From time to time, I have prospective clients ask if I’m going to use “compound SEO strategies” as part of my process.
At first, it caught me off guard because I hadn’t ever heard of it. So, I looked it up and found out that there’s really nothing special about compound SEO that makes it different than the typical strategy I’d deploy anyway.
In this article I’ll break it down for you. That includes:
- What compound SEO means
- Why it’s just a buzzword
- Why I wouldn’t work with someone who uses fancy buzzwords like that
Let’s get started.
The Meaning of Compound SEO
The term compound SEO is typically used as a way to describe a holistic approach to your search marketing strategy. It includes things like:
- Content creation: Writing blogs, landing pages, location pages, etc., that are optimized to target specific keywords and appear at the top of search results.
- Backlink building: Performing outreach and creating content that leads to other websites linking to your pages. It’s the most important ranking factor in SEO.
- Technical SEO: Ensuring your pages load fast, get indexed properly, don’t create any user errors, etc., that would affect your search rankings.
- An omnichannel approach: Leveraging other traffic sources like social media, PR campaigns, or building an email list that can drive more traffic to your website.
The goal of compound SEO is to ensure quality in all your efforts and avoid any black hat practices that go against Google’s guidelines. This is a good approach and what you should be doing.
The Compounding Effects of SEO
Quality SEO takes some time to kick in at first. However, once it does and you start ranking for your target keywords, it’ll maintain for the long term. As you add more content, it’ll have a compounding effect that grows over time.
Those compounding effects and long-term sustainability are why search-based traffic is my favorite type of traffic. It’s different than something like social media, where your posts are usually only relevant for the first couple of days and then drop out of the algorithm.
Instead, SEO-focused content I wrote 3 years ago can still be ranking today and continue to generate website visitors and sales.
Traffic From Search Engines is Great, But You Should Still Use Multiple Channels
Driving traffic from multiple channels is even better. While search marketing strategies maintain traffic very well, at the end of the day, Google still operates on an algorithm. If things ever change with how Google chooses to rank content, you’re still protected because you have things like an email list you own and traffic coming to your website from multiple sources.
Not to mention, that platforms like social media help boost your SEO efforts by giving you more branded searches and mentions that Google likes to see. It’ll boost your website’s relevance even further, and you’ll rank higher for your target keywords–a win-win.
Overall, when you apply the compound SEO principles, it’s a good strategy. But it’s still a buzzword.
Why I Think Compound SEO is a Buzzword
At the end of the day, all the things I mentioned above are what you should be doing with any SEO strategy. Compound SEO is exactly the same as regular SEO. There’s no difference.
It’s exactly what I was taught in school while getting my marketing degree. And it was always referred to as regular old search engine optimization.
It’s mostly just marketers trying to use a fancy term to differentiate their service from others.
At the end of the day, the strategies you deploy to rank a website at the top of search engines are pretty much the same all the time for most industries (excluding things like local SEO that work a bit differently).
Why I Would Avoid Companies & Marketers Who Use Buzzwords Like Compound SEO
Personally, I’m someone who values people giving it to me straight. Show me that your process works, and I’m all good. Let’s leave out the fancy terms that aren’t needed.
The SEO industry is already filled with lots of confusion as it is. There are lots of scams out there, and even just people and agencies who don’t really know what they’re doing. After all, there aren’t any real qualifications to start offering these services other than having the sales skills to land clients.
So, let’s cut out the confusion and just say that SEO works when you follow the typical processes that are time-tested and proven. It’s as simple as that.