Andrew Holland’s Post

The Value of SEO. For the best part of a decade, my conversations with businesses, from one-person firms to eight-figure goliaths, have been the same. Almost all of them ask to predict 'the ROI of SEO.' However, this is entirely the wrong thing to ask. To quote Investopedia; "Return on investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments." It is fair to say, that no SEO, despite many best attempts to do this, can accurately measure what the ROI of your SEO is going to be. There are just too many variables, such as: The current health, rankings, and authority of the site. The length of time you do SEO. The revenue per sale. The competition. The investment. As well, SEO is an infinite game. People don't stop once they reach the first page. Other websites are constantly challenging you. Links you once had are now lost, and you need to build new ones. Your website suffers from technical issues. Your content needs to be updated. So, what should you judge SEO on? Firstly, you make the decision to invest based on whether you desire the benefits of organic search. But this doesn't need to be complicated. You can look at the size of the market, the size of the competition, the volume of buyer intent keywords, the likely conversion rate, the revenue of the top-ranking sites, and so on. Look to see if current ranking businesses are benefitting and how. The next part of this is the amount you want to invest. Most SEO is under-invested. I've seen 8-figure brands want to spend the same as a 6 figure 2 person outfit. Why? Because someone decided that this was the right amount. That's it. I've rarely seen anyone apply logic to deciding the SEO budget. Mostly, it's a number that isn't too painful if it doesn't work. This happens because there is a lack of confidence in SEO as a channel and certainly in agencies that deliver it. This is why conversations on SEO need to switch from ROI to value. The value of SEO is about how effective as a marketing method it is. You access a large quantity of people ready to buy what you offer. You access a large quality of people looking into buying what you offer. You increase the ease and convenience that people can buy from you through showing up in search. You do not pay per click. You will generate extra revenue as a result of SEO. And that's the core of what SEO does. It generates extra revenue because it reaches people using search engines who want to buy goods and services. This is the true question about investing in SEO. It's not what the ROI is. It's the decision to invest in organic search as a marketing channel. It's a decision about whether you want your business to gain the value that SEO will deliver. Once you decide you want that value. You invest. But believe me, once you rank, it'll be the best decision you ever made. #seo

I'm seeing this more right now. And in my experience it's a sign where SEO agencies are within 12 to 24 months of collapsing. Why? Well, I've seen this play out, a lot. First, word gets out. Joining the agency is a risk. The environment isn't good. The working conditions are awful. The stress is huge. They get rid of staff with little reason or justification. This makes hiring talent difficult. And so, agencies hire inexperienced staff at the bottom of the agency (to do the work). But because they can't hire talent in senior positions (due to reputation) they hire experienced incompetence. The Peter Principle mix. As this happens more talent leaves as management cause chaos. From that point on, agencies start to decline rapidly. Sure, you can wallpaper over the cracks. But client after client, month after month. They all start to leave. Sales can't get new clients in fast enough. More people are 'let go' only to rehire 2 months later as the agency lands a few clients. All while the current staff are being reduced to ashes due to demand. This next 2 years will see many SEO agencies vanish. While those lean agencies with great culture and talent thrive. JBH is one of those agencies. And we have a job out for an SEO account manager. If you're based near to Manchester, come and join an agency positioned for the future. One where great culture meets client success. Applications close next week. Don't delay.

In this Week's Growth Through Content newsletter, we look at Specsavers. And the UX and information secrets behind their 1.7 million monthly visitors. This site and brand are doing things in a simple yet information-rich way. You'll be surprised at what they are doing. If you aren't subscribed, make sure you join the 31,514 others who receive our newsletter every week. Enjoy.

The 2 Types of SEO Agency. Agency model 1: an agency that seeks to create value for clients. Agency model 2: an agency that seeks to extract revenue from clients. This shouldn't be the case, but it's been like this for as long as I can remember. Years ago we had SEO sold as a cheap upsell, "3 blog posts and some directory links". Today, while we have 7 figure SEO agencies, many are still running the same model. While the blog posts have evolved to 2000 words and the links are now guest posts or niche edits. It's still heartless SEO with no strategy or desire to rank a business for anything that would generate revenue. And often, the work gets passed to inexperienced staff. Agency 1 however is very different. It's growth focused. They want to deliver maximum value for clients. Everything is about growth of revenue for clients. They think about client profit. The SEOs are hungry for meaningful results. The SEOs are actively becoming better at their craft, no matter how good they are now. The SEOs want long lasting results, not hacks. The SEOs can defend their tactics to clients, CMOs or CFOs. For prospects, it can be difficult to know which agency they are hiring. The value extraction agency will make the same sounds as the value giving one. So, how can a client know which to hire? The passion and confidence of the SEO team, not the sales staff. That's the key. SEOs that do good work have passion. They live for and believe in what they do. You can see it in what they write online. You can see it in their work. You can feel it on calls. This is the type of SEO and agency that you want to hire. And that's what our agency JBH is. Which is why, if you're a hungry, passionate SEO account manager and are looking for an agency to match. We have the perfect role for you. It's hybrid remote in Manchester (no fully remote applications please). It's working with me. It's about delivering SEO with passion and pride. If that's what you enjoy. Apply for the role. And if you're looking for an SEO agency that is focused on your growth, then get in touch. Because agencies that deliver results do exist.

The Compounding Benefits of SEO. People always ask, what's the ROI of SEO? When the real question should be. What's the value of SEO? It's something I ranted about over hundreds of pages in my book (with the same title). But one more post won't hurt. When people sign up for SEO, they think it's some kind of persuasive superpower. Even SEOs and copywriters keep pushing this mantra. In reality, that's not how it works. SEO is simply a rationally optimistic marketing method with huge potential upsides. So what are those upsides, and how does it work? Firstly, the money spent on SEO is almost always a business investment, not a cost. Be that on website improvements, content on or off-site, PR coverage or links to your website. A good way to think of this is that your website is your digital home, and your SEO is home improvement. Next up is the marketing value. For every £1 placed into SEO, the value compounds over time. For example, an article might rank for 1 keyword in the first month, but this could expand to 100 by the next and eventually drive 1000 new visitors a week to your site. I wrote a single article 8 years ago that is still ranked on page one and has driven 1 million visitors to a website. Yet, each day, advertisers have to pay for clicks for that traffic. But there's more. SEO places your business in front of a large number of people during their purchase journey right when they are considering buying into the category. And it does this for FREE. Yes, SEO costs money, but you're paying for the work and the future value it brings. Once your site leverages the search engines, you're not paying for clicks. In addition, as a huge number of search engine users don't click on ads anyway, you're accessing that audience. Of course, SEO is a fixed cost thanks to the retainer model. Once you lock in with an agency, the SEO cost is now fixed. Ad costs rise. A recent survey by Brightedge revealed that cost per lead has increased for 91% of industries. Finally, (although I could go on). SEO helps to refresh and build memory structures. Every click on your site is a chance for your brand assets to go to work. Every time someone comes to your website, you refresh their memory and help to build a mental connection with your brand. And this is important so that they choose your business when they are ready to buy. Now, you might be thinking...that's marketing waffle. But your business is likely to be in a very competitive market. There might be 1000 businesses that the consumer can choose from in your sector. Normally, you might have a 1 in 1000 chance of being purchased from. But if you can increase that just by 1, so there is a 2 in 1000 chance of being chosen. Your sales could double. That's why SEO is so effective and valuable. It's tough to find another marketing channel like it. So, why aren't you leveraging it? #seo

Be Found Through Search Once, Be Searched For Twice. A few years ago, I wrote a book called The Value of SEO. It's on Amazon. Today, its content is more relevant than ever. It's worth a read!

I’m #hiring. As per my earlier post, here's the actual job role. Get your applications in.

We Are HIRING!!! It is with great pleasure and due to continued growth that JBH is looking for an SEO Account Manager. This is a hybrid remote role, so you have to be able to come to Manchester. Now, this role is not your standard AM role. You're joining an agency in a unique position. We have one of the largest award-winning, in-house digital PR link teams in the UK. You will NEVER have a link problem. You will NEVER have to build links. Our team earns them. We are building the SEO service of the future, and the person who joins will work alongside me daily. You'll have a chance to learn from me, create client strategies and provide advice and support for our wide range of clients, both in our SEO department and digital PR side. For the successful applicant, you'll learn more about links, SEO and marketing than you ever thought possible. While working in a supportive environment and receiving a great salary. Now, I don't want to make it too easy (plus adding a link will reduce reach), so you'll find the job details on our website. This is an amazing opportunity. So, go to our job portal and register your interest. #seo

How to Find and Develop Your Big SEO Idea. Advertising legend David Ogilvy once wrote; “It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a hundred contains a big idea.”  The same applies to your SEO. Most SEO is a mere collection of keywords and web pages. However, behind truly powerful SEO is a big SEO idea. It might be to become the 'search engine for Takeaway restaurants' or 'hotels'. It might be to become a suite of video editing tools, each with a landing page of their own. It might be to create a place where dog owners concerned about their pet's health can visit and find the largest collection of verified questions and vet answers. But big ideas are the superpower of SEO. So, how do you come up with one? First, your big idea must be for people who are in the market for what you sell. Secondly, this isn't about traffic. It's entirely likely that your big idea has little to no search volume. Third, your big idea should have its own merit. In that, you could promote it with PR, social media or email, and people would love it. Finally, the big idea must have some form of hook that will encourage people to return. You can apply this approach to everything from a small business accountant to a huge seven-figure hotel chain. But it requires effort. I do it with my daily LinkedIn posts and weekly newsletter. My big SEO idea is to provide daily advice on SEO. That's it...that's my entire marketing game. And I know that people search for me when they need some advice, inspiration or even some images for a deck. Develop a big idea for your SEO, and I assure you the results will happen. But much more than this. You'll be a lot more excited about SEO. #seo

20 Things I Learned From Writing 2485 LinkedIn Posts About SEO. Since 2017, I've generated over 185,000 likes on my posts. Here are the key things I've learned. 1. Writing helps people to think. I do a lot of my thinking through my writing. 2. I write whenever I can. Most of my posts are written on the train, and some I think of while walking the dogs. 3. I do not write to gain a following, that was a result of my writing. If all I wanted was. following, I'd post very different content. 4. Most things I write aren't very good. 5. Reading fuels my writing. The more I read, the more inspired I am to post content. 6. There are days I don't want to post. But I still do. Just like there are days when I'd rather stay in bed than go to work, But I see writing as just like cleaning my teeth. It must be done. 7. Most people would benefit from daily blogging like this. But part of LinkedIn's magic is that it's not Twitter. The longer post format allows you greater space to expand ideas through words. 8. In every post, my goal is to give people options for thinking differently. 9. When I create my posts, I start with a single point that I want to convey. If I need an image to help explain this, I'll create one. But it all starts with a single point. 10. The quality of the information you consume will affect the quality of your thinking and writing. Low-value information sources lead to low-value thinking and content. 11. I consider it a gift that I can go to the market daily with my thoughts and views. This wasn't possible 20 years ago. We had gatekeepers, and you had to earn your way to be published. 12. Yes, I generate a lot of leads through Linkedin. 13. If you want a lot of likes on a post, give it surface-level value. The number of people sharing the same 'surface-level' slide decks with slightly different words is shocking, and no, your blog frameworks didn't earn 7 figures; the absurdity is shocking. 14. The posts that generate leads are the least liked. 15. Ten Minutes: that's how quickly I can get a lead after posting. The read, they contact me. But often, they've been reading my work for months or even years. 16. If I lost all my followers or got barred from here, I'd just write somewhere else. 17. I enjoy posting about SEO. I enjoy thinking about the future of our industry and the challenges we face. I enjoy reading quality and inspirational posts from others. I enjoy reading case studies. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it. 18. The best posts are often written by people with few followers. These are the most passionate posts because the authors cared enough to write them. 19. Engagement pods are frustrating because they fuel low-level content—content that wouldn't get seen normally because it wouldn't get engaged with naturally. 20. People won't like what you say and that's fine. I block loads of people who repeatedly try and get me into arguments or lengthy debates. Lengthy debates destroy productivity.