Doing SEO in the rush is not a path I put trust in. On the contrary, I’m the kind of person who takes their time. So, within reason, of course—I see where you’re going with this. Just a quick clarification: when I say I take my time, I mean that I genuinely enjoy the process of discovering a company, building a connection with people.
It’s a moment I truly savour. You could say I’m in my element. The goal isn’t to make friends but rather to rationalize the process of doing SEO. This is a stance I’m sharing with you, but I feel that SEO today is rushed. People jump straight into audits, keyword research, SERP analysis, guessing search intent, and mapping out future strategies for on-page optimization and link-building.
All of this is great, but to me, it’s a rushed response. Especially when you consider that many of you don’t actually know what SEO is—practically speaking. I believe that every SEO strategy should start by strengthening the foundations of what makes a brand successful: its positioning.
What does it mean to position your business ?
Let’s be honest for a second, we don’t do SEO for the sake of Google right ?! But for yours ! The job of a – good – SEO consultant is to make sure the business he is working with generates more income. To get there, at the risk of repeating myself, you must work on your positioning first. In other words, think about and establish your place in the market.
You must answer the following question : How do I want to be perceived by people ?
Another question you should ask yourself : On what competitive advantage do I want my business to exist for ?
The easiest you can answer these 2 questions the better for you to position your business and build momentum. For the most SEO-process convinced among you, think that positioning is a way to work on your brand credibility, ethic, authority, trustworthiness and by consequences, your business attractivity.
No search queries and no backlinks can replace these items alone. Of course, they will help increase the number of curious people crossing your path.
But if your positioning is shaky—pardon the expression—this attractiveness will lead to nothing more. And no matter how much you increase your traffic, whether on your website or social profiles, you won’t get anything out of it. At best, you’ll see opportunistic results.
That’s why I believe that positioning your business is half the job done in SEO.