Can SEO be automated?
The question on the mind of everyone who is looking for that quick fix SEO solution has to be “Can my SEO campaign be automated?”
The short answer is yes.
The more realistic and sensible answer would be, “Should your particular style of SEO campaign be automated and which parts of it will be benefitted most?”
Like everything in the online marketing world, nothing about your approach to SEO is likely to be straightforward. This is partly because SEO is a complicated thing that is greatly determined by how unique the campaign is going to be and the particular goals of the company using the SEO will also play a role.
There are most certainly aspects of SEO that can actually benefit from being automated, especially those that are regular mind-numbing tasks. These types of things can be time-consuming, but still necessary, as most SEO campaigns rely on those regular functions to keep them going.
The vast majority of SEO campaigns also take a lot of time to run before they are successful. This means that from that starting point to say 6 months down the line, the SEO needs constant work and attention. After that, the focus switches from regular hard work to some tweaking here and there, which means the process can somewhat be shifted from manual mode to automated.
What is SEO automation?
SEO automation is all about making certain tasks of the SEO process automatic. In essence, instead of you having to manually complete the work, an automatic function software system is used and the task is completed with no input from your side.
In some aspects, the entire process can be automated, while in some cases, the automation is only partial, meaning there will still be some things that you will have to be involved with.
When you choose to automate part of your SEO process, you will be a position to save time and money, which can then both be put to better use elsewhere in your marketing campaign. Even partial automation has the power to rapidly boost your productivity and if you are hiring an SEO company to do your online marketing, this automation will mean they have time to focus on more complicated and important things, like building on your campaign.
What aspects of SEO can be automated?
There are quite a lot of tasks that can be automated, although when you are making your decision about which should be automatic, it is very important to make sure that what you choose to automate is going to boost your campaign rather than hinder it.
Some of the SEO tasks that you can automate, and actually benefit from having automated, include:
- Tracking your online rankings
- Website crawling for ranking position
- Keeping track of brand mentions and any new links to your website
- Reporting on your ranking position and website clicks
- Keyword analysis
- Meta description creation
There is also SEO software that can be used to build backlinks, but these types of software are sometimes best avoided because you won’t have control over the quality of the backlinks being built.
What are the Benefits of SEO Automation Tools?
The reason why automated SEO gets such a bad rep is that it is often associated with either bad quality work or outright spam. And then there is the issue that some SEO companies have with automated SEO taking away their jobs, which is in actual fact a bit of fear-mongering because having an SEO person present to make sure that even the automated work is regularly checked is of utmost importance.
Automated SEO comes with loads of advantages, which include:
- It is just cheaper and faster. The tasks made automatic are programmed to be completed at certain times, requiring literally no human input.
- It makes those complicated and tedious tasks a lot easier to handle. Instead of having to physically go through each and every SEO aspect of your website to make sure that everything is in place, partially automating this process can not only mean you have a better overall result, but it will also mean the process won’t take up loads of time.
- Automated SEO can provide you with perfectly accurate data for just about everything, from the number of clicks you get on the website to the keyword rankings.
- With the right automated SEO, you can easily analyse just about every aspect of your competitor’s SEO campaign.
- It will be possible to schedule various SEO tasks.
While there are loads of benefits to enjoy when you are automating parts of your SEO, there are also a few disadvantages that you will need to be aware of, such as:
- If you are using software to build backlinks, your automated software is more than likely going to give you really bad quality backlinks that could damage your campaign.
- A lot of SEO software focuses on the quantity of the work it is designed to do, rather than the quality.
- Automated SEO tasks often fall flat when it comes to sending genuine traffic to your website.
So the final question is, should you make the switch to automated?
The safest thing to do, if you are not fully proficient in SEO, is to rather work with an SEO agency and allow them to do their magic. This way you can be sure that you will get what it is that you are paying for, and you won’t have to worry about learning all of the ins and outs of SEO.
If you are doing the SEO on your own, and you have taken the time to craft your campaign and you know what needs to be done each month to ensure that your campaign is a thriving success, you can safely automate some of the work that needs doing.
Ideally, the perfect route to take would be a mix between automated and manual. This will allow you some control over certain aspects of the campaign, while at the same time giving you the liberty to make changes and adjustments as need be. This kind of approach will also help you to stay on top of the process, so that you always know what is going on.
