Automation is one of the most powerful forces shaping digital marketing today. More than 70% of companies already use some form of marketing automation. If you haven't invested already, you're probably thinking about taking the plunge.
Among many forms of marketing automation, search engine optimization (SEO) automation stands out. Not only can it save time, but it drive serious results—all without hiring an expensive agency. Read on to learn some of SEO automation's top benefits.
Like other forms of automation, SEO automation uses software to reduce human labor. Most SEO automation tools compile a broad range of findings into one dashboard, making it easier to digest information. Because SEO is such a labor-intensive process, this can drive significant results.
SEO activities fall into two main buckets. Let's call them "creative work" and "research." Creative work includes content creation, strategy and relationship-building. When done well, creative work can drive backlinks and strengthen your keywords rankings. It's unrealistic to automate these tasks, as they require a human touch.
Many tasks in the "research" bucket, however, are great candidates for automation. Software can reveal important findings, such as:
Automating research tasks produces two key benefits. First, you'll access more complete information that supports smarter strategies. Second, SEO automation frees your staff to focus on other tasks.
Let's take a closer look at some of these benefits.
Today, data can seem like a holy grail. While data isn't a magic wand, it can bring much-needed clarity to your decision-making. Data-driven insights can tell you where to focus your energy to achieve the best results.
SEO automation reveals key data that would be difficult to find on your own. First, SEO automation makes keyword monitoring much simpler to process. You can track factors like search volume, competition and related keywords in real time. This is no easy feat, since these factors fluctuate all the time.
Next, SEO automation can reveal crucial insights into your domain authority (DA). Think of your DA as your website's grade. Authoritative, trustworthy sites score on the high end of the 100 possible points, while spammy sites hover near the bottom.
If you want to improve your DA, automation tools can help you monitor backlinks. Most of the time, you'll want as many backlinks as possible. But if spammy or low-quality sites link to your site, it can hurt your DA. Automation makes it easy to scan an up-to-date list of backlinks. Not only can you block spammy links, but you can also build relationships with the authors of credible ones.
Any worthwhile SEO strategy should take dozens of data points into consideration. SEO automation call gather complex, timely information so you don't have to.
According to the American Management Association, burnout poses a serious threat to productivity. Each employee experiences stress differently. But burnout is often due to repetitive tasks in a fast-paced environment.
Unfortunately, many SEO-related tasks are detail-oriented and repetitive. Over time, even your best employees might suffer from burnout. This can negatively impact morale and productivity. At worst, it can even drive turnover.
When you invest in SEO automation, you're really investing in your staff. Google itself praises teams that hire "smart creatives." These workers are the problem-solvers who can take your business to the next level. Instead of tasking these employees with repetitive maintenance work, you can free them to dream up creative solutions. In this way, SEO automation provides a foundation for innovative thinking.
Scaling is a hot topic for startups and small businesses. But it also comes with risks. Experts warn that businesses attempt to scale too quickly, without the right systems in place.
Because SEO is a labor-intensive process, it's challenging to scale. Take local SEO, for example. If you want to appear in "Near Me" search results, getting listed in local directories is a must. But with dozens of listings to maintain, the amount of work this would entail is simply too much for most teams.
With SEO automation, you can use one dashboard to update all of the top directories with just a few clicks. This makes it much quicker and easier to update information or add multimedia. And because everything is centralized, you're less likely to make mistakes.
Finally, keep in mind that SEO best practices evolve every day. Along with local search, innovations like voice search are gaining ground. SEO automation can help you keep up by recommending new best practices as they emerge.
Our Placement tool uses SEO automation to help your business rank in local listings. Want to see how simple local SEO can be? Download our free eGuide to learn more!