Are you overthinking SEO?

Do you think you need to be the best at SEO? Are you using keywords in every sentence you add to your content? Are you obsessed with keyword research? Are you putting search engine optimization before everything else?

If you’re doing any of these things, you’re overthinking SEO, and you need to stop!

But don’t worry! Let me show you how to have a great SEO strategy without overwhelming yourself with optimizing your content.

A Strategy is Needed to Quit Overthinking SEO

Start with an SEO strategy to quit overthinking it.

I’ve written a guide about how I use SEO on my content, which works well.

But to sum that guide up here, this is what I do:

1. Find keywords based on what people are looking for on Google
2. Research the keywords and use a longtail key phrase that isn’t too competitive
3. I make an eye-catching topic title (H1 Heading) that includes the key phrase
4. I put the key phrase a few times in the beginning and once in every paragraph
5. I put the key phrase in my first and last H2 heading
6. I put my image alt tags as the key phrase for the first image only
7. I use a healthy number of external and internal links ensuring each one directly relates to my content
8. I score my SEO with Yoast on WordPress and make changes as recommended

Do these eight steps, and overthinking SEO won’t be a problem anymore.

Write for Humans, Not Robots!

The biggest mistake you can make in overthinking SEO is writing content for robots and search engines.

Don’t do it. It doesn’t work. You’ll be penalized because Google thinks you’re trying to cheat. That’s because it is cheating.

Use the SEO strategy advice above but write for humans while doing it.

You want to please a reader before you please a search engine.

Your content is not what Google wants out of its search. It wants the searcher to find the content they’re looking for. If your content is not what most people want, it will do poorly in search.

You need to quit overthinking SEO and start thinking more about who your audience is and what they want with your content. Please them before Google, and Google will be pleased with you.

Overthinking SEO isn’t Productive Anymore

In the old days, we focused most of our efforts on search engine optimization tactics.

But nowadays, it’s not worth it.

The reason it’s not is that search optimization is constantly changing. This is especially true as we continue to move down the road of web 3.0 and crypto stuff.

And because content distribution is changing (video is getting more traction than words), search engines are changing their focus more.

You should still do SEO because the internet is so competitive.

But you should quit overthinking SEO because the search engine is evolving quickly.

Focus on the value and quality of your content instead of overthinking SEO. It will help you improve your search engine rank as your content evolves. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you did, please follow me on Twitter for more SEO tips.

About the Author

Shawn Gossman has created content, blogged, ran online communities, and shared a passion for digital marketing for over twenty years. Shawn believes the best way to help content creators, businesses, brands, and marketers is to give away more than you sell. The same advice is recommended for the readers who follow this blog. Shawn also offers various services for extra help in content creation and blogging.