I have a “keep calm and carry a wand” sign printed out and posted on my cubicle wall at work. People laugh about it, and I joke back, saying “When I get tired of explaining my job, I just tell people that SEO is magic.” One of my teammate’s mom describes her daughter’s job as “strange internet voodoo science” when her friends ask.
Unfortunately, it really does seem like magic to some people. This is a problem, because then they expect it to work like magic, too.
“If we SEO this article, then it will get traffic”
As if “SEO” is a magical dust I can sprinkle over a crappy article to mystically have it appear in the SERPs.
“How can we make SEO work better?”
By investing in quality, original content that answers the questions people are searching for online. I actually gave that answer on a call today, and the response was, “Oh. I don’t have that kind of budget.”
“We see SEO as the best source of sustainable, long-term growth.”
Um, please tell me you don’t want all of our website’s traffic to come from SEO. Because while that’s a good thing and all, we might not want to be at the mercy of the next big algo update. Perhaps we should invest a little time and effort into newletters? Visitor loyalty? Brand awareness?
“How do those things help SEO?”
:::HEADDESK:::
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