This is Why Your SEO is Not Working 🥲 (And What to Do About It)

You’ve read the case studies. You’ve watched the webinars. You’ve seen your competitors, friends, or other businesses crush it with an SEO strategy—so you roll up your sleeves and implement it for yourself. But the results? A flatline.

Sounds familiar? Let me tell you why.

But before we get started, a note from me 👇

It can be frustrating to watch an SEO tactic drive traffic, leads, or sales for others but fall completely flat when you try it on your own. Don’t worry—you’re not alone.

The truth is that no single SEO strategy is universal, and what works for someone else may never work for you. Here’s why that happens—and, more importantly, what to do to get results tailored to your business.

Why Borrowed SEO Strategies Rarely Work for Your Own Business

Your Audience Has Different Needs: Just because a competitor’s blog posts or tactics drove organic traffic doesn’t mean their audience has the same search intent as yours. Search engines prioritize relevance to the specific needs of your audience—not just broad keywords.

Your Website's Strengths (Or Weaknesses) Are Unique: Maybe the strategy worked because someone else’s site already had high domain authority, tons of backlinks, or lightning-fast speed. If your site lacks these foundations, even the best strategies can flop.

Your Competition (And Their Tactics) Are Different: Your SEO environment isn’t an exact copy of someone else’s. Perhaps their niche is less competitive, they’ve cornered a local market, or they benefit from a trend you’re not in on.

How to Get SEO Strategies That Work for Your Business

1. Start with an Honest Site Audit

Before diving into the next viral SEO tactic, focus on understanding where your site stands:

• Is your technical SEO solid? (Crawlability, site speed, mobile usability)

• Do you have high-quality backlinks, or is your domain authority stuck?

• Is your content aligning with your target audience's needs?

Action Step: Use tools like Ahrefs to do an audit. Address technical/on-page issues before investing in advanced strategies. Work on getting some backlinks and ensure your content aligns with the needs of your target audience.

3. Focus on User Intent, Not Keywords Alone

Keywords are only half of the SEO puzzle. What matters is why someone is searching and how well your content fulfills that intent.

• If your competitors succeed with “How-To” content, test whether your audience is actually searching for solutions or something else (e.g., product comparisons or pricing insights).

• Example: A SaaS tool targeting enterprise customers won’t benefit as much from beginner how-to guides as from ROI calculators or detailed whitepapers.

Action Step: Analyze your top-performing pages or keywords and cross-reference with audience behavior. Tools like SEO Gets can show where you’re missing the mark.

3. Leverage Your Unique Strengths

Forget copying what others are doing—instead, lean into what makes your business different.

• Do you have proprietary data? Turn it into shareable reports or infographics.

• Do you offer personalized services? Write case studies that showcase real results.

• Are you agile with market trends? Publish thought leadership posts while topics are fresh.

Action Step: Brainstorm your brand’s unique assets (usually yourself). These are the things your competitors can’t replicate and what Google loves to reward.

4. Experiment with Small Tests Before Going All In

Just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean you should deploy it sitewide. Always pilot new SEO tactics on a small scale to see if your audience bites.

• Experiment with calls-to-action (CTAs) on a couple of your product pages. For instance, test if your audience responds better to “Sign up now” vs. “Start Free Trial” and see what works best.

• Try updating outdated content by choosing a handful of older blog posts or pages. Refresh them by adding new data, replacing broken links, or updating statistics. Then, test to see if these refreshed pages start climbing in rankings.

Action Step: Treat SEO tactics like hypotheses—run small tests, measure impact, then scale what works.

5. Understand Your Analytics (Not Just Traffic)

SEO isn’t just about getting more people to your site. The ultimate goal is to attract qualified visitors who take meaningful action (such as purchasing, signing up, or requesting a demo).

• Are you focusing on long-tail keywords that match your customer journey, or are you just chasing broad, high-volume search terms?

• Are visitors bouncing off your blog posts because they don’t connect to the next steps in the sales funnel?

Action Step: Use tools like Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity to understand what visitors are doing on your site—and where you’re losing them.

The Bottom Line

What works for one business might fail for another. Why? Because your site isn’t their site. It has different strengths, weaknesses, audiences, and playing fields.

Instead of running after the “next big SEO hack,” step back and focus on strategies that fit your reality.

Remember: SEO is not about copying success. It’s about tailoring strategies to create your own path forward. That’s how you build sustainable rankings—and, more importantly, actual results.

Have you tried an SEO strategy that seems to have worked for everyone except you? Reply and tell me more about it 👀

Until next time,
Roberto

P.S. Are you a local business that needs help with SEO? Reply to this email. Let’s chat.

Not a local business? No problem. I have a couple of SEO freelancer friends I can recommend. Hit me up if you need an intro 🤝

Are there any specific topics you want me to cover in the coming weeks? Reply to this email and let me know!

If you found value in this email, please forward it to a friend and share it on social media.