What is SEO?
SEO SERIES
SEO: Specific, Educational, and Optimised.
Fact: SEO is an $80 billion dollar industry.
Fact: Only 36% of small and medium-sized businesses have an SEO strategy.
Fact: SEO is not as scary as it seems!
What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is basically content that has keywords and phrases tailored to what a brand’s customers are searching for. Sounds simple? It is, and it isn’t. SEO is the art of optimising your content to comply with Google’s complex and sophisticated algorithm.
But I think there is a deeper meaning to SEO. I see SEO as Specific, Education and Optimised content. Let’s look into these three points that make up how SEO works. Hopefully, this will be easier to understand…
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S is for SPECIFIC
When you go into Google, what to do search for? If you were looking for SKY DIVING CLASSES during the week would you narrow down your search to SKY DIVING SYDNEY WEEKDAYS? When customers are searching for a service or product, they use SPECIFIC LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS.
LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS:
Sky diving in Sydney that is on weekdays.
SHORT TAIL KEYWORDS:
Sky diving Sydney weekdays.
Both are relevant and have the same keywords – SYDNEY SKYDIVING WEEKEND.
*Long-tail keywords are two to four keyword phrases that are extremely specific to what it is you are selling. Whenever a customer uses Long-tail Keywords, they are basically telling Google exactly what they want to buy. The more SPECIFIC you can be with your keywords – especially if you can make it LONG-TAIL KEYWORD – the more likely you are to have your copy convert into sales.
The Consumer Purchase Funnel:
Consumer product awareness – ‘Oh, I see brand X has a new scarf’
Consumer seeks more awareness for purchase – ‘Oh, they have it in this colour as well! And it is ethically sourced silk.”
Consumer compares and evaluates – ‘Oh, the pricing is cheaper than brand Y and it this isn’t dry clean only…’
Consumer makes decision and is ready to purchase – ‘This scarf is mine. I will purchase’
Consumer evaluates product after use – ‘I am going to keep this scarf’.
Which step was it the consumer decided to search for their scarf specifically? This is around Step 3.
When consumers are in their decision-making process, they will evaluate the pros and the cons by searching for what it is they specifically want and weighing up the different options. Once your consumer decides they want something then they start using specific search phrases to find it.
Can you see where SPECIFIC KEYWORDS and PHRASES come into play?
Adding keywords to your content marketing and copy strategy will greatly increase your Google ranking and optimise your content the RIGHT people find your products.
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E is for EDUCATIONAL
Consumers are looking for information when the go online. Isn’t that what the World Wide Web is about? When you go on the internet you are most likely looking for information – products, services, entertainment, companionship etc. When you begin your SEO strategy remind yourself of this. Your content must be EDUCATIONAL. You customers must be receiving information on what is it you are providing.
EXAMPLE:
Consumer search: GUITAR LESSONS
Your SEO keywords and phrases: EXPERT GUITAR LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS
See the difference? Both have the same phrase ‘GUITAR LESSONS’ but when your SEO strategy is educational adding in EXPERT and BEGINNER adds another context to your offering. You are educating the audience that this class is especially for BEGINNERS.
To be educational, you must get inside your customers’ mind. Think about the words your customers may search for products and services you offer. What language or phrase would they use? A good place to start is online communities and forums – people are open and exact on these platforms. This would help with what your customers want to be educated on.
You can’t nudge your consumers in the right direction if you don’t research what it is they want. You can’t outbeat Google if you aren’t sure what they want. Remember Google focusses more on consumers search journey and not necessarily queries.
Search Journey:
GUITAR LESSONS > GUITAR LESSONS IN SDNEY > GUITAR LESSONS IN SYDEY ON THE WEEKEND > BEGINNER GUITAR LESSONS IN SYDNEY ON THE WEEKENDS > ELECTIC BEGINNER GUITAR LESSONS IN SYDNEY ON THE WEEKENDS.
Queries:
Where can I find guitar lessons in Sydney?
Can you see the difference? Google is a SEARCH ENGINE. They focus on the journey of discovery and not necessarily answering all questions – that is your job as a content creator or publisher. Google only provides the platform and algorithm. You need to educate your customers on the rest.
DID YOU KNOW? Only 8% of Google searches are questions. Isn’t that interesting? Google, like human philosophy, is all about the journey of discovery, not the answers you seek.
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O is for OPTIMISED
Once you do keyword and phrase research for your newest campaign or content strategy you can begin creating long-tail keywords and phrases that can be optimised. What does this mean? Simply put optimising is the process of improving your site to bump up your visibility on search engines so that consumers can find your product/service and purchase from you.
What is optimised content:
Specific keywords and phrases that are long-tail
Your content is on a mobile/tablet/desktop friendly site
Crawlability of your site – are search engines able to access and ‘crawl’ content on your page? Is it easy to navigate from page to page, content piece to content piece?
Using Meta-tags, unique titles and H1s etc
If you are doing all the things above Google can easily optimise your content and therefore attract more customers at the beginning of their buying process.
KEEP IN MIND: if you focus too much on long-tail specific keywords it might be too specific and therefore not bring wide traffic to your site. The key is to find a balance between all the things listed above.
Search engines have algorithms designed to find relevant and authoritative pages. Make sure the page where your content will sit is optimised so you can rank higher in search engines. It isn’t rocket science but there is an art to it. If you are not sure how to do this get a professional or find valid sources.