I talk a lot about the oversaturation happening on other platforms, such as social media and Substack, so it begs the question: Will that happen with SEO marketing as well?
The short answer is yes… and no!
Yes, at some point in the near future, more people will realize that SEO marketing, having your own website, and building a newsletter are the things to do if you want to grow your business with aligned clients sustainably.
That means many of the people flocking between platforms right now, trying to hit it big or beat the algorithms, are going to start keyword research and building content suites to target the people searching those phrases.
But you don’t have to worry about that because it won’t become like social media.
How can that be true?!
For multiple reasons…
1. While search engines work off of algorithms, it’s very different from those powering social media.
For example, Google’s search algorithm is a complex system that uses hundreds of factors to rank pages in search results. The algorithm aims to provide the most relevant and useful information for a user’s query.
Social media platforms’ goals are to prioritize the content that keeps people on their site for the most amount of time so they can show them the most amount of ads and an endless stream of content they’re definitely not looking for. It’s about making money, and it’s why they want you to not only produce an endless stream of content, but to produce the type of content they believe will keep others on the app.
This is one reason why anyone flocking to SEO with the belief they can use ChatGPT to churn out the most content won’t rank as quickly (if at all) compared to those who are taking the time to create the best, most epic pieces of content that will be super useful to those searching for it.
Why? Because it’s not relevant and useful content!
2. You own your platform and audience and can do whatever you want with them.
Want to talk about trauma and not get shadowbanned?
Want to write longer than 2,200 characters?
Want to make a video but don’t want to dance?
You can do what feels most aligned for you and your audience without getting penalized. Not only that, but you own your platform and audience. Beyond creating relevant and useful content centered around the correct keywords that your audience is searching for, there are very few rules.
There are best practices and necessary metrics to consider to best optimize your content for ranking, sure. But that’s not the same as a billionaire or board of directors deciding they don’t want people seeing things like trauma, grief, political opinions, worldly events, marginalized voices, and similar essential topics and limiting your reach or completely removing your profile altogether.
You own your platform and audience, which means you can speak to what’s most aligned for you and them, and you can stay in contact with 100% of them.
Better yet, your audience will consist of people who want to hear what you have to say because you answered their active search query with extremely useful content!
3. Those who position themselves well will always stand apart, no matter how many competitors come onto the SEO scene.
Positioning is about clearly differentiating yourself from anyone who does similar work.
We’re a great example of this. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people and businesses that offer brand strategy, website design and development, SEO services, copywriting, podcasting services, etc.
But they don’t have our signature processes…
They don’t have our stories and specific experience…
They don’t build Thought Leadership Suites like we do…
Many aren’t focused on serving purpose-driven individuals to address systemic and social justice issues…
They’re not full-service in life purpose development…
You get the picture!
Brand positioning and developing signature processes create a level of differentiation that eliminates most, if not all, competition around what you do.
People are seeking resonance in one form or another. On the surface, it’s either “you get what I’m going through” or “you can create the results I want.” But in reality, it’s much deeper than that! It’s personality, vibe, the style and container of the work, the high or low touch, the perspective or context of the conversation, etc.
4. As long as you develop your thought leadership vs. simply churning out keyword-rich content, you’ll always be ahead of the game.
This is another reason I advise against using AI when creating your SEO content funnels. AI pulls from a bunch of existing content on the internet, and the more people use AI to generate that content, the lower the quality it will be.
AI has its place! For me, that’s usually to help spark ideas, do some beginner research (though, please do not use AI tools as a search engine because it can be inaccurate!), or summarize documents to get a starting point.
If you’re generating your SEO content from AI, you’re not developing your thought leadership, and you’re certainly not creating the most relevant and useful content.
Can you generate AI content and then make it your own?
Certainly! But only to a degree.
Developing your thought leadership is about more than generating content in your voice; it’s about growing and maturing your ideas over time in a very specific way, turning them from seedling thoughts into concepts that change beliefs, industry standards, and your corner of the world.
Thought leadership pieces can’t help but rank because they’re not just relevant and useful; they’re also unique.
This is such an important distinction, which is why we’ll go into more depth on this in our next email!
5. Lastly, when it comes to SEO marketing, the sooner you start, the further ahead you’ll be!
SEO takes time to start working, which is why so few people are leaping at this present opportunity.
The fact that most people don’t want to take the time (or don’t feel like they can because they’re afraid to deprioritize social media) is precisely why starting now will get you well ahead of the game.
It’s simple math:
The sooner you start, the sooner you rank. 🤓
The sooner you rank, the sooner your site establishes authority and the more traffic you receive.
The sooner you receive more aligned traffic, the sooner more people start sharing your content and work, which leads to more traffic, but also more clients and customers.
Will you still be able to rank successfully if you start in six months or a year? Definitely! However, it may take longer as more people begin implementing SEO practices.
Oversaturation with SEO doesn’t mean you’ll “miss the boat” or won’t reach people (like on social media and other platforms); it just means you’ll have to be more strategic, and your ROI may take a bit longer.
This is why I’m encouraging you to start now!
There’s no need for FOMO around SEO, but if you’re burning out on social media or not seeing the results you want from other efforts, I want to show you a sustainable approach that requires more energy investment up front for results that continue to appreciate over time!
Don’t give up on your very important work.
Instead…
Need help? Book an SEO Thought Leadership Strategy Session today! We’ll map out your Thought Leadership pillars, content marketing plan, and signature offerings, and walk you through exactly how to build a Thought Leadership Suite that allows you to get off the chaotic social media train and establish yourself within the three essential search engines to continue ranking over time. There will also be time to strategize around whatever you need the most help with right now to set yourself up for the long term.
