How to stay relevant in your Industry?

Recently, Smitha Satpute and I reviewed a proposal for SEO from an agency for a client and we found many concepts that no longer apply in the SEO field today.

E.g. Add maximum keywords in the keyword meta tag, Google indexes only 2 keywords per page, etc.

We used to follow these concepts 4-5 years back. And, after doing SEO on enough websites, we understood there are many false principles. Even Google has clarified many things in their official conferences, release notes, etc. But still, those principles are followed by many professionals.

Check the article: https://lnkd.in/dy8p4VUR

In this article, Google mentioned that they have stopped using meta keywords tags to use for rankings. We found this article in 2017 and stopped using this on all of our projects and decided to keep our focus on something else that can add value. This article was published by Google in 2009. That means, even we have been offering outdated services for some time.

The question is how to stay relevant to the industry you are working in. Especially in the area of digital tech and marketing where things keep changing more frequently, it becomes difficult for professionals to stay relevant in the industry.

A continuous evaluation of existing knowledge and strategies is essential.

In my opinion, having an open mind to unlearn and relearn things can help a lot. But the main challenge is not about learning new things. It is about allocating time to explore new things. I see many professionals cannot do that because of the workload and, this challenge seems hard to overcome.

So, the question remains: How do we stay relevant despite all these challenges?

I spend a minimum of 3 hours per week exploring tools, technologies, and strategies that are being discussed in the industry. Search things on Google, network with people in the industry, follow experts in your industry on all social media networks, and subscribe to their post updates so you will get regular updates via emails and notifications.
I follow updates from CXL and NNGroup. Their updates give me enough insights into techno-marketing activities.

Once I find a tool or topic to explore, I validate it on my websites and existing products we have developed and check whether they are relevant.
I know this is not enough, but something is always better than nothing.

What do you do to stay relevant in your industry?