By Research and Development (R&D) is key to bring cutting edge and path-breaking changes in how things are done. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key channel in digital marketing, and from time to time, a lot of R&D happens, especially in technical aspects of SEO. A lot of business segments that were traditionally hesitant are gradually moving to online due to ongoing pandemic, and that means there will be changes in search optimization techniques. The ultimate goal of SEO agencies is to provide the expected results, i.e. maximum traffic by providing high-quality content that answers user’s intent. Almost every industry is facing a crisis, and affordable SEO packages have become a necessity. R&D in technical SEO can be a saviour as it allows SEO experts to benefit out of tools and solutions that are yet hit the market.
Why is R&D important for SEO?
Research and Development is a scientific study that is carried out by organizations to innovate and develop advanced products and services. Typically, we associate R&D with agencies like NASA, World Health Organization (WHO); however, SEO which is a huge marketing field, also benefits out of it. In the past decade, search engines have been gradually taking huge steps to make search results more closure to how humans think. Focus is no longer only the keywords, but the use of semantics and search intent is essential for ranking. No wonder machine learning (NLP) and AI programming (Python) have become popular and something an SEO expert should know. Be it BERT update of the use of AI in SERPs, SEO experts have to keep up with these fast and sudden updates which can change business in a matter of days. The use of R&D to bring about cutting-edge new technologies is key for webmasters dealing with SEO.
Who is carrying out R&D in Technical SEO?
R&D work is carried out by both individuals and certain SEO companies. It is not easy for companies and individuals to invest time and effort in R&D because there is no direct revenue associated with it. However, it does give growth in the long term through innovation and advancement in the SEO field. The fact that R&D is not tied to an existing project or deadline has its perks as well:
- Since there is no pressure of meeting deadlines and make the solution marketable, it can be explored comprehensively.
- Testing the untested, innovative stuff which might be considered tough to crack historically.
- R&D also helps in creating and testing multiple solutions to a more significant issue or problem. There is no limitation in doing it in a specific way or deadline.
Hamlet Batista and JR Oaks did some great work in individual capacity towards technical SEO innovation. OneCrawl is a technical SEO platform that is investing in R&D.
Let us take OnCrawl Labs’ example to see what all is happening and is feasible through R&D in technical SEO.
- Building Product Roadmap by using diverse subjects together – R&D department typically has multiple issues underway at a specific time frame like internal link structures leading to prediction. Indexing used for high-quality text generation, OnCrawl’s lab covers a broad range of technical SEO techniques and subjects that helps in the feeding product roadmap and utilize innovations for product enhancement.
- Developing technical Know-How – Most of the solutions offer extensive research background documents for reading, like academic courses and papers, Scientific articles, and so on. This helps in educating others about techniques used for the solution. Documentation consists of a significant part of the overall budget. It is required to have in-depth knowledge and understanding to adapt machine learning and natural language text generation within SEO techniques.
- Adapting to SEO requirement – Solutions often go through rigorous testing, proof of concept (POC), and varied examples using a sufficient amount of data. This often helps to confirm the viability of solutions on data anticipated in Realtime technical SEO. R&D in SEO involves a great deal of testing; what looks good theoretically might not work when implemented. SEO happens on complex data, and spending a lot of time and effort on testing makes total sense
R&D advancement in technical SEO –
Continuing the example of OnCrawl labs lets quickly discuss two solutions and understand how R&D strategies are being used for innovation in technical SEO.
- Anomaly Detection – This works on similar fundamentals as Google Ranking system. The solution uses a complex algorithm that crawls multiple times on websites and tries to understand (machine learning) the trend. Gradually when it has enough instances, it throws results in terms of acceptable and non-acceptable performance of the website.
- Real-Time Indexing – This deal with one of the strategic issues with SEO. i.e. newly created URLs to be indexed instantly without impacting the SERPs. This can be a key factor for an eCommerce of online publishing websites. There is a lot of changes in URLs daily, and normal methods might not be helpful. Real-time indexing can be done by automatically creating URLs and submit them to search engines.
R&D may not show immediate results; however, it is a key factor in finding path-breaking innovation and solutions for SEO.
