Nowadays, having unlimited access to information and data is not just easily achievable, it is a fact. I believe that this is a double-edged sword. Without any doubt, we are struggling with unnecessary information overload and if you can, keep reading to see why overloading in data is more of a bad thing than beneficial for your work.
People knew this was happening
But there was nothing to be done
I believe the first to predict information overload was the futurologist Alvin Toffler. Back in the 70’s, he predicted that the rapidly increasing amount of data will start causing people problems. Probably, he’s not even the first person to say that, come to think about it, it makes sense, right? Just think about how much more complex our lives become, and we are not just talking about our jobs and businesses, but also about regular, everyday activities. However, let’s not get too far with that and stay in the SEO world. At least for now.
Information vs. knowledge
Know the difference!
Many people have the wrong concept of information and knowledge. This confusion grows in their work area, and this is why some SEOs and marketers believe that getting more information will eventually uncover some knowledge. The real problem is when people and businesses think that information equals knowledge. The idea is, instead of constantly increasing the amounts of information, to find out first what the actual knowledge required is.
Having said that, we can assume that information is the raw data facts. Having properly analyzed this data to really understand what is happening with accounts, budget, etc. is what knowledge stands for. In other words, if you cannot handle a big amount of information, try to keep it simple!
Now let’s talk about SEO
Let’s get to the point…
Everyone is talking about the never-ending Google updates and how complex SEO is becoming over the years. In fact, this can be a very complicated industry, but does it really have to be that complex? Truth is, we bury ourselves in tons of unnecessary information and stop seeing the bigger picture.
Let’s be clear about one thing, the solution doesn’t mean you should simplify your approaches to minimum and ignore data. First, you need to have a clear goal about what you are doing. Secondly, a research team, or just a single person, depending on how big your business is, processing and analyzing all the new coming information is definitely a must nowadays. I narrowed down these thoughts to three basic rules:
- Spend more time analyzing data
- Quality over quantity
- Try not to multitask
The modern world has definitely changed our perception of how to handle information and what is really useful. Keep yourself updated, but do not overload your business with unprocessed data!
