What Is SEO – Are You Sure You Know What It Means?

What is SEO?       

I sipped my red wine, as I listened to my two friends who had so much interest in SEO.

They were arguing about search engine optimization and what it takes to rank on Google first page.

Believe me; I was shocked when I realized they don’t even know what SEO means?

And I’m throwing the question open – what is SEO?

If you think SEO is that simple, why isn’t your blog page on Google #1? Listen, I’m going to share a few insights that could change your perspective about Google & ranking.

Knowing the meaning of a thing isn’t enough. You’ve to know the principles.

Principles of SEO

Aha, this is what you need to understand. How does SEO work and what can you do to get results without having to wait for months or years? See SEO 101 case study.

The first thing you need to realize is that Google is not concerned about your homepage, but your inner pages. This doesn’t mean you should neglect the index page of your blog, but it tells you to focus on the inner pages more.

Most especially, the archive posts. Bloggers make the mistake of neglecting the archive posts; those posts that were published months and years ago. They’re goldmines.

Keep everything fresh

Get this: In the eyes of Google spider, the old posts are particularly important. They dictate what the latest posts would be in terms of reach.

This was the reason why intelligent bloggers started revamping their posts when they got penalized by Panda and Penguin. Yes, you caught me red handed, I actually revamped 23 blog posts on my blog. Back in the day, I was scared of losing my Google #2 position.

The first principle of search engine optimization is to build a strong foundation for your future content. In order words, don’t just slap any type of content today, just to get started with your blog, with the hope of blogging smarter in the future. The future of blogging is today.

Most blogs are suffering organically because, the foundation of such blogs aren’t strong. And you know what happens when the wind blows hard upon a house not build on a solid foundation – it falls?

So, what is SEO?       what is SEO?

I’m not going to bore you with the traditional definition.

Because that definition has contributed to misunderstanding about blog marketing.

In the context of blogging, SEO is an acronym for search engine optimization.

Now, let’s take the meaning a step further:

Search engine optimization simply means studying your audience, to know what they’re looking for and using content marketing to solve the problem.

In a nut shell, you first conduct a research. Afterward, create exclusive content and use marketing to reach the audience.

SEO also looks at the right placement of words. How much you’re able to use words, sentences and the style to make your reader’s life blissful.

Storytelling, Copywriting, using your voice and other elements are all important.

In fact, as you get experienced in SEO practices, you’d discover that keyword research isn’t that important. Truth be told, if you understand your niche in and out, you may not solely target a particular keyword before Google can pick interest on your blog.

SEO secret – run with it

What SEO secret have you been neglecting? You may not believe it, but everything about optimizing for search engines and people is to “add value.”

The value could be helpful, informative, entertaining, educative, mind blowing, intriguing or a combination of emotional triggers like fear, hope, joy and so on.

And 75% of the web’s content is powered by articles. With approximately 160,000 blogs being launched on a daily basis, the content you write must meet the requirements, so you can stand out from the crowd.

Understand something: your competitors are either lazy or busy. Or they don’t have the inclination and passion to research and write quality content. That’s your edge.

Engage your audience, improve your ranking

If you can follow the simple tips here, I can guarantee that your blog’s search engine ranking will increase. I chased after the next traffic generation fad, but didn’t break even.

Until I took the decision to engage my readers, Google didn’t see my blog in existence, let alone send organic traffic to it.

You’ve to work on your blog. If you can get your readers to stay a little longer, leave comments and share your posts, your ranking would improve tremendously. It’s that’s simple.

Yes, it doesn’t matter whether you’re targeting a particular keyword or not, the fact that your blog engages people is a proof that you deserve a better ranking and avalanche of free traffic. It’s your right.

So, do you know what SEO is?

If truly you understand the concept of search engine optimization, then you wouldn’t bother about pleasing everyone, but your tribe. All the complaints about traffic will end. And trying to attract everyone on your blog wouldn’t be on your wish-list. Because, conversion is your ultimate concern, not numbers.

SEO doesn’t end at keyword research and writing. It looks into conversion and tracking, too. Get to know your readers. Challenge yourself to serve them with the right meal (quality and relevant content).

Then go out there and build a formidable brand using guest blogging and social media marketing.

What’s your own definition of SEO? Please share your comment below. See you at the top!

Photo Credit: SEO

Tags: , , , , , ,