One of the more unconventional sources I’ve found SEO inspiration from in recent years is Formula 1. At first glance, it might not be clear how fast cars driving around a track has absolutely anything to do with search engines. But peel back the curtain, and you’ll see F1 is about is ten engineering-focussed businesses fighting in a zero-sum game for millions of pounds of prize money. So in fact, the battle for P1 at Silverstone is somewhat similar to the battle for P1 in the SERPs.
As an F1 fanatic, not only do I never miss a race, but I also follow that up by consuming a myriad of analysis podcasts, videos and blog articles, pulling back the curtain on the business of F1.
With the 2023 F1 season starting this weekend, I’ve thought about 4 lessons from Formula 1 that can inspire your SEO approach…
Continual testing
Formula 1 is a technological development battle and not just a battle between drivers. The best teams are always evolving their cars by testing new components in the wind tunnel and then validating those findings on the track. This is how teams that may be uncompetitive at the start of a season can become regular point scorers towards the end.
You can take the same approach with SEO. When you come up with new SEO initiatives, have a hypothesis of what the outcome should be and metrics you can monitor. For example if you implement a new schema data type, what is the expected outcome to determine if it is a success? Even on individual pages, you can test different meta titles or experiment with different Q&A in FAQ schema and monitor if rank or CTR changes.
Regular testing can help give you direction and be better able to communicate the value that your SEO initiatives deliver.
Prioritising improvements
F1 teams operate to a budget cap, so teams often have to compromise and accept that not everything can be fixed. After a strong start last season, Alfa Romeo found this out when they found a packaging issue at the rear of the car that prevented further development in that area. They had to defer those upgrades to this season as it was the only economical way to solve the problem.
In SEO, some sites will have issues that cannot be overcome easily, for example if they are based on an old platform or one with limited freedom for SEO related features. Changing platform is not really worth the cost if the only gain is to access minor improvements, so sometimes it’s good to make do with what you have and build traction in other SEO-related areas.
Over time you may run out of quick wins and the platform limitations may manifest in more ways. But by this point, you’ll have moved the needle from those quick wins. Meanwhile, the value of upgrading your platform may be clearer once it’s identified as the main limiting factor for further growth, and therefore an easier decision to fix.
Evolution, not revolution
In his book “How to Build a Car”, leading F1 car designer Adrian Newey explains how his approach has always been about evolution, not revolution. All his cars over his 30 year career are evolutions on one another, so that learnings from one car are applied to the next. This has made him one of the most successful car designers with his cars winning 11 Constructors’ Championships across 3 teams.
The same goes for SEO. By continually testing against a hypothesis and making a habit of measuring and documenting your results, your understanding of what works will gradually improve and you’ll find more success. You can then take those learnings to new sites that you work on and test those hypotheses in new markets and develop your approach even further.
The same lesson is true for individual domains. If you’ve every been through a dreaded rebrand or site rebuild that wasn’t done with SEO in mind, then you’ll know that ripping everything up and starting again isn’t going to produce great organic traffic results.
No-blame cultures win
Mercedes is the most successful F1 team in recent years with 8 Constructors’ Championship wins back to back. A key part of Mercedes’ approach is a no-blame culture which helps empower people to make bold decisions without fear of their jobs being on the line.
Contrast that to Ferrari which hasn’t won a title since 2007 and has been well known for attributing blame when things go wrong. The result is a revolving door of leadership and a team that bungles strategy calls regularly, because team members are too afraid to make bold calls in case they get it wrong.
No-blame culture is important in SEO. Not everything works. But if team members are too afraid of failure, they won’t be empowered to try new things that could move the needle. Managers should empower SEOs to develop sound hypotheses, identify what to measure, and test the results. Some will succeed, some will fail, but each will help individuals and the team as a whole learn more about what works and what doesn’t in a space that is constantly changing.