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https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Copy-of-Copy-of-SMX-Master-Classes-spring-2025-email-masthead-CTA-REG-1-X9Q0cQ.png?fit=975%2C225&ssl=1225975http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-02-03 15:22:002025-02-03 15:22:00Take your career to the next level: Become a search marketing master
Some things in life are constant – Google rankings aren’t one of them.
If you’ve been paying attention (or just reading this website), you’ve likely noticed that rankings are becoming increasingly unstable. Industry veterans, with years of context, may feel this shift the most.
That’s why I believe SEO is evolving into something new.
What that means – and whether the industry is adapting well – is a discussion for another time (TL;DR: we’re not doing great, but we’re not failing either. Change is hard).
One key driver of this shift is SERP instability.
What I’d like to do here is explore that notion and give some concrete facts.
The average level of volatility in 2024
Rank was 26% more volatile in 2024 than in 2023.
It’s not as simple as it sounds, which is why we’ll look at multiple metrics to create a data picture as best we can.
However, if you looked at how much rank volatility increased in 2024 and compared it to how much it either increased or decreased in 2023, the answer would be 26% – at least on desktop.
Now, that’s not universal across every sector of the web.
For example, as you can see above, certain niche industries saw far higher volatility increases in 2024 relative to 2023.
If your site helps folks relish information about their favorite snack, it might be over 50% more volatile (for the record, relish is no one’s favorite snack).
However, what was almost universal was that all but one of the vertical’s Semrush tracks saw an increase in rank volatility in 2024:
All but one vertical (Real Estate) saw what I would call a “noticeable” increase in rank volatility over the course of 2024 compared to 2023 (which itself was “noticeable”).
I want to highlight that the data shows average volatility – already high in 2023 and even higher in 2024 (except for Real Estate).
In general, the numbers across devices are close enough that it doesn’t justify wasting your time.
In this case, the difference between devices was clear – a full 10 percentage points.
While the desktop SERP was 26% more volatile in 2024 than in 2023, the mobile SERP was “only” 16% more volatile.
The disparity between devices continued all the way down to the niche level.
On desktop, the Health vertical, for example, was not one of the niches that saw the most increased volatility in 2024. On mobile, as shown above, it clearly was.
That’s not because keywords associated with the medical field were so much more volatile on mobile.
The numbers for the Health niche are quite similar across devices. The disparity is largely due to other verticals having higher rates of volatility in 2023 on mobile than on desktop:
If you look at ecommerce, the vertical had literally the same level of rank volatility on both desktop and mobile in 2024. However, on mobile, the volatility average was 5 points higher.
The gap between the mobile and desktop volatility increase is due to the higher levels of mobile volatility in 2023, which resulted in less of an increase relative to 2024.
However, the levels of absolute volatility are the same across devices. (Again, using the Shopping vertical, the average volatility was at 8.5/10 on both devices in 2024.)
By the way, a volatility score of 8.5 is out of this world.
All these numbers, when factoring in the volatility levels in 2023 and then the increase of them in 2024, are out of this world.
Is increased rank volatility a lasting trend or a temporary spike?
An increase in average volatility in 2024 doesn’t tell the whole story.
We need to determine if a single event skewed the data – perhaps one or two months of extreme volatility.
The answer? No.
Volatility in 2024 was widespread. Except for July (and to some extent August), the year was consistently more volatile from the start.
July 2023 is interesting to recall because there was no official update.
The volatility you see above in July 2023 was the result of an odd and ongoing period of extreme rank volatility that happened around the middle of that month:
Image courtesy of Search Engine Roundtable
The upshot and the importance of the data is that it means we’re not just in a more volatile rank period that may or may not abate.
Rather, it would appear we’re in a new scenario of what volatility on the SERP looks like.
I can only speculate that it will get worse as Google has been reported to say they are moving to continuous and ongoing algorithm updates.
How drastic is drastic?
Another question neither the average level of volatility nor the volatility trends answer is how volatile?
Meaning, how drastic is the rank movement?
It’s entirely possible that smaller micromovements are a big part of the more volatile SERP (which, for the record, was already incredibly volatile for years – more on that later).
Standard deviation is one of the best metrics to measure rank volatility.
When you look at the baseline and how far off the volatility is, rank volatility is noticeably less drastic:
Every vertical saw a decrease in the standard deviation relative to 2023, aside from one (and the “news” SERP is its own beast).
Now we have a scenario where the “amount” of volatility increased, but the extent of the movement itself decreased relative to 2023.
Do not mistake that for “Oh, rank isn’t fluctuating in a drastic manner.” It’s relative to 2023, not in absolute.
If we take the Dolorean to 88 mph, we’ll see that back in 2021 standard deviation, outside of News, ranged between 1.15 and 1.69:
That range in 2024 (again outside of News) is 1.3 – 2.5. Rank is not “less volatile” over time.
The average level of rank fluctuation may not be as drastic as in 2023, but as a paradigm, we are not even close to the levels seen in 2021 and have surpassed the higher extremes of rank movement seen in 2020.
Back in 2020, we were looking at standard deviations above 1. Now, we’re talking about deviants above 2 (of which I have four above 2 at home).
We can still pull back another layer.
Is the reason the standard deviation is higher overall related to a few strong spikes of colossal rank volatility?
That doesn’t appear to be the case.
The above graph shows a narrowing of the gap between the minimum and maximum levels of volatility.
The difference between minimum and maximum volatility in 2023 was 8.1 points, down to 7.2 in 2024.
That’s a less drastic “spiking” of max volatility (relatively speaking).
There are two (if not more) possible reasons for this:
The minimum score was higher, meaning we started at a higher level of volatility, which would make the gap between the minimum and maximum levels of volatility narrower.
There were fewer large spikes but overall more “less drastic” rank movement so the levels just never got as high in 2024. Thus, the gap between the minimum and maximum levels of volatility is narrower.
If you look at all the data together (see, there’s a method to my madness), some signs point to more volatility that is less drastic overall.
Why?
The average amount of volatility is up in 2024.
The rank movement is less drastic overall in 2024 (see standard deviation).
Thus, to apply Occam’s Razor (which has nothing to do with actual razors), the most likely scenario behind the narrowed gap between minimum and maximum volatility is that the volatility, while more frequent, did not get as many “highs” as it did in 2023.
However, the counterargument would be the month-by-month volatility trends we saw above (adding here again for convenience), which show that the jump in the amount of volatility was steeper in 2023 than in 2024:
It’s not hard to see. August 2023 and August 2024 show just about the same levels of volatility. But look where the amount of volatility started in 2023, far lower than in 2024.
One might speculate that if the amount of volatility spiked like it did in 2023, so did the levels of volatility.
This is a fancy way of saying, I don’t know – which I am not supposed to say in official SEO articles. (So you didn’t read that).
But it also brings me to my next data point. The pivots are so good here it feels like a podcast.
Things are volatile, but who’s counting?
Me.
I am counting.
Did you know that Semrush only recorded 15 days or low volatility in 2024?
Of course, not. Who would actually know that off the top of their heads? That’s just weird.
But it’s true.
On desktop, there were just 15 days of low volatility and just 83 days of “normal” volatility.
For the record, yes, 2024 has 366 days, not 365. It was a leap year. I know how to add numbers.
So, just assume there is one less day of high volatility to make yourself feel better.
By the way, that means a 64% reduction in the number of days of low volatility in 2024 and a 39% reduction in days of normal volatility.
Conversely, there was a 19% increase in “high volatility” days in 2024 and an absolutely massive increase of 80% in “very high volatility” days!
Slightly different on mobile with a few more days of low volatility throughout 2024 (although the number of high volatility days was the same):
However, there were 12 fewer “very high” volatility days on mobile in 2024, so that’s good.
But mainly, none of it is good.
Roughly 78% of 2024 was volatile, with 36% of the year being very volatile (desktop). That feels like a nightmare. For many, it was and still is.
More volatility? Who freaking cares?! (Or as most Search Engine Land articles put it: why we care)
You.
At least you should. Our conception of what Google is as a marketing channel is starting to shift.
First, the results are less than stellar at times.
I was Googling a medical condition, and I was forced to choose between the same content from different websites such as the Mayo Clinic, Web MD, whatever, or Reddit.
That’s like having to choose between strawberry ice cream or strawberry ice cream with nuts.
Then there’s the whole LLM thing, AI search engines and AIOs, AI-generated content, AI something whatever, and yada, yada, yada.
And then, on top of that, content consumption trends have totally changed IMHO (they’re constantly changing, BTW).
Oh, and I forgot about Reddit being firehosed into the SERP. (Would you like sprinkles on that ice cream?)
On top of all of that, the SERP is a heap of volatility. That’s a lot.
It’s like Thanksgiving dinner with your family and your in-laws, and all that’s being served is boiled tofu.
Also, they don’t have a TV, so you can’t watch football, and they don’t have beer; they have Zima from 1992.
So what should you do about it?
I didn’t say I was giving advice; I was just showing why you should care.
What you should do about it is a whole other conversation. And yeah, it goes far beyond “diversify your channels” or “aim for owned audiences.”
Personally, I think it means taking a very hard look at how we approach audiences and resonate with them.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Top-categories-by-volatility-change-2024-vs-2023-rnfGgz.png?fit=1600%2C1079&ssl=110791600http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-02-03 15:00:002025-02-03 15:00:00How volatile have Google rankings really been?
Different timeframes: Instead of simply 30-day website visitors, test 10-day, 60-day, 90-day, or 180-day audiences based on your industry and website traffic.
365-day audiences: Ideal for remarketing annual products or services, such as trips, holidays, or Black Friday deals, to previous customers.
Page-specific visitors: Retarget users who visited key pages, like pricing, by setting up “Page location” contains “your specific URL.”
Converted audiences: Target users for other products or exclude them from campaigns based on completed purchases or form submissions.
New visitors: Show ads only to new users, excluding repeat visitors.
Traffic sources: Use audiences from other platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or large newsletter lists, by applying Templates > Acquisition > First user source, campaign, or medium.
Additional advanced options include:
Inactive users: Retarget users who haven’t been active for a set timeframe (e.g., 7 days), or delay ads until specific events, like a free trial expiration.
Session duration: Target users who spent significant time on your website (e.g., over 1 minute) to exclude low-interest audiences.
There are three primary campaign types for targeting remarketing audiences. Let’s explore best practices for setting them up and optimizing their performance.
1. Search remarketing
Setup best practices
You can target the same remarketing audiences you’ve set up in GA4, often called RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads).
To avoid overlap, separate your search remarketing campaigns from standard search campaigns that don’t target a remarketing audience.
The simplest approach is to create a search remarketing campaign using the same and/or different keywords while excluding that remarketing audience from your standard search campaigns.
In search remarketing, you can test broader keywords, including:
Broad match terms.
Review-related queries.
Competitor names.
Since these users have already visited your site, broader targeting carries less risk.
For ad creative, you can either reuse existing ads or test unique copy tailored to search remarketing.
Choose what performs best. If using unique ads, consider adding more selling points and testimonials. Also, test different landing pages, coupons, or special deals.
For bidding, test manual bidding, max conversions, or target CPA – especially if the campaign generates a high number of conversions.
Even with higher CPCs, maximizing conversions can be worthwhile, as these users are already familiar with your brand.
Optimizing search remarketing campaigns
Optimization follows the same principles as standard search campaigns:
Test different ad copy.
Adjust ad group variations.
Experiment with new keywords.
Pause underperforming ones.
Add negative keywords.
However, avoid directly mirroring changes from your standard search campaigns. What works there won’t necessarily work in search remarketing.
You can swap out audiences as needed, but otherwise, optimization remains similar to standard search.
Regular adjustments are essential. Don’t leave it on autopilot.
When targeting different remarketing audiences, use separate ad groups or campaigns.
Avoid grouping drastically different audiences together or expanding them with “optimized targeting.”
For ads, you can reuse copy from search or banner ads or test unique messaging specific to display remarketing. Choose what delivers the best results.
With remarketing banner ads, include your logo and branding to ensure immediate recognition. Even if users don’t click, the impressions still provide branding value.
For high-traffic websites, consider testing three separate remarketing campaigns:
Desktop-only.
Tablet-only.
Mobile-only.
Combining all devices in one campaign often results in mobile traffic consuming the most clicks and budget.
Instead of blocking mobile traffic entirely or reducing bids, testing a separate mobile campaign may be more effective. Mobile clicks – especially from in-app ads – are often accidental or irrelevant.
For bidding, test manual CPC to control volume and spend or use Maximize Conversions to stop showing ads to users who don’t convert quickly.
Brands with larger budgets aiming for long-term visibility may benefit from manual bidding to maximize touchpoints and reinforce brand presence.
Be cautious with Maximize Clicks bidding. This strategy may favor high-click placements, such as mobile games, where accidental clicks can waste budget.
Optimizing display remarketing campaigns
Optimization follows the same principles as standard display campaigns.
Regularly review placements – especially apps, games, celebrity gossip, quizzes, and entertainment sites – to prevent wasted spend on users who aren’t in the right mindset for your product or service.
If mobile traffic dominates the budget, consider blocking it or running separate device-targeted campaigns.
Continuously test ads to determine which ones drive the most conversions or relevant clicks.
If an ad underperforms with a remarketing audience, replace it.
Avoid leaving display remarketing campaigns on autopilot. Ongoing adjustments are key to maintaining effectiveness.
For remarketing, the simplest option is Video Views, which supports skippable in-stream ads, in-feed ads, and Shorts ads using CPV (cost per view) bidding.
This is the easiest way to retarget past website visitors or YouTube channel viewers.
For larger budgets, consider Video Efficient Reach, which allows CPM (cost per thousand impressions) bidding and supports unskippable ads.
Brands focused on reach may also use Non-Skippable Reach if that format aligns with their goals.
When setting up the campaign, consider disablingTV screen targeting unless you have a large brand and budget.
Most advertisers prefer engagement beyond just branding, so blocking TV placements can help allocate spend more effectively.
The Drive Conversions subtype for video campaigns is transitioning to Demand Gen in early 2025.
If you don’t want to expand into Gmail and Discovery ads, it’s best to focus on Video Views for remarketing.
Optimizing video remarketing campaigns
Video remarketing follows the same optimization principles as display remarketing and non-remarketing video campaigns.
Regularly review and block irrelevant placements, including:
Video placements.
YouTube channels.
Topics.
Apps.
Entertainment content.
Video ads often waste budget on kids’ videos, unrelated apps, or entertainment channels. Make sure to continuously block irrelevant placements
If mobile traffic dominates the budget with little to no results, consider blocking it to improve campaign efficiency.
Advanced remarketing strategies
For advanced users, enhance remarketing by layering audience targeting with relevant placements, topics, and keywords simultaneously.
This ensures your remarketing ads appear to past website visitors while they browse specific websites, YouTube channels, or content related to your targeted topics or keywords.
For example, if you offer retirement planning services, you can target previous website visitors while they visit financial or retirement-related websites or view relevant topics.
This strategy works for both display and video campaigns.
You can also handpick high-authority financial or retirement websites and layer them with your remarketing audience for more precise targeting.
It’s important to note that adding a remarketing audience to a Performance Max campaign is not true remarketing.
Performance Max uses remarketing audiences as a signal – a starting point to find similar users – rather than exclusively targeting past visitors.
It will expand beyond that audience based on Google’s machine learning.
By leveraging advanced remarketing and optimization techniques, you can achieve significantly better results than default remarketing strategies.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/How-to-maximize-your-Google-Ads-remarketing-campaigns-800x450-vI9ez8.png?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1450800http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-02-03 14:20:352025-02-03 14:20:35How to maximize your Google Ads remarketing campaigns
Google Product Studio is now available within Google Business Profiles. This allows you to edit the background scenes of your products within your local listing using Google’s AI features. Product studio is already available within Google services including Google Merchant Center and Google Ads, and is now available within Google Business Profiles.
More details. Google community manager, Kara, posted about this news in the Google Business Profile forums and wrote:
“We’re excited to announce that you can now change the background scene of your product with Product Studio, a generative AI tool which helps you create engaging imagery to showcase your products.”
Here is what the feature looks like in my account – it says “Transform your product images with Al Quickly generate lifestyle scenes. To get started, upload a product image and select a theme.”
How it works. Google has a more detailed help document on this feature over here but here is how to quickly access this feature in your Business Profile.
To generate a scene for your product, click Edit productsGet started.
Select the image you want to edit.
Wait until the background from your image is removed.
Select a theme for your product.
Choose a generated image from the editor.
If you’re satisfied with the image, click Add image to product.
You’ll receive a confirmation to save the image, click OK.
Once you saved the generated image for your product, from the product editor:
Fill out the fields in the form.
To submit your product, click Publish.
US only. Google did not that “Only merchants in the US can use scene generation in product editor.” Google added, “When you use Product Studio, you agree to the Terms of Service (TOS).”
Why we care. If you manage products within your Google Business Profile account, quickly being able to make those products look more appealing to searchers might be a great thing to increase conversions and sales. Of course, you want to make sure you are happy with how Google’s AI improves your images and only accept changes that you feel will make a positive change to those images.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/gbp-product-studio-ai-xRAKWC.png?fit=1382%2C1678&ssl=116781382http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-02-03 12:29:152025-02-03 12:29:15Product studio now available within Google Business Profiles
Your prospects don’t want to buy SEO—they want to buy results.
I learned this the hard way.
After years of trial and error, I found a system. It consistently delivers what people want: more customers, revenue, and growth.
In fact, I’ve maintained a 75% close rate by focusing on one thing: demonstrating value before asking for the sale.
Think about it:
AI advancements. Nontraditional search results. Constant algorithm shifts.
SEO looks different every year. But these changes have made skilled SEOs more valuable than ever.
In this guide, you’ll learn my exact process for selling SEO services, backed by insights from industry veterans who’ve closed millions in SEO deals.
1. Prepare Your Sales Toolkit
As the saying goes, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
In other words, don’t wing it.
Sure, you can eventually throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
But if you want to successfully sell SEO services, you’ll need a few essentials.
Build Trust with Case Studies
Case studies are your bread and butter of selling.
They’re proof you know what you’re doing and an opportunity to show exactly what you can accomplish for your clients.
The key is to be specific.
You didn’t just increase demo requests.
You grew inbound leads by 40% with conversion-focused content marketing.
See the difference?
The more detail you provide, the easier it is for clients to envision these results for themselves.
And the likelier they are to trust you.
It’s especially helpful if you have a case study that addresses each client’s specific needs.
Kevin Indig, a growth advisor who has worked with companies like Nextdoor, Dropbox, Hims, and Reddit, believes there’s nothing more powerful than demonstrating real results.
Build out references and projects you can showcase. Very early on, it’s important to be able to show what the work for a client could look like at the hand of a live example.
If you’ve done it for someone else, you can do it for them, too.
Another perk?
Case studies are versatile.
Present them during client calls to get buy-in.
And highlight them on your site for prospects to read.
Pro tip: New to SEO? Exchange free or discounted SEO work for case studies and testimonials. For example, offer a free technical audit to a small business. Once they start seeing results, ask if you can document their success story.
Collect High-Impact Testimonials
Case studies are great.
But testimonials hit differently.
Why?
Because they come directly from your happy clients.
When clients explain the impact you’ve had on their business, it boosts your credibility with prospects.
So, let them be your ambassadors.
Follow these steps to collect testimonials:
Text or email clients a short feedback form
Ask them to share specific results (metrics help)
Keep it simple: “What was your biggest win from working with us?”
Offer to draft it for them (just get their approval)
Even better: Ask for a video testimonial.
If clients are willing to have their face and brand associated with your business, that’s a ringing endorsement.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
No matter how you collect the testimonial, what matters most is that it comes from a reputable person in the company.
Aim for a VP of marketing or founder for the most significant impact.
Pro tip: Place your best testimonials on high-traffic pages, such as pricing, services, and contact pages. Highlight them in post-discovery call emails and on social media to seal the deal.
Create a Lead Qualification System
Time is money.
Don’t waste it on unqualified leads.
Before you even have a first call with your prospects, ensure they fit your ideal client profile (ICP).
Make sure they:
Are the right type of company you want to work with
Are actually in need of your services
Aren’t looking to just sell you on something (it happens more often than you think)
Pro tip: Asking for project details is usually the best way to qualify a lead. It also helps you set expectations for your role and prepare for the initial discovery call. This way, you come to the meeting with a personalized approach that reflects what they actually need and explains how you can help.
So, how do you have a qualifying process before a prospect even reaches out to you?
Your contact form is your best friend here.
Add qualifying questions that will tell you from the get-go if this lead has potential.
Here’s what your contact form should ask:
Budget range
Services they need
Project details
How they found you
In my experience, the responses will tell you whether they’re a legitimate lead 95% of the time.
Once you control a niche, whether B2B SaaS, home care, or legal SEO, it will be much easier to grow from there.
I learned that the hard way when I first started posting on LinkedIn.
My niche and SEO posts were too broad.
The posts helped grow my followers quickly but not my revenue.
The majority of my followers were SEOs, not my actual ideal client profile.
So, I wasn’t generating leads.
That changed pretty quickly after I nailed down my niche.
After focusing my posts on B2B SaaS to help target my ICP—marketing VPs—I saw better results.
Instead of competing with every SEO agency out there, I have an easier time being seen by my ICP.
Plus, they know my services are designed specifically for them.
Another important decision will be how you want to structure your services.
Kevin recommends creating a clear distinction between freelancer and consultant work.
You need to know very clearly whether you want to do the work (freelancer) or guide/advise (advisor). Early on, I did a lot of the leg work because that’s where I felt most comfortable, but that didn’t match the advisor prices I charged and wasn’t what I actually wanted to do.
So, it’s important to know what work you want to do and where you can provide the biggest impact. If you want to advise, don’t agree to do any busy work. Focus on the strategy.
You’ll likely have to learn your preferences by trial and error at first.
But don’t be afraid to adjust if you have to.
Choose Your Pricing Model
Like your services, you’ll want to have your pricing figured out upfront, too.
This works well for a few reasons:
You understand your worth before going into a client call
You can use it to qualify leads before they reach out
Clients pay a fixed monthly fee for ongoing SEO work. You commit to a set number of hours each month.
Next, there’s package pricing.
This is what I use. Clients can choose from different packages that best suit their needs for SEO.
Here’s how I structure it:
SEO audit: $1,500
SEO consulting: $2,000
Fractional SEO: $3,500
Full management SEO: $6,000
Your third option is value-based pricing.
It’s riskier but can pay off big. You set goal targets with clients and get bonus compensation when you hit them.
Finally, there’s hourly pricing.
You bill based on actual time spent on SEO tasks. This is great for one-off projects.
Pro tip: Price your services based on value. Low rates might seem like a path to more clients, but they can attract lower-quality clients. My highest-paying clients are always my best clients—they pay on time, are pleasant to work with, and trust my expertise.
Keep in mind that every model is dependent on what works for you.
I’m personally a big fan of package pricing.
But that’s because I want my work to prioritize value over output.
Successful SEO sales require a reliable lead-generation system.
Here’s how I use both inbound and outbound marketing to build a steady stream of qualified prospects.
Inbound Prospects
Inbound marketing is the process of creating valuable content that attracts potential customers to your site when they’re actively looking for solutions.
This is the channel I’m most familiar with.
And the one that provides the most long-term value.
With inbound, you can build a long-term community that’s invested in your brand and create a stronger pipeline for leads at a much lower acquisition cost.
So, how do you find high-quality leads? It depends on your services and industry.
Personally, I’ve found the most success with:
SEO: Targeting high-intent searches coming directly from my audience
Reddit: Answering questions on subreddits where my ICP is
YouTube: Creating videos that help my audience overcome industry challenges. Works great for repurposing content, too.
Email marketing: Nurturing my email audience by sending them highly valuable content directly to their inbox
LinkedIn: Posting thought leadership content that establishes me as an expert within my field
As you can see, organic search and social are among my top traffic sources:
[missing ss]
When you’re starting out, I recommend playing around with each channel.
Once you find the channel that works, double down on it.
Pro tip: Don’t stretch yourself too thin. If you’re solo, it’s better to comfortably handle one or two channels than struggle with five. The goal is to build a community interested in your brand through quality content—not spam your audience.
Outbound Prospects
Outbound marketing is when you reach out to prospects through various methods rather than waiting for them to find you.
While I’m pro inbound marketing, it can be inconsistent.
Outbound can make up for that.
There are a few different ways you can target outbound prospects.
For example, I use a template similar to this to reach out to potential prospects through email:
Hi [Name],I noticed [company name]‘s content showing up for [specific keyword] but ranking on page 2. Looking at your competitors [(Competitor 1)] and [(Competitor 2)], there’s a clear opportunity to capture more organic traffic with some technical improvements.
I’ve helped other [industry] companies like [reference company] improve their search visibility and recently published a case study breaking down the exact process we used to increase their organic traffic by [X]%.
Would you be interested in seeing the case study? It includes specific tactics you could implement, whether you work with us or not.
Either way, I’ve also spotted a few quick SEO wins for your site that I’m happy to share.
Best, [Your name]
You can also use LinkedIn for outreach, but don’t expect to take the same approach as email.
Focus on social selling.
Interact with your ICP and find something in common with them.
Then, reach out to them.
Don’t treat them as just another automated message.
Focus on building an actual relationship with them.
Then, once the time is right, see if they’d be open to a coffee chat.
Ask if they’re facing any challenges with SEO and offer advice on how to help.
Chances are, they might just be willing to delegate that to you, anyway.
But when you’re deciding which marketing channels to use, I recommend this approach:
Pro tip: Blend one outbound channel with one inbound. Outbound brings quick wins, while inbound builds long-term success. Together, they offer a balance of quick wins and sustainable growth for long-term success.
3. Offer Strategy Calls
This step is often called a “discovery call.”
But I recommend using strategy call instead.
Why?
Well, you want to demonstrate perceived value before prospects even contact you—an additional incentive for them to take that next step.
And “strategy” implies they’ll get something tangible out of this call.
For example, point out issues they can fix right after the call. It’s an easy way to show you’re invested in them and have done your research.
Use this call to discuss your services and offer a glimpse into what working with you looks like to see the best conversion rates.
Learn More About Your Prospect
Use the first call strictly as a way to understand the company and what’s currently going on with its marketing efforts.
I even recommend using a questionnaire to help you run through the call.
I usually ask these questions to help prepare myself for the SEO audit in the next step.
But prospects also appreciate that you seem invested in their company.
You’re obviously not just pitching yourself and are actively looking to learn more about them—something that’s often rare during the discovery phase.
Focus on Early Wins
Here’s a persuasive tactic: Give prospects actionable tips during the call.
Point out easy fixes they’ve missed to highlight your expertise and prove your worth.
For example:
“I noticed your product pages aren’t targeting money keywords. Here’s a quick fix that could boost your traffic…”
Or
“I researched some easy keywords you’d be able to rank for quickly. This includes…”
This gives prospects a reason to develop early trust with you.
This is something my friend Jacob Statler, founder of Stat Digital, highly recommends doing:
Show your prospects how you can get them quick wins that tie back to revenue. If possible, get them a win before working together during the sales process.
SEOs often give away high-level audits that they auto-generated with a tool, but these are usually not very actionable. I like to create mini-action plans of easy-to-implement opportunities. This builds trust and shows competency.
And if that quick win translates to results, all the better for you.
Highlight What Their Competitors Are Doing
This is such an underrated strategy.
If you think I’m joking, try it out for yourself.
I’ve been stumped before getting clients to commit to something.
But the moment I mention a direct competitor doing something they aren’t, they get tunnel vision.
This includes:
Their competitors’ top traffic channels
Articles their competitors have that they don’t
Articles their competitors created against them (this is my go-to if a client is ever opposed to creating alternative or category content)
It’s almost an immediate way to motivate your prospects, especially if you’re facing early resistance to a tactic you’re recommending.
Pro tip: Always lock in the audit with a hard date. Leaving the audit timeline open is a deal-killer. I schedule the audit presentation right after the discovery call. Vague follow-ups kill momentum.
Position the Audit as a Roadmap, Not a Selling Technique
Audits are my secret sauce for selling SEO services.
Why do they work so well?
I go above and beyond. While others send automated reports, I tailor each audit to my client.
This means I:
Never use a template; I always start fresh
Look at their product/offering/industry/ICP to put together my recommendations
Focus on specific tactics that drive value and have an expected outcome
I’ve found it not only gets additional buy-in but also keeps leads moving through the pipeline.
Once prospects see the issues affecting their site, they’re way more motivated to get started with services.
But this isn’t a selling technique.
If clients see the audit as a pitch, then you’re just another company pitching them.
When you position your audit as a roadmap, it’s much easier to present a legitimate vision for the client.
Ben Goodey, founder of the SEO growth agency Spicy Margarita, agrees that leading with value is essential.
My top advice for those looking to sell SEO? Know your audience doesn’t want to buy SEO. They’re business owners or team leaders who want to buy results—that is what you should focus on selling.
In my experience closing clients, the more freely you share your “how,” the more trust and enthusiasm you build with a client. So, share your tactics openly—people are typically willing to take a risk working with you if you’re an expert.
The idea is that the audit should be so helpful prospects can take the information and use it on their own.
“But why would you do that?”
Sure, it sounds like it wouldn’t make sense. But think about most companies that lack internal marketing teams.
Most of the time, they don’t want to handle marketing and SEO themselves.
They would rather outsource it to another team.
So, even though they COULD take the audit and run, chances are they’d rather have someone else manage it anyway.
Plus, if they do decide to move forward, it shows their level of trust in what you’re proposing.
Which is a great sign for longer-term engagements.
If you didn’t schedule the audit at the end of your strategy call, use this template to follow up by email:
Subject: Next Steps – [Company Name] SEO Strategy
Hi [Name],
Thank you for taking the time to discuss [Company Name]‘s SEO goals today. I wanted to follow up with a quick summary of what we covered and outline our next steps.
Your main goal: [specific goal mentioned in call]
Current challenges: [1-2 key challenges mentioned]
Priority areas: [2-3 areas of focus]
During our call, I noticed [specific quick win mentioned during call]. You can implement this immediately by [brief actionable step].
Next, I’ll prepare a comprehensive SEO audit for your site. Are you available to review the findings on [scheduled date/time]?
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Best,
[Your name]
Build a Reliable Stack for Conducting Your Audits
I keep my tech stack pretty consistent for most audits.
The ones I find helpful and recommend using are:
Google Search Console: Find crawling/indexing issues, quick SEO wins, and potential content topics
Screaming Frog: Uncover large-scale technical issues like missing canonicals or JavaScript issues
Google Analytics 4: Extremely useful if a client has set up conversion tracking. See what pages have previously driven conversions and how you can double down on that.
Semrush site auditing features: Identify housekeeping items to take care of, such as orphan pages, broken links, and redirect chains
Focus on Value, Value, Value
When you’re delivering the audit, focus on value.
And I don’t mean to just stuff it with data and overwhelm the client.
Remember: This is also for you, not just the client.
I find it helpful to start with an overall strategy, like how I’ll increase revenue by X% through SEO.
Then, I recommend SEO tactics that will help the client achieve the goal.
But this isn’t the time to be vague—I show exactly how I’ll hit that number.
When you start with a goal, the client has an easier time understanding what you’re recommending and why.
So, let’s say the goal for a B2B SaaS company is to increase demos and freemium signups through SEO.
A content roadmap based on topics that would drive leads
Side note: There will be times when clients still choose not to work with you despite all your work—and that’s okay. As long as your overall close rate increases, that’s all that matters.
5. Send a Proposal or SOW
Now comes the easiest part.
Sending out the SEO proposal or statement of work (SOW).
If you ran your audit properly and the client showed interest in what you had to say, the proposal should be a piece of cake.
Still, there are a few things to keep in mind during this step of the process.
Include Audit Findings
For the beginning of the proposal, include findings from the audit.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.
I usually use:
Google Docs for the template
Canva for custom graphics
Data screenshots if I have access to GA4 and GSC
Google Sheets if forecasting is involved
You’ll want to touch on the recommended priority tactics and how you’ll approach them.
You can also include a monthly timetable to visualize how you would structure each month of the engagement.
For me, it usually looks like this:
Month 1: Start with conversion rate optimization, technical SEO, optimizing your product pages, going after quick wins, and taking care of any on-page housekeeping
Month 2: Continue going after quick wins, start building out BoFu content
Month 3: Continue creating BoFu content, creating link assets, and backlink opportunities
Month 4-6: Build out a solid profile of MoFu content, continue going after quick wins
Help your clients understand how you’ll approach each month for the engagement.
This way, they’ll have a better reference point for understanding what you’ll be working on.
The success behind selling SEO comes from value, trust, and transparency.
Don’t neglect any of them.
Highlight Your Goals/Strategy/KPIs
This will be similar to what you did for the audit but in more detail.
First, lay them out as a goals section.
Then, explain specifically how you’re going to work towards those goals.
Here’s an example of what this looks like on my proposals:
Now, let’s break this process down.
First, I summarize each goal:
“Goal #1: Increase the quantity and quality of demo requests and signups coming from SEO.”
Then, I add more detail to show I understand what success looks like:
“The main goal of this engagement will be to increase the quantity and quality of leads from SEO (and other channels). We’ll want to establish a benchmark for demo requests/signups and then measure that against the performance of the engagement.”
Finally, I outline my action plan:
“To do this, I’ll help your team focus on sales enablement content that can help convince users to take that next step. This will also involve building out bottom-of-funnel traffic that can bring in qualified users who are in the market for your type of product.”
I also include a section that discusses the main opportunity behind the project.
What’s the ultimate value that’s going to come out of this engagement?
I’ll often structure it similarly to the goals listed above.
But it’s usually a more general overview of the project as a whole.
I generally save specific KPIs for the actual onboarding meeting (once they’ve signed the proposal), but I’ll usually have a section in the proposal that looks like this:
So, there are no specific percentages tied to those KPIs, just what we’ll be prioritizing.
Detail Contract Terms (Make Them Fair to the Prospect)
Ahh, the contract terms.
The fun part.
I highly recommend working with a lawyer on this one.
Your contract terms will be pretty consistent across most proposals, but they should be fair to you and the prospect.
The lawyer can help you put terms in place that safeguard you and your business during any engagement.
As for the actual general terms, I recommend including:
The hard start date so both parties can prepare appropriately
The length of the engagement so clients know how much to budget for
The pricing terms and dates
If the contract is rolling, month to month, or a fixed date project
The flexibility of the contract, meaning if clients are locked in or able to cancel at any time
Once you have that set, all you need now is a signature.
Then, you’re basically ready to get started with your client.
Bonus Tips to Keep in Mind When Selling SEO Services
Are you tired of hearing me talk yet?
I hope not.
I have some bonus tips that will help you refine your selling approach and close more leads.
Master the Follow-Up
My personal motto is simple:
Keep following up until you get a response.
Why?
Most leads won’t respond on the first try. Or the second. Or even the third.
So, reach out to prospects once a week to see where they are in the process.
This is where your CRM becomes your best friend.
It helps you:
Track when you last reached out
Set follow-up reminders
Note any previous interactions
Monitor prospect engagement
But here’s the catch:
This aggressive follow-up strategy works best with warm prospects.
Cold prospects? Not so much.
I won’t tell you to annoy your prospects.
But don’t be shy, either.
Use Traditional Sales Psychology
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m extremely grateful for that Sales 101 class I took in college.
I might’ve treated it as a joke in college, but that class has helped me drive thousands in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) just by using traditional sales techniques.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a schmoozer by any means whatsoever.
But psychologist Robert Cialdini’s principles of persuasion work extremely well throughout this entire process:
Reciprocity
People feel compelled to return favors, which is why free audits work so well.
When someone gives us something, we instinctively want to reciprocate.
Not in a manipulative way but as a natural response to receiving something valuable.
This subtle tactic can help you turn prospects into clients.
Social Proof
Your reputation is one of your greatest sales tools.
People want reassurance that they’re making the right choice—especially for something as important as SEO.
You can pitch yourself all you want, but if you don’t have any proof of results, why should they believe you?
The more people who vouch for you, the more people will trust you.
This could be:
Case studies
Brands you’ve worked with
Testimonials
Whatever it is, let your existing/previous clients be your most vocal supporters.
Authority
Establishing authority is huge for building trust.
When people see you as an authority in your field, they’re more likely to trust what you have to say.
As a solo consultant, I’m not interested in scaling to take on unlimited client profiles.
I want a small batch of handpicked SEO clients who are invested in working with me.
Usually, this comes out to five to 10 monthly clients based on the scope of services.
If I stretch myself too thin, I can’t give every client the attention they deserve.
So, if I have multiple prospects who are interested in that last position, my availability becomes scarce.
And as my scarcity increases, pricing can follow.
That’s not to say you should have leads fight over that last spot.
But it is something to mention to your prospects, as it can make you seem like a more desirable candidate.
Keep Leads Interested
While each hard-set date will help keep prospects interested, they can still get distracted.
Other agencies may poach them, they can get pulled in new directions, or their schedule may become too tight.
Even the slightest hesitation can derail your efforts.
So, beyond moving them throughout the sales process, you can keep them interested in a few ways.
Post Client Wins on LinkedIn
Case studies work.
We know this.
But it’s another thing to put it out there for everyone to see–especially when you can use it as an opportunity to explain that case study in detail.
It also makes you way more desirable, so it might even trigger FOMO for them if they feel like others might reach out to you because of that case study.
Even from one case study post, I had three to four qualified leads reach out.
Provide a Reference from a Previous Client
This shows a huge amount of transparency that is surprisingly rare.
Even before they ask, offer them a client referral from a similar industry.
Focus on the Relationship, Not the Sale
People buy from individuals they trust, not just from salespeople.
Especially in the early stages, when a prospect can easily move on to another offering, you can keep yourself memorable by focusing on developing a relationship.
Be likable.
Be funny.
Be authentic.
Be personal.
Go beyond just being seen as an SEO provider.
Treat every prospect as an opportunity to develop valuable relationships, not generate sales.
And even if the lead falls through, that relationship still has value.
It can lead to future opportunities like a referral or a personal connection request.
Even if that lead doesn’t work out, it’s still an opportunity to expand your network for future opportunities.
Sell SEO Services Like a Pro
Selling in SEO is just a matter of delivering early value to your prospect.
I’m not even a salesperson.
I’m just an SEO who had to force myself to learn sales.
And honestly, if I can do it, you can do it, too.
Learn how to translate the value of your work into a language your prospects understand.
Now that you know how to sell SEO services, you can start landing clients more consistently.
But first, make sure you have the right tools to deliver the results your clients deserve.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-01-31 14:47:582025-01-31 14:47:58How to Sell SEO Services in 5 Steps+ Expert Tips & Templates
SEO is like a never-ending story. There are always things to do. And these things need your undivided attention, from keyword research to content audits and performance reporting. Many of these are repetitive, recurring, and time-consuming. And that’s why you need SEO automation.
By automating SEO, you use tools and software to do the repetitive optimization tasks for you. These tools don’t eliminate the need for a person to be involved, but they can do the heavy lifting. These tasks often contain data-heavy and time-consuming work.
Think of all the manual work you must do to run an SEO campaign. You have to crawl your website for technical errors, do keyword research, track how your ranking develops, and generate insightful reports — important work but tedious. SEO automation tools take these tasks and do them for you. These tools work faster and more accurately than you do. As a result, you can focus on the fun stuff — the creative and strategic work.
For example, you could manually try to find broken links on your site, but that would take forever. An automated tool can do that in minutes and provide a nice report. For your content, keyword research tools can generate a list of terms to target in just a few minutes. You’ll even get search volume data and information about the level of competition.
The benefits of SEO automation
Automating your SEO has many advantages. Handing over repetitive tasks can save you a lot of time, leaving you with more time to work on your strategy and content. Automation is also more accurate in handling data, which leads to fewer errors and, thus, more dependable data. SEO automation streamlines your work and allows you to scale quickly once your site grows.
Tasks you can automate right now
Today, most SEO automation tools are designed to handle specific tasks. We’ll list the most common tasks you can automate.
Keyword research
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. It is also very time-consuming to do manually. You’re looking at search volumes, competition, relevancy, and more, and you’ll have to make deductions from that. It’s not weird that almost everyone uses keyword research tools such as Semrush and Wincher to do the hard work.
Keyword research tools can automatically:
Generate lists with relevant keywords for your topic or niche.
Give essential supporting data such as search volume and difficulty.
Suggest related keywords that you can use to build up your.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you run a gardening blog. Keyword research tools like Semrush can identify not only popular keywords like “best gardening tools” but also related terms such as “gardening tool maintenance” or “best hoes for gardening in specific conditions.” These insights allow you to build content clusters that improve your site’s authority.
Content optimization
Content optimization is another field in which SEO automation comes in. For instance, Yoast SEO can analyze your content to make sure it is properly optimized for search engines. An SEO tool like this gives feedback on:
How you use keywords in your content and suggest improvements to make.
How readable is your content, and are your sentences too complex?
Where and how you can add relevant links to other content on your site.
Yoast SEO is a very popular plugin for WordPress and Shopify. It helps you optimize each post or page on your site to make it user-friendly, search-engine-friendly, and, of course, make that process as easy as possible.
Website audits
Automatically auditing your website regularly is also a popular form of SEO automation. Such an audit can help you catch issues that might influence your site’s performance. These can include:
Broken links.
Slow loading speeds.
Missing meta tags.
Duplicate content.
Tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can perform these audits automatically. These tools even let you schedule recurring audits, so you’re always updated on your site’s health. In addition, the tools provide actionable reports that highlight what needs fixing.
Rank tracking
There are many ways to gauge your site’s performance; one of the most important is to check its rankings. However, tracking your rankings manually is a lot of work. Luckily, rank-tracking tools such as Wincher, Semrush, and Ahrefs make this incredibly easy. These tools automate this process and provide you with regular updates on your keyword positions.
Among the things these tools can track are:
Changes in your rankings over time.
The performance of specific target keywords.
Competitor rankings for similar keywords.
You get all kinds of reporting for your rankings. Plus, with the built-in alerting systems, you are always on top of things without constantly monitoring them.
SEO reporting
Another part of your SEO work that can be automated is reporting. Building custom reports is grueling work that can take hours of precious time. Luckily, tools like Looker Studio can combine data from different sources, such as Google Analytics, Search Console, Semrush, and others, to build custom dashboards that update automatically.
With proper SEO automation tools, you can create reusable templates for your reports, so you have something predefined to start from. These can also be generated automatically at scheduled times to save you even more time.
How to get started with SEO automation
At one point, you will be ready to start automating your SEO workflow. But where do you start?
Find the tasks you need to automate
Think about your work and find the tasks that take the most time or recur most often. Such tasks are often the best options to automate. For example, if you spend much of your time on reporting, that would be a good option.
Choose the right tools
Not all tools are created equal, so choose one that does what you want them to do. Here are some options, but there are many others.
Yoast SEO: Optimizes on-page SEO and provides content suggestions.
Semrush: Offers keyword research, content outlines, and optimization
Google Search Console: Tracks performance and identifies site issues.
Screaming Frog: Conducts in-depth site audits.
Looker Studio: Automates reporting by integrating with Google Analytics and other data sources.
Start small
Diving head-first into SEO automation might be exciting, but it will probably not end well. Please start small. Pick a couple of time-consuming tasks and see how you can make them more manageable and insightful. Once you see what works and what doesn’t, build from there.
Final thoughts on automating your SEO
SEO automation is a handy way to save time, improve data accuracy, and scale your work. We’re not looking to replace people but rather support them in their jobs. Tools can do many tasks, from keyword research to audits and data analysis. This leaves you more time for your high-impact work!
Start small and experiment with a range of tools. You’ll find what works and what doesn’t, which will help you fine-tune your process. Ultimately, you want SEO automation to help you work smarter, not harder.
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Google acknowledged that Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can be controlled through API placement exclusions — contradicting months of its own documentation and support guidance, according to new research from ad tech firm Optmyzr.
This revelation gives advertisers more programmatic control over their PMax campaigns than previously thought possible, potentially saving significant time and resources in campaign management.
The big picture. Performance Max campaigns, Google’s AI-driven ad format, have been a source of frustration for advertisers seeking more granular control over where their ads appear.
By the numbers. Optmyzr ran an experiment, running from Dec. 30 to Jan. 21. It showed:
Zero ad spend on excluded placements after implementing API controls.
Complete effectiveness of API-based exclusions, despite Google’s previous claims.
Faster implementation compared to manual UI controls.
Behind the scenes. Google’s documentation and AI help center had explicitly stated that placement exclusions would only work through their user interface, not via API.
Multiple support channels reinforced this incorrect guidance.
What they’re saying. Following the experiment, Google admitted that placement exclusions work through both the API and UI as we see in this response from Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Liaison:
Why we care. Performance Max campaigns represent a significant portion of many advertisers’ Google Ads spend, but the lack of control over where ads appear has been a major pain point. This situation also highlights a broader point: you shouldn’t take platform limitations as gospel, even when they come directly from Google. Testing and verification could reveal hidden capabilities that provide competitive advantages.
Bottom line. This discovery highlights a broader issue in ad tech: platform documentation doesn’t always reflect actual capabilities, requiring advertisers to actively test and verify functionality.
What’s next. As advertisers, you should:
Review your PMax campaign controls.
Consider implementing API-based exclusions for more efficient management.
Maintain active oversight despite automated controls.
Confidently question capabilities they may have strong reason to believe isn’t true.
Between the lines. The finding suggests other undocumented capabilities might exist across Google’s ad platforms, encouraging advertisers to question and test official limitations.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/google-ads-api-support-response-ZWcfTm.png?fit=1001%2C366&ssl=13661001http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-01-28 18:39:262025-01-28 18:39:26Google reverses stance on Performance Max campaign controls
Google is testing a new search results display for a small group of EU users when they search for products, restaurants, flights, and hotels. The test is part of Google’s efforts to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
“Under the test started Monday, Google has set up new units for users to choose between results from price comparison sites such as Booking Holdings’ Booking.com and results that take them directly to supplier websites when they are searching for products, restaurants, flights or hotels.”
What Google EU search results look like. Here are screenshots showing what it looks like to search for [flight to boston from vienna] right now:
You can then filter to see only Airline options:
Or Flight sites:
And if you search for [steak dinner in vienna], you can filter down to Places:
And Places Sites:
New units. These images don’t show the new units mentioned in the report. Please contact us if you spot these new units in the wild and share screenshots. These images are meant to give our readers outside of the EU an idea of what search results look like when Google doesn’t self-preference.
What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson said:
“To find a better balance between these sites, while meeting the goals of the DMA, we have proposed a new solution to give people a choice between intermediary comparison sites and direct suppliers like hotels.”
Why we care. The Digital Markets Act is meant to promote more competition and diversity in search results. For websites in the EU, it will be worth monitoring whether these changes result in any impact on traffic.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/google-flight-to-boston-from-vienna-7q0LFu.png?fit=2048%2C1139&ssl=111392048http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-01-28 18:31:122025-01-28 18:31:12Google testing new-look search results in EU
In an era where efficiency is key, many businesses question the time and resources spent on technical SEO audits.
However, cutting corners in this critical area can lead to incomplete insights and missed opportunities.
Let’s dive into why technical SEO deserves a firm investment in both human effort and time, starting with the often-overlooked challenge of crawl time.
Crawl time: The primary hindrance
Reducing human resource time in your SEO or digital marketing department by cutting technical SEO may be unwise.
Why?
The primary factor behind the time taken for audits is crawl time.
With today’s complex web architectures, this is inevitable.
Ecommerce websites, in particular, have rapidly expanding footprints with countless product and blog pages.
Each product often includes multiple images, increasing the number of on-site addresses exponentially.
Employers and clients frequently ask:
“Why do these audits take so long? Can’t you just focus on the top issues and save time?”
The answer is both “yes” and “no.”
While focusing on top issues can slightly reduce the time spent on commentary and data visualization, most of the time taken in technical SEO audits is crawl time.
The impact on overall audit accuracy remains negligible because the crawl itself – rather than data analysis – dominates the timeline.
While some argue crawl time is machine time and should not affect human effort, this is only partially true.
Platforms like Semrush or Ahrefs can streamline crawling if properly set up, monitored, and funded to handle all web properties continuously.
However, exporting, pivoting, and analyzing data still require significant manual effort.
Technical SEO experts can rarely rely on platform-generated reports without further refinement.
For instance, most SEO crawlers struggle with identifying true duplicate content.
Often, what is flagged as duplicate turns out to be parameter URLs, which Google ignores for indexing.
Similarly, failed canonical tag implementations can falsely appear as duplicate content.
Using tools like Screaming Frog adds another layer of complexity.
While highly cost-effective and powerful, it outputs raw spreadsheets requiring manual analysis. Its issues tab is rarely accurate without further data filtering.
As a client-side tool, Screaming Frog also requires the user’s machine to remain active during crawls.
If employees are using personal machines, they may be reluctant to leave them running overnight without proper compensation.
Additionally, the tool does not automatically adjust crawl rates, necessitating human supervision to avoid unintentional DDoS-like behavior.
While crawl time is primarily machine-driven, human oversight and intervention are often required.
Assuming that reducing crawl time will significantly shorten technical SEO audits can lead to inaccurate results and neglected insights.
HTML tag mutuality, particularly with hreflang tags, demonstrates why reducing crawl time is inadvisable if you want accurate technical SEO insights.
As SEO has evolved, mutually dependent HTML tags, like hreflang tags, have become increasingly common.
Hreflang tags define relationships between pages in different languages and must always be reciprocal.
If one page links to another with a hreflang tag, but the destination URL does not return the same tag, the relationship is invalid and ignored by Google.
Even non-mutual tags, such as canonical tags, often reference external addresses that also need to be crawled.
Crawling only one section of a site (e.g., one language variant) leaves you unable to verify whether hreflang tags point back as required.
This can result in unflagged errors that are critical for site performance but remain undetected due to partial crawl data.
Similarly, canonical tags, though not requiring mutuality, can also pose challenges.
If a canonical tag points to a page outside your crawl sample, you cannot confirm whether it references a valid address.
Here is a diagram of how canonical tags and hreflang tags should interface:
The diagram above is an updated and more detailed version of a simpler one I’ve used for years. It was originally published on BSS Commerce in 2019. You can find the earlier version here.
These issues illustrate how incomplete crawl data can hinder a thorough technical SEO audit.
Partial data forces you to rely on assumptions rather than concrete evidence, making it unwise to reduce crawl time to expedite audits.
Producing accurate crawl data has required significant effort since the early days of the web, long before HTML tag mutuality became common.
Pages have always linked to others using the <A> tag.
If your crawl sample includes links pointing to addresses outside of it, you cannot verify whether those links function correctly without crawling the destination pages.
Some cloud crawling platforms address this by checking the status codes of external or redirected pages without analyzing their full HTML.
While this can help in certain cases, it often defers deeper issues that remain unexamined.
There is no substitute for investing the necessary time in technical SEO.
While incomplete crawl samples or unattended crawls might seem like a way to reduce audit production time, they often create more issues than they solve.
Cutting corners can lead to overlooked problems, so it’s crucial to give your audits – and the experts conducting them – the time they require.
This doesn’t even account for the manual checks SEO professionals perform in addition to crawling, data handling, formatting, and analysis.
These combined efforts make it clear that the time spent on technical SEO is justified.
Avoid excessive pruning or shortcuts in this discipline.
If you must work with partial crawl data, ensure at least 70% crawl completion – 50% at an absolute minimum.
Anything less risks compromising the accuracy of your audit.
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1. Failing to secure the ‘right’ buy-in for SEO initiatives
When you get buy-in from the rightpeople in your organization, you can rest assured the SEO program will have more resources and prioritization.
This is not just about the CMO seeing the value in SEO, either. SEO must be seen as a strategic business initiative all the way to the top.
Case in point: An enterprise client of my SEO agency knew that their SEO program would only be successful if every department with a stake in the website’s success were on board.
The company chairman called a meeting to discuss the value of SEO.
This is not common but was necessary for this project. Every key team got behind the SEO program, and the company experienced massive results.
So, what are some of the common challenges when securing buy-in? One of the biggest is a lack of understanding of SEO’s value.
The C-suite is working hard on their own initiatives and areas of expertise. They may not fully grasp how SEO contributes to business growth and revenue.
This is where you come in.
Show them the data, like how people are searching for the things your organization provides.
Explain to them how SEO supports the customer journey in many different ways.
Demonstrate how SEO can support company goals.
Illustrate how SEO drives revenue and its long-term ROI compared to initiatives like digital advertising.
Address common misconceptions about SEO as a non-essential or supplementary activity.
Pilot a small project or address the “quick wins” and give tangible results.
Propose an SEO plan that can be executed with current resources, but that could be scaled later.
Assign an SEO champion within each department to advocate for best practices and drive implementation across teams.
Having SEO conversations can be an eye-opener for leadership. And it may be just the thing they need to take notice of SEO as an essential marketing program.
Once you get buy-in from the right groups, you can break down those business silos that can slow progress in an enterprise organization.
3. Ineffective hiring and onboarding of an SEO agency
When companies are ready to partner with SEO agencies, they must hire and onboard effectively for the best chance at a productive partnership.
Missteps here can lead to misaligned goals, wasted resources and subpar performance. So what to do?
When hiring an SEO agency, be sure to:
Properly vet the agency.
Evaluate the agency’s company ethics and level of expertise.
Figure out if the services offered are actually what you require to succeed.
Make sure the agency’s processes mesh well with your company culture.
Watch out for any red flags that signal a poor-quality agency.
The onboarding process is just as important as the hiring process. Here are some important things to consider as you forge a new partnership with an SEO agency:
Make sure they know your business: Share detailed insights into your company’s history, products, services and market positioning.
Define roles and responsibilities: Clearly outline the tasks and expectations for both your team and the agency.
Establish regular communication channels: Set up consistent meetings and reporting to keep things aligned.
Set realistic expectations: Agree on achievable timelines and outcomes.
4. Overlooking the value of maintaining high-quality content
Enterprise companies usually need volumes of content for their SEO programs to compete in the search results.
With the sometimes overwhelming amount of content needed, it can be easy to lose sight of quality while trying to hit targets.
With multiple teams and departments contributing content, enterprises also struggle with inconsistency in quality, tone and SEO best practices.
Here are some tips for high-quality enterprise SEO content:
Establish centralized guidelines and quality control
Managing content at the enterprise level requires consistency and collaboration:
Create a centralized content quality framework for all departments. Include standards for tone, formatting, SEO best practices and E-E-A-T.
Provide cross-departmental training to establish a baseline understanding of SEO principles for all contributors.
Consider a dedicated quality control person in each department to review and approve all content before publication.
Prioritize search intent
Focus on creating content that addresses the needs of your target audience first. Decide how you will maintain this quality while scaling content as needed.
Meeting search intent will result in higher engagement and better rankings than producing high volumes of generic content.
Use tools to monitor and optimize performance
Use analytics to measure content performance and identify gaps. Regularly refresh top-performing, outdated or underperforming content to maintain relevance and effectiveness.
While AI tools can be valuable for scaling production, human oversight is key.
Have a system in place to uphold quality when using AI-generated content. Make sure it meets your brand’s standards and complies with Google’s quality guidelines.
Enterprise websites can be massive, creating unique challenges for technical SEO. Unfortunately, these challenges compound at scale.
Even the best SEO strategies can fail if technical SEO isn’t handled well.
But technical SEO at the enterprise level isn’t just about fixing bugs; it’s about creating sustainable processes.
Prioritize processes and cross-departmental responsibilities
Enterprise websites need workflows for technical SEO issues. Start by creating clear systems that outline how to identify, prioritiz, and resolve issues.
Assign ownership to specific teams, such as IT or web development, to ensure a quick response when challenges arise.
Finally, educate teams about the importance of technical SEO and their responsibilities.
For example, content creators should structure new pages with proper tags and metadata, while developers should ensure site changes are vetted for SEO implications.
When all departments work together, technical SEO becomes a seamless part of the workflow.
Use automation and tools to manage complexity
With massive websites and multiple teams, automation and tools are helpful for enterprise SEO.
Here are some tips:
Centralize and align your toolset: As much as possible, streamline your SEO tools into a unified system that integrates with the platforms you use.
Focus on scalable tools: Invest in tools that can grow with your website’s needs.
Automate the repetition: Use automation for predictable, time-intensive technical SEO tasks.
Monitor, refine, repeat: Regularly audit tool performance and workflows to ensure tools are aligned with your SEO goals as they evolve.
Plan for long-term maintenance
As your website grows, so will its technical challenges. A proactive approach will sustain SEO performance:
Schedule technical audits before major initiatives.
Stay ahead of the curve by aligning site initiatives with emerging search engine changes.
Make sure SEO is built into any major update to a website.
Avoiding common SEO mistakes is the path to enterprise success
Success at the enterprise level is defined by adopting the right mindset and workflows. This means creating a culture that prioritizes SEO as a strategic initiative and embedding it into every department that has a stake in the website.
With a clear vision, a commitment to improvements and the right processes, your enterprise can stand out in the search results and achieve sustained search growth.
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