The Seotistics newsletter is written by Marco Giordano, a Data/Web Analyst with the goal of combining business and web data. Tired of the usual boring Analytics content without any business impact? Seotistics teaches you how to use Analytics, web data and even content in your workflow while helping you with Strategy.
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⚔ Data-informed VS Tools SEO: A Clash Of Mindsets
Published about 1 year ago • 7 min read
Use Data Or Be Used By Data!
The June 3 issue of Seotistics is here for you!
It's no secret that the SEO tool industry holds meaningful power in our professional lives.
From conferences to social media, the big players are everywhere.
The problem is when some people actually think tools are the ultimate source of truth.
I show the data-informed approach, using data and your judgment to make decisions.
P.S. My "Analytics for SEO" course is getting more and more complete, stay tuned on LinkedIn, I'll share more ;)
Please move this email to your Primary inbox or reply to it. This is to prevent Seotistics goes into spam by accident. Gmail users can read this tutorial to do it.
This is the standard for many new SEOs unfortunately and I blame the learning materials.
Everything is tied to a tool and propaganda is everywhere.
Some can't even do SEO without their shining keyword research tool, which is a big problem.
Look, you should use tools (of course) but with an opportunistic mindset.
If they help you advance, that's perfect. Otherwise, ditch them.
If you have a fresh content website, you don't need to pay for Semrush or Ahrefs in most cases because:
You can easily find topics from Search Console, Related Questions or simply traditional research
Competitor research can also be done manually
GSC is actually the best tool for keyword research, given that you rank for some keywords already.
Tools often offer the craziest features... that you don't (even) need!
I notice that many companies pay for expensive 3rd-party tools without even looking at the full potential of Google tools.
It’s a common misconception that I don’t blame at all, it’d make sense for 3rd-party tools to have exclusive data. In SEO it simply isn’t the case for most use cases and that’s why I advocate knowing your free assets first.
[Analytics For SEO Course: Preorder]
Limited offer, 30% off my Analytics for my Analytics For SEO course, releasing June 17!
👉 Learn the art of DIY and don't overpay for tools!
Yes, you'll be tutored by me and get help!
You will:
✅ Use GSC and GA4 Data to their fullest potential
✅ Learn Python/R/SQL for your needs
✅ Get a complete blueprint for auditing websites
✅ Learn how to 10x your productivity
✅ Learn BigQuery to work on large websites
I teach you what's needed to go from 0 to a professional Data Analyst.
Even if you leave SEO, the foundations are the same for other jobs!
P.S. (Ab)use the referral system and get additional discounts 👀
If you want easy social media engagement, post about a tool or compile a listicle about the best Excel functions/REGEX.
You can implement all the tactics you want but you aren't going anywhere without a solid strategy.
This is where many fail in communication, they only focus on the operational/tactical side of things.
The majority prefers reading about the nth SEO tool rather than sticking to what is needed to thrive.
If you are reading my newsletter, you probably fall into the small group trying to improve.
Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. - Sun Tzu
🕊 Action + Abstraction = Success
You can’t be “data-driven” or rely on tools when you have to plan a content strategy. Yes, you’ve heard it right, a tool or some data can’t plan anything.
Your valuable input can do better and take into account what the searcher actually wants.
At the end of the day, what you find should be discussed and analyzed from different perspectives.
Execution is essential to materializing your insights, as shown in the example above.
I recommend you tie everything to some actionable item to make your life easier and avoid getting dumped by stakeholders.
On the other hand, you also want some abstraction, seeing beyond the appearance.
The picture above shows the gist of data analysis, turning the complex into simple.
Every insight is a bit of truth, uncovering the black box of your website.
And yes, it does require a good chunk of abstraction and "inspiration", we can't know every single detail.
📈 A Quick Example
I talked about Content Decay many times as it’s my favorite example and use case of problem-solving.
To fully tackle it, you’d need something like this:
guidelines/SOPs
a content team that actually executes
someone who’s able to spot decay or define what is decay
We often talk about detecting problems or how to carry out a task. But in this case, I want you to focus on the entire flow.
A business should be able to act on insights and see if they can fit them into its overall strategy.
It wouldn’t make any sense to change your plans every month because you discover new information.
The AI Slop Age
AI introduced a lot of noise in the Marketing industry as a whole...
people really think you can skip the basics of governance and go straight to AI, the most complex thing out there.
My old subscribers know that I explained AI many times (more under resources below).
There already is a lot of SaaS slop out there solving no real problem.
I will post this every time I get the chance to... AI is often not needed compared to basic solutions.
Learning some additional skills allows you to replicate the basic things you need without spending big bucks.
Folks... don't you ever dare use AI to analyze and show data to clients without some checks. You would never do that, right? 👀
The New Referral System
Invite friends with your unique link and get rewarded! Since this system is new, let me know if something doesn't work!
P.S. This is still a WIP as I need to make it nice, go stack your rewards in the meantime 👀
The Seotistics newsletter is written by Marco Giordano, a Data/Web Analyst with the goal of combining business and web data. Tired of the usual boring Analytics content without any business impact? Seotistics teaches you how to use Analytics, web data and even content in your workflow while helping you with Strategy.
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