Search engine optimization involves carrying out numerous different tasks. The best SEO experts aren’t just great at getting work done – they are also brilliant at identifying the key tasks that are required.

As a result, they spend the maximum amount of time productively. They don’t tend to waste time on elements of the project that simply won’t yield results. In many respects, it might be said that it is this characteristic that sets them apart from average SEO consultants.

The scale of a project can sometimes be bewildering. Should the SEO consulting company be concentrating on improving on-site factors, or looking at creative ways to build links? These kind of decisions need to be considered every single day as their outcome has a direct impact on the success of any project.

If you constantly take the wrong decisions, then you will fail to produce results.

The Dangers Of Social Media

Using Twitter and Facebook can be fun. This represents a real danger in terms of productivity from an SEO point of view. Undertaking tasks because they are fun can blind you to the fact that they aren’t having the desired impact.

You may spend hours building a group of followers on Twitter, for instance. You may convince yourself that this is the best way to boost search engine positioning. But is this really the case? Are all of those posts actually going to have a direct, measurable, positive impact? If not, you’d do better to consider different approaches.

Building Poor Quality Links

The exercise of building links is clearly necessary, but it’s easy to end up in the trap of creating only low quality links because they are easy to get. If you’re building a lot poor quality links, step back and ask yourself whether an approach that placing more emphasis on quality could lead to better results.

It’s easy to become convinced that you must be doing a good job because it’s feels like you are very busy. It’s far better to know that every minute of your day is being spent on producing real results.

Reading What Others Have To Say

One of the great things about SEO is that there are many different, successful approaches. One of the worst things about the industry is that there are numerous different theories floating around. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of evidence of this on various forums.

The difficulty here is that whilst some of these theories will prove to be correct. Others simply won’t be. They will be plain wrong.

Although you do need to keep up with the latest SEO trends, it’s a real mistake to spend too much time reading forums. It’s easy to end up confusing yourself.

More importantly, the time that you’re spending reading about theories (which may be incorrect) could be better spent carrying out tasks that you already know produce the results that you’re looking for.

The Bottom Line

When considering your own approach to SEO, you need to be honest about the way in which you spend time. Are you really putting yourself on the right path for success? Do you achieve as much as you would like to?

If you think that you could be doing more, then it makes sense to look at how you spend your time and the results that you produce as a result.

Guest Post by Keith Barrett

Based in the UK, Keith has been an SEO consultant for more than a decade and  has worked with many different businesses.