Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization Experts
Optimizing a website and its content to enable it to appear in organic search results of the search engines – mainly Google. (Google has 92.05% of search market share and growing). Ranking in search engines requires an understanding of how search engines work, what are the search queries, and why and how people search. Successful implementation of SEO strategies makes a site appealing to users and search engines.
The focus of SEO today is:
- Understanding personas.
- Data-driven insights.
- Content strategy.
- Technical problem-solving.
Why do people search:
In the early days, people searched to find a list of documents that contained the words they typed in. That’s no longer the case. Today’s searchers search to solve problems, to accomplish tasks, and “do” something. They might be searching to book a flight, buy something, learn the latest Taylor Swift lyrics, or browse cat photos – but these are all actions. Or, as Gates referred to them, verbs. When a user starts a search, they’re really starting a journey. Marketers love to talk about something called “the consumer journey.” It’s just a fancy way of referencing a user’s path from the inception of their task to the completion – and most of these journeys start with a search. The consumer journey has been gradually playing a larger role in search over the last decade. Originally depicted as a funnel wherein users move from awareness to consideration to purchase, this old consumer journey has become outdated (although we still use this model for illustrative purposes and to make persona research easier).
The 3 main tenets of any marketing strategy or campaign are:
- Attract.
- Engage.
- Convert.
But search concentrates heavily on the first phase: Attract. “If you build it, they will come” may apply to baseball fields, but it doesn’t work with websites. It’s no longer enough to have an awesome product. You must actively attract customers via multiple channels and outlets. This is why, despite some claims to the contrary from clients or design agencies, every webpage is, in fact, an SEO page.