What is SEO?
If you know just one thing about digital marketing, it’ll be that you have to get the SEO right. Of course, you probably know more than one thing, but even so, do you really know what SEO is?
If I put you on the spot and asked, you’d probably say that SEO is the boring, techy stuff that gets your website further up Google. Well, the second part is right, but there’s nothing boring about SEO. It’s the punk-rock of marketing — because, done properly, it can really kick ass.
The Good, the Bad and the Visually Challenged
So what is SEO? Well, the easy answer is that it’s a set of tools for ensuring that Google clearly understands what you offer and why you should rank higher than your competitors. But it’s really all about the good, the bad — and occasionally the ugly.
Good SEO is all about doing something good for the internet. Perhaps you’re providing interesting and useful information for people to read, watch or listen to. Perhaps you’re making it easier for people to find out how you can help them.
Bad SEO, on the other hand, involves trying to pull the wool over Google’s eyes. Trying to convince it that your content is valuable and useful, for instance, when it’s nothing but gobbledygook with the right keywords stuffed in. Or buying backlinks from sources Google knows all about. Because Google isn’t stupid.
And ugly SEO — well, you’ve probably seen websites that fit that description, and left very quickly.
SEO is all about putting good things in and getting good things out. Which is why our website address finishes .io — in/out.
SEO Is for Humans
It’s easy to assume that SEO is for the benefit of the Google bots, but that’s looking at it from the wrong way. SEO is first, last and always for humans — it’s just that the Google bots appreciate what’s good for humans.
SEO is all about content, whether that’s written content, images, video or any other type you might use to communicate your message. The crucial thing is that it should be created with an authoritative voice that’s useful for the visitors to your site.
The problem is that Google needs to be able to find your great content, which means arranging your website to make that easy. The technical side of SEO involves structuring the site and connecting it to the Google Search Console. But, after your house is in order, SEO is all about building on that with relevant, authoritative content.
Networking with SEO
You’ve probably never thought of SEO as part of the networking and relationship-building that’s crucial to building your business, but that’s what it is. Besides bringing in people browsing on Google and turning them into prospects, customers and allies, it’s also about getting links to your site from highly admired peers. And that’s genuine links, based on their respect for you, not something off a list you’ve bought.
In the end, SEO is very much the same thing as good business practice, which is why good companies tend to do well on Google. SEO helps you make sure you use your marketing in the most efficient and effective way, making the best use of those limited man-hours.
Get in touch with us to find out more about what SEO really is and what it can do for you. Not a prog-rock keyboard player fiddling with obscure equipment, but a punk-rock band, in your face and telling it like it is. You could almost pogo to it.
Last Updated on March 15, 2023
