoritative, Google will give it more “indexation” credits by including more keywords in the database. Even if your content is ranking for only a handful of keywords in the initial months of its launch, it continues to grow as it attracts more authority on Google.
As time passes, even a single piece of content can claim rankings for hundred of important keywords. With more keywords getting indexed and ranked on Google, every single piece of content will attract new searchers (including those who are using variations of the keyword search).
It is important to understand that Google ranks content on an individual URL basis and not from a website as a whole. It is, therefore, common to find internal service pages of blog posts that totally outranks the homepage of the site. Over time, for SEO to get the compounding effect, more and more good content should be created (each having its own authority).
And with the growing number of internet users year after year, a positive website is naturally bound to reap the benefits of compounding SEO!
When is the right time for SEO?
True that SEO is not a short term magic formula. It does take time to grow and show its effects.
And that’s what often stumps marketers planning to invest in SEO. Afterall, paid marketing efforts can get huge returns, and that too instantly.
That said, here’s the difference.
Investing in marketing strategies can be a continual expenditure. You need to keep updating your marketing strategies as frequently as the game changes. However, an SEO investment done at the right time will continue to generate results (in multiplier ratio) year after year without calling for significant new investments.
So, is there a right time to start your SEO compounding journey?
Well, while most people agree and understand that SEO investment is important to generate users and long term traffic, they think that they still have time on their side. Ideally, it is best to invest in SEO a few months before you even plan a website launch.
However, if you’ve not already done so, there’s no better time to start than now. It is important to understand that SEO investment is basically a step towards long- term revenue generation.
The digital market is extremely competitive. You can’t really sit back postponing the needed effort, imagining that your competitors are sitting back too.
They are not.
You need to start your SEO compounded marketing game now. Starting late will not give you enough time to compound and move beyond the level of your competitors.
Consider this-
Compounding SEO is akin to a giant flywheel that is slowly gaining momentum. Initially, pushing it inch by inch needs efforts but eventually, as it gains momentum, it is very difficult to stop. With good quality, evergreen content that has gained the initial “flywheel” momentum, you will see that traffic that comes to it keeps on increasing over time. And as the content pulls in more backlinks, stronger social signals, more keywords into Google’s index, etc., there is just no stopping!
Credit: This “Flywheel Effect” idea is from the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
How do you accelerate the compounding SEO effect?
To speed up the compounding marketing process for SEO, various strategic tools and techniques need to be implemented at the right time and in the right order.
- To start with, it is important to focus on proper keyword and competitive research even before creating the content.
- Needless to say, it is extremely crucial to ensure that the content is evergreen and matches the searcher’s intent. Give the users exactly what they want and you are on top of your game.
- On- page optimisation (H2, H3.. etc tags, images and Alt texts, meta descriptions, internal and external links, etc) needs to be at the top order.
- Strategic “silo” of SEO equity amongst the related articles is a vital step to accelerate compounding SEO effect. This is also called “link sculpting” or creating “topic clusters” in the SEO world. By doing so, the website is directing proper “link flow” to targeted pages and this can have tremendous effect on Google rankings on the targeted baskets of keywords.
Things to understand for long term SEO
Making money from a website has never been for ones looking for ‘quick results.’ Okay, viral content will make your quick money or traffic, and it may seem a lot for some time, but that will seem very insignificant as time moves on.
You can grow SEO by realizing that you need to keep on working on it for a long time. SEO is about maintaining your rank, not only gaining a good one.
These factors discussed below emphasize on the need for long-term SEO.
1. Search engine ranking factors are constantly changing
Google changes Search Engine Ranking Factors, and most of the time, we don’t even know it. The changes are sometimes very subtle, maybe little tweaks from the previous algorithms, but sometimes, the changes are so significant that they alter the rankings of a lot of pages.
Before a decade, your website would rank the first on the Google SERPS you stacked a lot of keywords.
This slowly changed and became more apparent in 2015, when Google launched Rankbrain, which started measuring the relevancy and quality/user experience of the content. New terms such as bounce rate and dwell time were promulgated, and the Click Through Rate started being an important factor.
Again, in July 209, Google introduced Mobile-First Indexing, according to which, the search engine crawls the mobile version of websites rather than the desktop version while giving them rankings.
This is because these days, there are more mobile internet users than desktop. (https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/mobile-desktop-internet-usage-statistics)
Produce good content for long term and you will be fine
You never know when Google changes its algorithms. Anyway, one thing you can be sure of is that the search engine wants to improve the quality of their listings. So, you can rest assured if you plan for the long term and take action accordingly. Keep on creating the best content that will be helpful to the people, and you need not worry about algorithm changes.
Check out our YouTube Video on “Three Important Ranking Factors for Googe”
2. SEO is competitive
There are more than a billion websites on the internet. This translates to no matter what your niche, there most probably already are a lot of websites vying for the first page on the SERPs.
You never know when a site will overtake you. This has been more the case these days, with Google’s policy of giving everyone a chance.
You see, Rankbrain was actually released for giving every site an equal opportunity for getting a good ranking in the Google search results. When a new website posts something, Google makes it visible to some people and later on updates its ranking depending on the number of impressions and the CTR (also, dwell time) it got.
Again, SERPs are almost something like either you are on the top or not- there is no ‘in-between.’ To get a ranking of significance, you will have to compete with better websites, sites of your own caliber, and the ‘viral content money makers.’
For the viral creators, most of them will get out of the picture soon, but someone similar may come and take their position.
Another point of importance here is AI’s integration into SEO in today’s time. With present-day AI-powered tools, it is possible to amplify the website’s visibility and elevate the user experience.
How this combines with the compounding effect of SEO is that you get experience. As you compete with other websites, you will know how to analyze each of their moves, and what you can do to overtake them. As you build yourself for long-term SEO, other sites will find it difficult to compete with your knowledge.
3. Organic Backlinks are Important for SEO
Backlinks are the links on other websites pointing back to your site. Google also analyzes your backlinks while giving your site rank.
Google looks at the number of links and their quality. Quality refers to the Domain Authority and the Trust factor of the website that has a link to your webpage. You are likely to get a better rank if established sites on your niche point to you. On the other hand, you will hurt your position if you have a lot of links on spam sites.
The thing is that backlinks are like networks. If you think of SEO as a long-term plan, you will work more to forge professional, meaningful relationships with authoritative sites.
As you know more people for your links, you open the doors to new connections. From there, you get fresh links again, and the process carries on. This continues, and you get better rankings.
4. The E.E.A.T Factor is becoming more important
We have another article titled Google E.E.A.T and YMYL: what are they on our website.
Google released a search quality guidelines publication in 2014, where it gave people an idea of the things it considered to provide rankings.
The idea of YMYL and E.E.A.T came into light during that time. YMYL stands for Your Money Your Life. It is content that involves someone’s happiness, health, safety, and financial stability. For example, a health article talking about how you can take care of yourself during a chronic disease.
E.E.A.T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. These are the factors Google takes into considerations while ranking YMYL based materials.
Experience: The writer should have real-life, first hand experience of the subject.
Expertise: A YMYL content should be written by a qualified professional. Yes, educational degrees and experience matter for SEO these days.
Authoritativeness: The website should have good reviews, quality backlinks, and credibility/ relevancy of information. Your ‘About Us’ Page will be checked to make sure you have made a name for yourself in the industry.
Trustworthiness: People should be able to trust your website for information and other things. Proper security should be placed, and other facilities, such as refund policies, shipping security, and even insurance, etc. will help bump your search ranking.
During this time, the effectiveness of SEO extends to more than just ‘doing SEO.’ Creating a good website deserving to be on the top spot with SEO is also a part of SEO.
On your website, as you work on improving your YMYL, you will start getting more recognition and build a more prominent brand name. More experts and more people will know about you and prefer your information. This all translates to you getting better rankings as time passes.
Conclusion:
SEO results multiply, year after year. The “principal” is the content you create, and the “investment” is your hard work in terms of optimization. Authority and Trustworthiness are the most critical factors affecting SEO, and honestly, it takes time to build them.
You should think about the long term and be persistent while devising an SEO plan for your website. The results might take some time to come, but when they do, they will keep on multiplying. And that’s the magic of compounding SEO!
Check out Growth Pro’s professional SEO services for Malaysia to see how we can help you compound your sales and revenues!
