“I need help with OSE.”
I looked at Kaitlyn over our coffees.
“OSE?” I mused.
“You know, that thing you help people with, for their websites?” my friend prompted.
The lightbulb clicked – “Oh! You mean SEO!”
“Meh… OES, SOE, SEO, whatever,” she shrugged with a dainty slurp of cappuccino foam. “I hear it’s important, but what IS it anyway?”
“Er…,” was my intelligent reply. Where to start?
“SEO” is everyday lingo in my world, but for busy entrepreneurs like you and Kaitlyn, it’s one more bit of alphabet soup you don’t have time for.
This article gives a non-technical, business-owner’s perspective of SEO.
The meaning of SEO in business
Have 1 minute? Here’s the nutshell version:
SEO in simple words, is Search Engine Optimization. In business, this means optimizing your website, blog, articles, or social media to appear (or rank) on Google’s search results.
How do I get “SEO” on my site?
Optimizing your site to improve search engine-directed traffic is a multi-part process. It takes time and regular attention. Here are the broad strokes:
- Understand searcher intent, and select quality keywords, using a keyword research tool.
- Write quality content, optimized for the selected keywords, that grabs reader attention, and guides them to the next step.
- Make sure you set up technical SEO properly. This includes meta tags, fast page load times, optimized images with proper alt tags, and more.
- Connect with and earn links from external, quality sites.
- Keep reviewing SEO impact, fine tune results, rinse and repeat.
Wearing too many hats already? That’s where a freelance writer like me can help with SEO for your website.
Want more info? Read on for the 5 minute version.
What is SEO Ranking?
When you type in “SEO Writers” into Google, you get a page of results. Where each of these results are, in order of appearance on the page, is their rank.
At the top you see paid ads. The most relevant results are below those ads. Google selected those pages to answer your question.
Let’s take a closer look at that search page result.
The anatomy of search results
As I mentioned, those top results (A in the image) are ads. Someone paid Google to put these entries at the top, they didn’t earn top place by being the best.
Google magic selected the lower results (B in the image), as the best for what it thinks you are looking for.
Differences between paid and organic search
Paid search results are not involved in SEO.
Paying for exposure on Google is certainly a good marketing strategy, but in our context, we are looking at the lower, free rankings, known as organic results.
Free, organic traffic from Google to your website sounds good, right?
This is where the work comes in.
Why do I need SEO?
Unless you optimized for Google, odds are that your site will be on page 10 of Google results.
When was the last time you went 10 pages deep in a Google search? Ideally, you want to appear on page one of those results. It can be tough, some topics have a lot of competition. There are ways around that – but that’s a topic for another post.
Why is SEO important for marketing?
Without optimizing your site for search engines, you are leaving all that free business exposure to go to others on the web.
Great!, you think, so how do I optimize my site?
I am SO glad you asked! Read on for a brief insight into the HOW of SEO.
How Does SEO Work + Examples
To explain the actual process of Search Engine Optimization, first we need to understand the objects of our efforts: the search engines themselves.
How do search engines actually work?
Behind the scenes, when you hit “go”, Google first tries to decide what you want. This is called “user intent”.
For example: when you typed “SEO Writer”, Google compared your query with millions of others, and tried to decide what you really wanted:
- Did you want information on how to write, including SEO?
- Did you want to know how to optimize your site?
- Did you want to hire someone who offers SEO services? Or…
- Did you mean to type “Oreos”?
Then, it goes through its stash of sites.
And Google has quite a stash, because it tirelessly crawls through everything on the internet.
Google gets your query and guesses what you want. It then displays those guesses, presenting the paid ads first, followed by the best-match results.
Not only does it match, but it tracks what you click and how long you stay there, then refines the results page the next time that query runs.
How does SEO Work?
To optimize your page so Google can work for you, you need to do two things:
- Know your potential reader
- Structure your site and pages for easy crawling by Google.
Knowing your potential reader.
Targeting your ideal audience requires an understanding of their intent and good keyword research.
What? Wait. Keys? Words?
How do these two things go together?
What is a keyword?
The term keyword is deceptive, really they’re more key “phrases”.
When you typed “SEO Writers” into Google’s search bar, you were entering a keyword.
Keyword selection is complex, but in essence you start with user intent.
What does your client want when they come to this page on your site?
There are three main categories of user intent:
- Navigational – the user is trying to go directly to a site – typically entering the url or a portion of it
- Informational – the user wants some information – i.e. Are Oreos gluen free?
- Transactional – the user wants to buy something. – i.e. Where are Oreos on Sale?
Then you analyze the traffic and competition for that keyword using keyword selection tools. I will cover that analysis more in depth in a forthcoming article.
Example of keyword selection
Let’s say you’ve heard of SEO, been told you need it, but you don’t really know what that means. Your user intent is to get information. How would you search for information on Google?
A great starting point is the keyword “What is SEO?”
As you type in your keyword into Google’s search bar, it will offer popular searches. This is a good place to gather additional keywords.
It also shows a “People also ask” section, another great place to mine for keywords.
There are great tools to help suggest keywords, and give you information that helps you home in on your audience, and see how stiff the competition is. Keyword Everywhere is one of my favorite tools (not an affiliate link).
Once you have a list of keywords, you include them in your article. Does this mean every other sentence includes your keyword(s)? No… but use them as a skeleton and craft your outline to include your researched list of keywords.
Keywords are just one part of one pillar of SEO. Let’s look at all three pillars of SEO.
The core elements of SEO
SEO is a complex interaction between search engines, the website content, and the searcher/reader. Many businesses have multiple specialists handling each area. Here are the three general pillars of SEO.
Technical
Behind the scenes, things like metadata, URL slugs, and page load times, oh my. This is the realm of your website designer/builder. If you’re setting up your blog in WordPress, you can tweak these settings manually, and/or use plugins.
On-page SEO factors
Careful research and structuring of the written content of the page/blog address on-page SEO. Factors include:
- keyword use
- reader intent
- page speed, and
- quality of content to keep the reader engaged.
Off-page SEO
There are things you can do outside your own site to build your authority within Google’s index, such as
- social media marketing
- getting other sites to link to yours.
SEO Strategies: Black Hat Vs. White Hat
Remember the days of “buyer beware” internet searching?
For example, you might have searched “SEO Writers”, then clicked a promising link titled “SEO Writers here”, then…
A neon website that had blue squirrels on it and your search term was…nowhere
Now, Google penalizes sites like that: they used invisible text, or stuffed their article with keywords in a nonsense way.
There are several ways to “cheat” to get search traffic to your site, such as
- Invisible text
- Keyword stuffing
- Buying links
These “Black Hat” techniques will get page views for a short time; until Google catches on. Then you end up in the penalty box, with no ranking.
If you’re in business, you’re playing the long game. You want real clients, who you can really help, so avoid these “quick fix” cheats.
White Hat SEO methods
What is best way to get Google traffic to your site? It’s a long game.
Quality content, typically via a regular blog, written with solid keywords in mind. Optimize your many images, optimize your technical SEO, and look for quality guest posting opportunities on respected sites, which will give you more authority in Google’s eyes.
SEO is complex
Does it seem like a lot? It can be, especially for a businessperson who already has a lot on their plate. There is the technical understanding of SEO principles, then there’s the regular time investment required to leverage that “free” Google traffic.
If you feel a bit like you’ve tried to get a sip of water from a firehose, I can help.
Fire me a question,or sign up for a free 30-minute discovery session where I can help you get started with SEO and quality content for your site and/or social media.
SEO Marketing Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Does SEO Cost?
As you might expect, the short answer is “it depends”. Doing it yourself can cost as little as $100.00 a month, (plus your time). You’ll need to invest in keyword tools and analysis packages.
Hiring a consultant will vary, depending on the type of service. I offer full service blog posts, content planning and analysis, keyword research, and collaborative authoring blends. Consultants range from $75.00-150.00 per hour. Small businesses can typically see good results for around $750-$2000 a month.
What Is Paid Search Engine Marketing?
You can pay search engines to place an ad for your site, which will show above the organic search results.
Will SEO help my website/business?
Quality content, optimized to gain traffic from Google, can help your business get traffic and gain new customers. If you don’t have a customer segment that you can reach that way, SEO may not be worth it for you.
What Is Organic Traffic?
Organic Traffic is visitors coming to your website because your page showed in their search results in Google, not in the paid section, but in the organic results section. To show near the top of this list (a higher “rank”), you need to have Search Engine Optimized content.
Why Is SEO Important?
SEO allows Google to easily find your web content and direct potential clients your way. It also ensures your visitors have a quality experience through helpful information and speedy, clean pages.
What Is SEO Strategy?
SEO strategy is a complete plan for you to improve your organic traffic to your website. A good strategy will:
- clarify what types of content you wish to create (or “Content Pillars”),
- will consider what kind of users and user intent you want to attract,
- analyze existing and competitor’s content, and
- generate quality keywords to use in your content.
