That was 2020, a (not so) good year … Events and Learnings

I actually didn't want to publish a personal year in review here anymore.

The blog simply isn't a personal space of mine alone anymore, but represents our entire agency – by now we have employees and freelancers who support our clients month after month.

But somehow a pure agency blog without any personality is very interchangeable. It's the people and emotions that make a company what it is and that's why I decided to publish my personal review of 2020 (and a brief outlook on 2021) here after all – and now, have fun with it!

Events: There was only one topic

Corona really took us all by surprise. Who would have thought that in such a modern and advanced society we would be struck by a pandemic that forces us into such drastic restrictions on our way of life. It shows how vulnerable we really are and that we can't even come close to always being in control of the situation. I very much hope that the pandemic can be stopped in 2021. Corona will hopefully only affect our lives temporarily.

Local businesses in particular are suffering greatly under the necessary Corona measures. Two of our clients were also hit hard; one works in the field of seminars for doctors and another in the trade fair sector – for both of them, 2020 was an extremely tough year. So here's my appeal: Support businesses that were hit hard by Corona. Our online business has been lucky for now. So we should help others who were less fortunate! For example, take advantage of the initiatives of local businesses (vouchers at cinemas & co., food-to-go at restaurants, etc.).

But the far bigger crash is still ahead of us: Climate change! Somehow everyone knows about it, including politicians and industry. However, everyone is moving so slowly that you can seriously doubt whether humanity will still manage to turn things around. No punchline …

Phew, quite a downer, right? You could actually put the final period here already, but a lot happened in 2020 despite the pandemic, for me and for us at the agency. That's why I'd like to summarize my experiences from 2020 here.

Learnings and Recommendations

In 2020 in particular, there were many changes and exciting learnings.

Conferences

I admit it, in hindsight it wasn't clever to have attended the SEO Campixx in March. There were already first Corona cases in Berlin back then, and yet I went there. Fortunately, though (as far as I know), no Corona cases arose from the Campixx. I've learned my lessons from it and, for as long as I'm not vaccinated or Corona is defeated by some other miracle, I won't attend any conferences in 2021. The risk is too great.

Various conferences have already found creative approaches for how their events can live on virtually. Mario Jung in particular showed with his OMT day how online conferences work. Mario Janck too (why is everyone here always named Mario?) is showing creative approaches with his ODC. It remains to be seen how the conference formats will survive. We in our SEO bubble should stick together and support each other, especially in such hard times. After all, it's the numerous conferences that let the SEO community grow together anew every year. And by support I mean that you don't necessarily have to buy tickets or become a sponsor of SEO online conferences (not everyone can afford that!) – support means sharing and recommending virtual trade fairs on your social media channels every now and then and reporting positively about them, instead of pointlessly tearing them apart with criticism from the very start.

There's so much more than blogging

Our experiences with YouTube and podcasts show that blogging in text form is still relevant, but many people increasingly prefer video or audio formats when consuming content. Anyone who really wants to build reach can't get around “modern” media like videos and podcasts. YouTube in particular is underestimated by many.

Our own first attempts on YouTube are already showing positive effects. At the beginning of 2020, we reactivated our YouTube channel and publish a new video about SEO every Wednesday. In addition to first inquiries, there were also positive side effects, such as boosting our brand search – significantly more people type “Farbentour” into Google than back in 2019. Since brand search has become really important for building trust with Google, that's a great success.

What? You don't know our YouTube channel yet? Then quickly subscribe here and hit the bell ;-).

What really surprised me are Facebook live streams and videos on Facebook in general. The platform really seems to reward these formats with high reach. Together with Martin Brosy and Thomas Czernik, I've now been doing a live Facebook video once a month for almost half a year, in which we discuss the latest news from the SEO bubble and beyond (example on YouTube and example on Facebook on Martin's page). We also upload our YouTube videos to Facebook and can achieve decent view counts with them.

LinkedIn is also a surprise. First off: uploading videos is not something the platform rewards, in our experience. However, a good post can quickly get over 10,000 impressions. My post about the interview with Alexander Russ on the topic “What does an SEO need to be able to do” in particular went through the roof. LinkedIn should therefore not be missing from any content distribution in the B2B sector.

Lead generation

In the B2B sector in particular, for high-priced products and services, the following still applies: A potential customer simply doesn't get out of bed in the morning and hire the first best agency that shows up on their screen. No, the customer journey is long and tough, and you should try to create as many touchpoints as possible. Attention is the most important asset! And that's why a website with a blog is so important, but other channels (social media, newsletter, podcast, YouTube, etc.) also help create more touchpoints with potential customers.

How to do SEO successfully in 2021 too

Not much changes – never change a winning team! Despite new Google updates and Web Vitals, there will only be minor changes. Stick to the SEO basics and you'll be successful. Wikis should also show their effect for SEO in 2021, but only if they are really good and thorough :-)

Products and tools that made our lives easier in 2020

No, there really are no affiliate links hidden here, just our experiences with and recommendations for products, tools and service providers that really helped me:

• SurferSEO
  There were plenty of SEO tools again this year, but currently we only really have one new one in use, namely SurferSEO.com. Otherwise, we've stuck with our tried-and-tested tools. SurferSEO is a small but nice WDF*IDF analysis tool. Conveniently, the results can be shared publicly with clients and text creators to show what can still be improved. Important: We're not big WDF*IDF fans, you should of course always use your “brain” and always think of the users when creating text. But a WDF*IDF tool like that does help with text creation to hit the topic correctly and serves as support for the writer.
• Rode NT-USB with PSA1 boom arm
  After two bad purchases, finally a great microphone with a very stable boom arm.
• Elgato lights
  Small studio lights for filming, also suitable for Zoom conferences, to bring a bit more light into the dark and simply come across more professionally thanks to good lighting. I recommend setting up two lights here, one each on the left and right of the screen. Thanks to WiFi and an app, the lights can be conveniently controlled via your phone.
• Logitech Brio Webcam
  The best webcam – unfortunately sold out very quickly due to the crisis. Perfectly suited for explainer videos and Zoom meetings!
• OBS
  Open Broadcaster Software is THE software for us for recording screen content on the PC. We use the tool for video recordings and for recording interviews.
• Loom
  With Loom, we produced small explainer videos for clients and employees. Easily and quickly, the videos are also uploaded directly on Loom and can be shared. Really great and makes a real impression! ;-)
• Freenet Funk App
  After I was no longer satisfied with my old provider, I found a provider with the Freenet Funk App that promises me unlimited LTE data volume for just 30 € a month. Really nice!

Blogs, books, videos and an online conference

• seo-suedwest.de
  THE source of information in the German-speaking world for current SEO news: seo-suedwest.de.
• Zielbar.de
  Regularly great and informative articles – especially many exciting articles on the topic of content (and marketing): zielbar.de.
• Sistrix Blog
  Johannes Beus simply blasts out super content month after month on the Sistrix Blog. Especially well explained and with depth. Absolute recommendation!
• Der-Seolist.de
  I do love searching for information on newly discovered blogs. The well-known blogs in our bubble are actually gone through faster than expected. I really liked Der-Seolist.de here with its SEO periodic table: https://der-seolist.de/seo-periodensystem-der-ranking-faktoren/. Unfortunately, though, the blog seems to have gone a bit dormant again …
• Boolie.org
  Marc Borkowski has started a small blog here, packed with exciting information, often far from the topic of SEO, but still with super interesting short posts: boolie.org.
• Understanding search engines
  Yes, I know, first published in 2015. But in 2020 I finally took the time to read “Suchmaschinen besser verstehen” (Understanding search engines better). The reference book should be mandatory for every SEO who wants to learn more about the tasks and functions of search engines.
• SEO-Minds.de
  The online conference SEO-Minds.de was a great idea by Elias Lange. One talk each day – so viewers didn't have to sit at the PC for ten hours straight to hear all the talks. A great concept that will hopefully continue in 2021!
• Trillions of Questions, No Easy Answers…
  Very informative video from Google – about the challenges they face and how search works: https://youtu.be/tFq6Q_muwG0.
• The Social Dilemma – Netflix
  How exactly do the social media channels manage to draw us into a kind of addiction spiral? A very frightening documentary on Netflix: https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0.

Conclusion

My enthusiasm for SEO remains unbroken as ever, and here I'll simply quote Charles Bukowski “don´t try” – do what you enjoy and don't try to do something you have no interest in and that just isn't your thing.

After countless internships, two apprenticeships and a degree, I'm happy and grateful to be able to work with our Farbentour team for so many great clients! We also want to publish a video every week again and post on our podcast regularly.

Thanks to everyone who accompanies me on this journey – especially to our Farbentour team and to:

• My family, especially my wife and our two kids,
• Danièle Huberty,
• Martin Brosy,
• Martin Hahn,
• Thomas Czernik and
• Dani Schenker.

Oh yes, before I forget

I wish all our readers, viewers, listeners and clients a Merry Christmas and a successful New Year!

Please all come into the new year healthy :-)

And as a little Christmas gift to you, here's a “romantic” version of Last Christmas: