The 2016 Summer Olympics officially kick off on Friday, August 5, and regardless of how you feel about the IOC or the host country, there’s no denying that amazing feats of athleticism and teamwork are about to bombard our TV and computer screens. While you’re watching, pay close attention; there are some valuable lessons we SEO strategists can learn from the Olympic Games. Here’s a handful of them:
1. Hard Work Pays Off
Anyone can play sports and anyone can do SEO, but to be the best you have to put the time and effort into it. Simply being good won’t get you into the Olympics and it won’t land you atop page one either. Athletes sacrifice a lot to be the best in the world, but thankfully you don’t have to give up a normal childhood to excel in SEO. You do have to put the work in though. That means staying up-to-date with best practices, reading blogs, watching webinars, attending conferences, participating in tweet chats, creating great content, testing and measuring what you’re doing, link building, and all that jazz.
2. No Cheating
It takes a lot of work to be #1, but don’t think about gaming the system to get there. Get caught with performance enhancing drugs and you’ll be banned or disqualified from the Olympics (see: Russia). Try implementing black hat SEO tactics and you’ll find your website penalized by Google. There are no shortcuts. Here are Google’s Quality Guidelines; learn them and follow them.
3. Be a Good Ambassador
Some Olympic athletes compete as a team, others as individuals, but all compete for their country. Doing SEO isn’t nearly as prestigious, but it’s equally important to put your best foot forward. After all, your marketing efforts contribute to the brand’s overall perception and reputation. As such, it’s vital that your on-site and off-site strategies are in line with your company’s core values. Bottom line, don’t do anything stupid. It’ll reflect poorly on you and your business.
4. Aim for the Podium
In any competition, you want a spot on the podium–and the same goes for search rankings, figuratively speaking of course. According to a 2014 Google Organic Click-Through-Rates Study by Moz.com, the top three positions in search receive approximately 55% of all page one clicks. That means the other seven spots are vying for less than half of what’s left, which is why it’s so crucial to go for the gold… or silver or bronze.
5. Comebacks are Possible
At the 1972 Summer Olympics, runner Lasse Viren was tripped up and fell halfway through the 10,000-meter race, yet he got back up, managed to catch up, and then proceeded to win the race! SEO isn’t without stumbles either; websites can get hacked, Google updates can impact search rankings, and strategies don’t always pan out. But the great thing about SEO is that you get more than one chance. So pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes, and try again. After all, who doesn’t like a good comeback story?
For more digital marketing sports metaphors check out how baseball can improve your SEO strategy and how surfing lessons apply to content creation.