Demystifying SEO

The modern world is overrun with endless products and infinite websites. Making your brand stand out is even more important than ever before. But how do you win the search engine popularity contest? That’s where the experts come in flinging around the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is decided through algorithms and quality of content. Thankfully, understanding the specific calculations is not necessary; even the professionals have different opinions and philosophies on the exact way to attract the right attention. Instead, let’s think of something we can all understand: pizza.

Imagine you’re walking down a street with three different pizza shops on it, and you happen to be hungry for pizza. What naturally draws you into one restaurant? For some people it is the aroma of baking crust, freshly made sauce, and the crisp scent of bubbling cheese. For others it may be the color of the sign outside the restaurant or the amount of people inside. What’s the exact formula you use to calculate your decision?

These formulas are different for everyone. While there are measurable qualities for each restaurant, metrics available to be analyzed, it often comes down to an immeasurable synergy of all the qualities you observe.

Just like the tangible world, there are a few principles that drive consumer traffic to your website. These qualities include relevance, uniqueness of content, and clear communication.

Relevance:

Relevance in our pizza scenario is related to real estate. In other words, if your pizza restaurant isn’t on the street with the hungry consumers, then you’re not going to sell as many pizzas. How do you know which street to be on?

Your website needs to be where the action is, and that is only limited by your imagination. You want consumers coming to you for as many good reasons as possible. That means you need to do more than sell a product to stand out; you need to be where the community is gathering.

If you own a car dealership your website needs to be a hub for the community just as much as it needs to be a place where consumers can buy a car. Even posting a short blog page with details to the local fair or the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new library is enough to draw in members of your community.

So be relevant; stop selling your store and instead become a valued member of the community. And cast a wide net. If everyone in town is preparing for the local fair, be the website that has the dates and times for the fair. That simple. Be on the street with the traffic, which on the internet means creating content that your community will be searching for.

Uniqueness of Content:

Now here we come to another intimidating term: content. A newspaper has articles, your website has content. Blogs, blurbs, links to other websites, product pages, every piece of text on your website is content. Simple.

The qualities of your content are just like the qualities of a pizza restaurant. What would set a pizza restaurant apart from its competitors? Aroma, the view from the window, how comfortable the tables look, the expressions of the consumers inside the restaurant. What qualities does your website have?

Online a website gains popularity on Google by having unique qualities that make it stand out. The words must be attractive, specific, and written with a clear style. When Google decides which websites are going to be on the first page of a search, it weeds out the pages that have the same quality of content. If your content smells like your competitors, then Google won’t rank you above your competition.

The solution is not a mystery. Write content the way you write content. Do some research, know your product inside and out, and write something that is worth reading. You don’t need to be a New York Times writer, just write in a style that is genuine and authentic to you. In other words, use your personality and unique perspective to paint a picture.

Clear Communication:

The last thing to consider is the most practical. Communicate clearly. Make sure your reader knows what you are talking about. Use appropriate grammar. Write the way you would speak the words.

When in doubt, use the age-old writing test we all learned in grade school: read your content aloud and listen to how it sounds. Hell, record it and play it back if you have to. If your phrasing is choppy, then rewrite it. Use short sentences to emphasis simple points. Expand your vocabulary a little, but make sure your reader has context clues to understand what you’re saying. Get creative.

Finally, say what you’re going to say, say it, then say what you said. This is the secret. Readers want to follow a natural flow without surprises around each corner.

Is that it?

No. Hands down this is not the end all be all of SEO. This is the hitchhiker’s guide. Thankfully, we can leave the math to the experts. Follow a few simple guidelines. Be relevant, have unique content, and communicate clearly. Write it, read it, speak it, be it. Do these things and the SEO will take care of itself.