Here’s what I learned from not attending Brighton SEO
Twice a year, half the SEO world heads to a small town in England. The latest tricks, trends, and hacks for driving more organic traffic. While sharing knowledge is fun, I’ve noticed that the latest trick often isn’t the problem.
When it comes to SEO, things often still go wrong right from the start. And in those cases, the latest structured data or AI automation certainly won’t save you.
In addition, SEO is usually an organizational issue. Who does what? Is everyone on the same page? Has enough time and budget been allocated for this task? … As a result, companies end up in a sort of paralysis, and nothing gets done at all.
So before you get caught up in the latest trends, I’d like to share my insights on what really matters.
Good SEO has remained the same for 20 years
People have questions; they look for information. Actually, it’s been that way ever since the dawn of humanity. First, we learned from each other; then we went to the library; then suddenly the internet came along with search engines; and now we have AI.
Those last two have one goal: to keep you on their platform for as long as possible.
You’ll only keep coming back if you get the best answer. Just look at Altavista and OpenAI. Someone else was better (Google or Claude), so that’s where the attention went. And where there’s attention, there’s money.
When you get started with SEO or GEO, you’re actually helping those companies accomplish that mission. Or at least that’s the idea. By helping those companies, they’ll be happy to see you as a source and will promote you as the preferred answer.
That’s SEO with a long-term perspective.
That’s a sustainable marketing strategy.
That’s an SEO approach that will survive algorithm updates, AI shocks, and future developments (at least in my view)
Stop overanalyzing
A lot of marketers start out enthusiastic about SEO. A little project on the site: “We’ll just fix that up properly.” They venture out into the wide world, come up with crazy hacks, launch them (usually on a website with technical errors or a bunch of non-crawlable JavaScript), and end up feeling demotivated.
Every adjustment is scrutinized down to the smallest detail, and data is analyzed. Yet the approach is all wrong.
After a few weeks, “everything is looking good,” and SEO takes a back seat for a while because the mailing really has to go out this week.
And then there’s a dead-end valley full of half-finished tickets that the web developer just ignores, content still waiting for approval from the legal department, or linkbuilding projects that were never even started.
Until another shiny new thing comes along (hello, GEO) and we start analyzing and implementing tricks again in full force.
To those marketers, I’ll be completely honest: you’d be better off focusing your attention and time on a different approach. If you keep doing it this way, you’ll always be playing catch-up.
When you start with SEO, you start by taking a long-term view: helping your customers, answering questions, sharing information (yes, even information that your competitors could use), …
Or don’t even bother, and that’s okay, too. Marketing is broader than just search engines and AI.
Theory vs. Practice in SEO
In theory, all your Yoast checkmarks should be green.
In practice, that won’t get you anywhere.
In theory, every alt tag should be set up perfectly.
In practice, people end up accidentally looking at more than 5 H1 tags on the same page.
In theory, you should add content to your website.
In practice, many websites have a lot of duplicate content online.
In theory, your website should be technically flawless.
In practice, not every issue is worth the effort to resolve.
In theory, you should aim for a high DR.
In practice, DR is not a KPI but a logical consequence of high-quality linkbuilding.
In theory, you should add FAQs for AI optimization.
In practice, it’s all about adding extra context so that AI can understand you.
In theory, your content should be long enough.
In practice, you should give the best answer, regardless of its length.
In theory, you should create internal links.
In practice, anchor text is often incorrect because there is no clear website architecture.
In theory, a web developer delivers an “SEO-proof” website.
In practice, technical SEO is just one of the three pillars of SEO, and there are often still errors in this area.
In theory, everyone is involved in SEO.
In practice, it’s a technical task that involves a lot of data analysis—something not everyone enjoys doing (I don’t understand why, but hey, that’s just how it is 😉)
In theory, AI can handle your SEO for you.
In practice, AI is too simplistic, and you still have to be in charge.
“Action” always trumps a new theory
There is no “one-size-fits-all” SEO strategy. Every business is unique, and every target audience searches differently… Sometimes there’s high search volume, and other times you’re in a B2B SEO niche with low search volume but large deal sizes. You definitely want to capture those 5 people who are actively seeking out your ideal opportunity.
SEO is all about putting your best thinking to work. Do some research. Develop a strategy, and then… Get started!
It’s only through practice that you learn what works.
You can take as many SEO courses as you want, travel to Brighton every year, devour books, and so on… But as long as you don’t put your knowledge into practice, you won’t make any progress.
And as long as the foundation isn’t solid, there’s no point in implementing the latest tricks.
So…
- Make a plan, no matter how small.
- Start with the right SEO mindset —or don’t start at all (no hard feelings)
- Make adjustments to reality
- Track, learn, and optimize
So SEO isn’t a matter of lacking knowledge, but rather of lacking processes, structure, and organization.
Good luck!
