What do Andy Murray and SEO have in common?

Andy Murray is without doubt an exceptional tennis player. He has been focused and dedicated to the sport since a very early age and along the way has been tipped for greatness. However, we’ve just witnessed Andy again fail to win a major at the Australian Open, and it’s clear that those who tipped him at a young age to be Britain’s first major winner since Fred Perry clearly didn’t take the talents of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic into account! In most eras, Murray would surely be a multiple major winner by now, but unfortunately for Andy, he’s competing against arguably the three most talented players to ever grace the game.

So how does this relate to SEO?

It’s an example of no matter how much you prepare and plan, there are always factors that will remain outside of your control. SEO is no different.

When assessing the competition of keywords, and therefore the resources required to reach top rankings position, it’s impossible to predict what competitors might do. A good SEO agency will make an assessment of their website, review their backlink profile and examine their content strategy and this will help paint a picture of how committed that business may be to SEO. Making these assessments for a number of competing websites will enable agencies to make recommendations for SEO budgets and timeframes.

Expect the unexpected

What if one of your competitors employs a new marketing manager and triples their spend on SEO? What if a previously unnoticed competitor is involved in a PR storm that generates them thousands of links? What if they decide to advertise on TV for the first time and create a viral advert that is the talk of Facebook, Twitter and bloggers alike?

All of the above and plenty more could happen at any time and completely change the SEO landscape in which you operate. This is why a reputable SEO agency should never give ‘guaranteed’ ranking targets or give exact timeframes.

Throw in Google’s ever changing algorithm and it’s easy to see why SEO campaigns are always works in progress and require constant attention and monitoring. Like Andy Murray, SEO campaigns need to focus on staying ahead of the competition, no matter how good the competition may be.