Search Engine Optimization
In digital marketing, “search engine optimization” (SEO) is somewhat misleading. SEO specialists don’t tweak search engine algorithms but optimize web content for visibility and appeal. A more fitting term would be “search results optimization.” SEO’s main goal is to boost web page rankings, but it’s crucial to understand that higher rankings aren’t the end goal. Instead, they’re a means to drive traffic to your site. A well-optimized site converts visitors into customers, leading to business success.
Why is this a Critical Field?
Search is deeply ingrained in our society. Over 7.5 billion Google searches occur daily, translating to over 85,000 queries per second. Users anticipate quick responses, often within a second. Additionally, over half of web traffic originates from organic (non-paid) search, making SEO a critical digital marketing investment for many businesses.
Organic Discovery Myths Versus Reality
Myth: Organic Discovery is just a few secret tricks
Reality: SEO is a complex, multifaceted, interative process, and it takes time and effort to realize its potential fully
Optimizing search engines does not mean cheating or manipulating them. It’s more like optimizing a career resume or a profile. The goal is to enable your site to be found quickly and easily by the right people without sabotaging yourself with lies and misrepresentations.
Myth: All Organic Discovery is spammy and unethical
Reality: Not all, but some unethical practices do exist.
Such practices (black hat SEO) seek to exploit loopholes in search engine algorithms, intentionally violate rules and guidelines published by search engines, or circumvent systems designed to detect or prevent the manipulation of organic search rankings. It’s of course advisable to avoid such practices as this could lead to penalization by the search engines and also blocking of sites / pages.
Myth: Organic Discovery that is not spammy and unethical is a waste of time and money.
Reality: It’s like bodybuilding; steroids may yield big gains very quickly, but at what cost?
Black hat tactics do get a page on the top of search results, but only for a short period before they get banned from the index. There are no legitimate SEO practices that will instantly rank a new page highly for a high-volume search term; it takes time, money, and effort to compete for the top 10 spots.
Myth: You need to be a Web developer or an IT expert to do Organic Discovery.
Reality: If you’re not tech-savvy, there are SEO tools like Semrush and Ahrefs that can help you discover and diagnose technical SEO issues.
You will benefit from being familiar with HTML, but you likely won’t have to do any coding or Unix command line wizardry.
Myth: Organic Discovery is only for e-commerce sites or large corporations.
Reality: If you want to be found via web search, then you will benefit from search engine optimization.
Your site does not have to sell anything directly. You may want to collect qualified sales leads through a web form or survey, have a newsletter that you want people to sign up for, or have a content-centric site such as a blog that generates revenue from ads or affiliate links. If more traffic will help you in any way, you will benefit from SEO.
Myth: Optimizing My Site Means I’ll Have to Pay For a Complete Redesign or Pay For Upgraded Web Hosting
Reality: In some cases you may need to make changes to your site or web host in order to solve technical SEO problems.
However, there are many different options, and is you will benefit from increased traffic, then it is probably worth the effort and money.
Myth: Organic Discovery requires me to be active on social media
Reality: SEO is the result, not an activity
As Dennis Yu says, good content and an optimized website will result in SEO. Other than technical SEO, which you will need to do as an activity, the rest is based on the content you create. You will eventually get some links – you don’t need to solicit for them.
Myth: Buying Google Ads (or hosting a Google Ads banner on my site) is cheaper than Organic Discovery
Reality: SEO programs usually deliver much more traffic with a better return on investment (ROI)
Paid searches will certainly yield more visitors. You could pay for your best “link-worthy” content and hope that some of the people who click the ads will share the links. This could indirectly increase your search rankings for some keywords. However, there is no direct correlation between buying a Google ad and ranking higher in organic search.
Organic Discovery for Your Website
Developing an SEO-friendly website requires a significant amount of thought, planning, and communication due to the many factors that influence how a search engine sees your site and the various ways a website can be put together. Web developers can use hundreds (if not thousands) of tools to build a website.
Making Your Site Accessible to Search Engines
The first step in the SEO design process is to ensure that your site can be found and crawled by search engines.
Content that can be indexed
A substantial portion of your site’s content should be in HTML text form or pulled in by Javascript that executes on the initial page load (i.e., a fully rendered page). For visuals, though the search engines are augmenting their abilities in image and visual processing like Google Lens and search by image, they still rely on the alt attributes and nearby text to help them understand what is in an image.
Link Structures that Can be Crawled
Take the time to build an internal linking structure because search engines use links on web pages to discover other web pages and websites. Many sites also make the mistake of hiding their navigation in ways that limit spider accessibility. Here are some reasons why pages may not be reachable:
- Links in submission required form;
- Links in content no in the initially rendered page;
- Links in PowerPoint and pdf files;
- Links on pages with many hundreds or thousands of links
- Links in iframes.
XML Sitemaps
XML sitemaps are a useful, and in many cases essential, tool for your website. In particular, if you have reason to believe that the site is not fully indexed, an XML sitemap can help you increase the number of indexed pages.
Creating an Optimal Information Architecture
A well-designed site architecture can benefit both users and search engines. At the core of website information architecture are two critical principles:
– Making a site easy to use, and
– Crafting a logical, hierarchical structure for content.
– Site Architecture Design principles. Although site architecture accounts for a small part of the algorithms, search engines do make use of relationships between subjects and give value to the content that is organized sensibly.
– Flat site architecture: Minimum clicks to access any page. For nearly every site with less than 10,000 pages, all content should be accessible through a maximum of four clicks from the home page. They are not only easier for the search engines to crawl, but also for the users to reach their destination.
– Avoid excessive pagination or use simple HTML links to connect paginated pages, or create a view-all page and use canonical tags.
Other Varied But Important Factors
In addition to the ones discussed here, there are several other factors that need to be considered including but not limited to:
- Whether to host content on a new domain, when to use subfolders, and when to employ microsites;
- Keyword focusing on;
- Content Optimisation;
- Controlling Content with Cookies and Session IDs;
- Landing page optimization (you could use tools like Leadpages);
- Redirects, and
- a Content Management System.
The above and many more would need a separate discussion to ensure brevity and focus on each topic, which I hope to do in the near future.
Deciding firmly upon User Intent And Maximizing Organic Discovery Lasting Results
Great marketers show empathy and understanding that savvy professionals align with search engines to deliver pertinent results to users. Therefore, a crucial aspect of crafting an online marketing strategy around SEO and organic search visibility is comprehending your audience—how they think, discuss, and search for your offerings.
Search engine marketers need to grasp that search engines are tools driven by user intent toward specific content destinations. Unlike typing a URL or clicking bookmarks, searches are purposeful—users seek specific information, not mere chance encounters. Search is distinct from passive browsing or random link-clicking.
Now, let’s explore different search query types, their categories, traits, and processes.
Navigational Queries
Users conduct navigational searches to reach specific websites directly. Sometimes, they don’t know the exact URL, relying on search engines as modern phone directories.
To gauge the value of ranking for a navigational query related to a competitor’s brand, consider the following:
- Opportunities: Redirecting users from their intended destination, gaining ancillary or investigative traffic.
However, a September 2019 study by Eric Enge published by Perficient revealed that nearly 70% of all clicks go to the first search result for branded queries.
- Average Traffic Goldmine: Extremely high for searches related to the publisher’s own brand. These searches often boast high conversion rates. But if you think otherwise about it, since searchers are already familiar with the brand, not all queries represent new customers. For other brands, click-through rates are typically low, presenting an opportunity to divert customers from competitors.
Informational Queries
Informational searches span a broad spectrum, from local weather to disease symptoms, career advice, and more. These queries are non-transactional—the goal is information, often requiring no interaction beyond clicking and reading.
Informational queries generally have lower conversion rates but are valuable for brand building and link attraction. To assess an informational query’s worth:
- Opportunities: Creating positive brand impressions, attracting inbound links, gathering attention from journalists/researchers, and potentially converting users to sign up or purchase.
- Average Traffic Goldmine: Medium, as many searchers may not be ready to make a purchase immediately.
Transactional Queries
Transactional queries, meanwhile, drive the highest conversions, whether financial or otherwise. Evaluating a query’s value involves assessing opportunities to achieve a desired transaction and understanding the potential traffic’s high value.
Understanding search engine optimization intent is key to keyword research. By discerning intent, marketers can tailor content and link strategies effectively, concentrating efforts where they matter most.
While informational queries may not directly convert into immediate sales, pursuing rankings on these queries is valuable. Informative content engages users and builds relationships, increasing the likelihood of future conversions or valuable interactions like content sharing.
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