Lost on the Web?

If search engine optimization (SEO) has been on your mind, then this post is for you. To learn what SEO is and why it’s important, check out this webinar by Hubspot. Here, we are focusing mainly on how SEO is related to creating content on your site.

SEO basics

Once you identify your keywords, you should absolutely ensure that you have the SEO basics covered on your own site. Your keywords must be prominent on your title page, header, body, and images, as you will learn in the Hubspot webinar. The concept is straightforward, and so beware of SEO consultants that try to sell you their SEO expertise without being able to clearly explain to you exactly what it is that they do.

Once the basics are covered, what’s next? The goal is to improve how high your company site ranks on search result pages. But if you’ve been focusing on how search engines work to achieve that goal, and creating content that fits the bill, then you’ve been focusing on the wrong thing for 2 simple reasons: An ever-growing space and ever-changing needs.

An ever-growing space

Think about it! There’s an abundance of content on the web, the place we all go to for information. And this space continues to grow with every new business, initiative, or social media channel, just to name a few.

Search engine leaders are merely trying to sort through who’s who and what’s what to give us results that are of high quality and most relevance to our searches. To do so, they write a set of computerized formulas to help reach that goal. Remember that just because you’re on the web, it doesn’t mean you’re reputable, which is why SEO alone is not the answer.

Ever-changing needs

If you’re a small business, you have likely worked with a consultant to optimize search on your website. In fact, SEO was ranked high in 2015 because Google would rank high, sites with SEO. And because you already optimized your site, you probably already know that search engines like Google tend to make changes to their algorithm. Just when you thought you had it right, you find yourself needing to do more to catch up. In 2017, Google changed how it ranks sites. Although SEO is still a factor in higher ranking, Google now condemns pages loaded with keywords but offer little value. All this to say, just when you think you are all set online, Google turns around and changes things on you.

For this reason, chasing after the latest Google trends and what Google favours is a losing battle. Not only is the algorithm constantly changing, but all elements are not made public. Google does not reveal the full algorithm, not even to their own employees who are kept on an as-need-to-know basis. One thing that Google made public in 2017 is that it will be rewarding local businesses over those that are remote. This is in support of improving the relevance of search results. If you’re looking for a product or a service, access is important and Google understands that. So rather than turning up large enterprises from across the country, a local business will be given a higher rank. That’s great news for small local businesses.

Where does your focus lie?

According to Inviso Marketing, “SEO have to work hand in hand with content marketing to create great content”. What does this mean for you?

1. Write for your audience, not for Google.
2. Keep up with, or even anticipate, and respond to your audience needs and ever-changing demands.
3. Put your audience at the forefront of your content marketing plan and consider what strings of words they would use to help find your website.

If you shift your focus to your audience and do a good job at creating content, then you will naturally become a top pick for any search engine. In fact, you could decrease irrelevant traffic to your site when you publish content with keywords targeted at your audience.

Next steps

To optimize your website for search, don’t write for search engines. Instead, make sure that you implement the SEO basics and then work with a content marketing expert to put in place a content marketing strategy and execute on it. Make creating relevant, high-quality content part of your ongoing online presence and focus on how you’re going to help your audience (existing and potential customers) find unique and accurate information that offer solutions.