There’s no such thing as a perfect SEO consultant. By “perfect”, I mean somebody that knows how to optimize any website in any industry in any situation. Even though I’ve been doing this for years, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not perfect.

The beauty of our industry is that it provides a never-ending learning curve and the education process is never complete. Just when you think you have it mastered, any one of these factors can change and require you to course-correct:

• Ranking algorithms
• New programming methods
• Macro and micro-economic factors
• Competitor activity
• Client objectives or strategies

Factor in the wide variety of websites that need to be optimized and there are endless combinations of factors that make it impossible for a single Search Engine Optimization consultant to know everything.

The Path to Perfection

While perfection may be unattainable (in this lifetime at least), there are ways to continually improve your skills, knowledge, and results.

• See the big picture – SEO is a subset of marketing, which is but one part of an overall business strategy.
• Be open to change – Adapt and evolve to the changes in the marketplace. Nothing stays the same for very long, and your SEO strategies shouldn’t either.
• Test, refine, repeat – Try to improve your key metrics by isolating and testing different variables until better results are achieved. Rinse and repeat.
• Experiment – Use some of your time for experimentation and familiarize yourself with different optimization strategies and tactics. You may not want to use your clients’ domains for this, so set up some unrelated sites that won’t cause you any harm if you are penalized for being, ahem, “overly aggressive.”
• Share ideas and results – You don’t have to re-invent the wheel with every site. Get to know others in the industry and learn from their case studies and examples. Share your insights and you’ll both become better marketers.

See You on the Other Side

Nobody wants to be perfect anyway, right?