124: The Biggest SEO Myth

Summary

The podcast discusses the importance of gradual, incremental improvements in SEO, comparing it to the British cycling team's success through 1% gains. Meredith's husband emphasizes that no single SEO tactic will drastically improve rankings, but consistent efforts across many factors will yield results over time. This approach is beneficial for website owners, helping them build sustainable SEO strategies by focusing on minor improvements that accumulate into substantial gains.

The Power of Incremental SEO Improvements

In the world of SEO, many website owners are tempted to search for a quick fix—one change that will catapult their site to the top of search rankings. However, as this podcast episode demonstrates, sustainable SEO success rarely comes from a single action. Instead, it’s about making consistent, incremental improvements, much like the strategy used by the British cycling team to transform from underperformers to champions. Let’s explore how this philosophy of gradual progress applies to your SEO strategy and why it’s the key to long-term success.

The Rule of 1% Gains in SEO

The story of the British cycling team, as told in Atomic Habits by James Clear, highlights the power of small, steady improvements. The cycling team improved by focusing on marginal gains—improving everything they did by just 1%. This approach eventually led them to unprecedented success, including multiple Tour de France victories and Olympic gold medals.

Meredith’s husband compares this to SEO. Website owners often ask for a single solution to boost their rankings, but SEO doesn’t work that way. Google considers hundreds of factors when determining rankings, and none of them, on their own, make up more than a small percentage of your total ranking. Instead, it's the cumulative effect of small optimizations across all areas of your website that drives success.

SEO is a Long Game

Just like training in sports, SEO improvements don’t show immediate results. Lifting weights once won’t make you stronger overnight, and similarly, optimizing a single blog post or tweaking your meta descriptions won’t suddenly put your website on the first page of search results. SEO requires consistent effort over time. Whether it’s improving site speed, optimizing content, building backlinks, or enhancing mobile usability, each small action contributes to overall progress.

Meredith’s husband shares the story of a student who reached the number one spot on Google for her desired keyword after 12 months of consistent work. Her success was not the result of a single action but of multiple small steps taken over time. This is a crucial lesson for website owners: SEO is a process, and every improvement, no matter how minor, moves you closer to your goal.

Practical Tips for Incremental SEO Improvements

To help you apply the 1% gain rule to your own SEO strategy, here are a few practical tips:

• Content Optimization: Regularly update your existing content. Add new sections, update old information, and ensure your blog posts and pages are aligned with your target keywords.

• On-Page SEO: Improve your meta descriptions, title tags, and image alt text. These small tweaks might seem insignificant, but they help Google understand your content better.

• User Experience: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. These improvements enhance user satisfaction, which indirectly affects your rankings.

• Backlink Building: Consistently work on gaining quality backlinks from reputable websites. This strengthens your website’s authority and helps with ranking.

• Analytics and Adjustments: Use tools like Google Search Console to track your progress. Instead of obsessing over daily rankings, monitor your site's long-term performance to identify areas for improvement.

Patience and Consistency Pay Off

The lesson here is clear: there’s no shortcut to SEO success. Just as the British cycling team transformed their performance through small, consistent improvements, you can grow your website's traffic and rankings by focusing on incremental changes. Don’t be discouraged if results don’t come immediately. Each small SEO action adds up over time, leading to long-term gains.

Resources

Meredith's husband mentioned a video demo that demonstrates how to refine blog posts for SEO in the free section of SEIQ. You can find it through the link mentioned in the podcast.