In the last five years or so, automation has become an integral part of the marketer’s life; from programmatic ad bidding to automated responses and triggered emails – it’s everywhere and it’s here to stay.
But, someone must stay accountable for the actions as last week’s post suggests, therefore effective SEO should be a mix of automation and human observed work.
For example localization and distribution – many SaaS platforms can offer these, instead of trying and erring or otherwise spend precious manpower on getting relevant information on Yelp, 411.com or Local.com – you have a system that can do it.
You can ensure that your content is centralized and stays relevant without needing someone on watch duty all the time – it does make your life easier.
Social content is being distributed into all the relevant outlets, without needing to copy paste and redesign.
Citation distribution and analysis can be done with a click of a button – which saves you hundreds of hours in NAP optimization. All directories are updated with relevant data within seconds, without needing you to go and do it manually, which leaves you to deal with the more important aspects and strategize for the future.
So, when is it relevant to have a human on board?
Content must stay relevant, keywords should be changed when needed as well as broken links – things a machine is unable to do just yet.
Local SEO in 2017 and beyond: managed strategy vs. automation
“High-Touch Strategic analysis and execution for increasing exposure of your local assets and for assessing an ROI relative to a successful local listing management program.
Constant analysis of paid search performance data through web analytics, thus providing actionable analysis for an agency to make the beneficial changes.
Site structure, content and link analysis are the pillars of SEO and need to be managed and evaluated on an ongoing basis to maximize organic traffic opportunities.”
What you need is a mix: strategy by a human with tactics by an automated system. A hybrid system if you will, a sort of Android – sentient being with high powered precision of a machine.
In a nutshell, it is important to go with the flow and employ technology to ease your work and gain relevant insights quickly but it does not mean you can engage the autopilot and take a cruise to the Caribbean just yet.