What is SEO if it is not just a Keyword?

Everyone wants their website to be found on Google, and SEO is a way of achieving that. Choosing keywords is a part of the process and a good place to start, but I will also explain, later in the article, the other tweaks you need to do to improve your SEO.

My number one bug bear is that people choose A KEYWORD - as in one word. This is far too broad and that will be near impossible to get featured on the top 10 in Google for, the competition is so large you may as well just give up now.

Let me explain that a bit further.

So, for instance, say you were a travel agent and you used travel agent as your main keyword for your site. It is highly unlikely that you will ever get near the top 100 in Google for this keyword as the main players and high street names have teams of people that not only use keywords (which is such a small part) but are working day in and day out adding content to the site and driving traffic, which Google is far more interested in!

So, what keywords do you use?

Like I said it would be very rare for you to get ranked for a one or two word keyword, not impossible but rare unless you have a very small niche. So basically you have to go back to that infamous target client and start thinking like them, what would they type in to Google if they were looking for your website.

For example, on my site, my target clients are women running their own businesses. They are highly unlikely to just type in 'website' when they are searching for my service. They are more likely to type in something like 'I need help creating a website' or 'how to design a website' and so on. So even if I did manage to get ranked for web design, my target customers might not even find me, because that's not what they are typing into Google.

These are normally called long tail keywords or keyword phrases and are what people are really talking about when they say keywords, they don't mean a bunch of words such as website, wordpress etc. Instead think of something like - 'how do I create a website?' - now I can imagine someone searching for that and so that's a search I need to be found in!

Generally, over time Google will start ranking your website for what it thinks your pages are all about, automatically, so writing good quality and relevant content that your potential visitors (think target customer or ideal client again) wants to see.

What else do search engines want?

When you ask 'What is SEO?' you need to understand that Google also considers how many people visit your website and how long they stay. In other words, SEO is a whole process. Search engines know when someone has typed something into their search engine, clicked on your site, and stayed around to read what you have to say, or shop the products you offer. Google REALLY likes this!! Why? Because you are providing the visitor with exactly what they searched for, and Google has done its job and suggested a site with exactly what the visitor needed.

What that means for you is that the number of visitors to your site is not as important as the number of visitors that stay around and actual read what you have to say! You don't want to drive just anyone to your website and they just leave as it isn't relevant to them as Google hates that and will penalise you in the search rankings as they can see exactly that those hundreds of people that visited your site clicked off in the first second - they then take it upon themselves to think well there's something wrong if people are clicking off this site straight away, this company is obviously not providing what their customers need so we won't be recommending them in our search engines!

What is SEO? Think backlinks!

Google also loves backlinks. These are links to your website from other sites, and no, I don't mean buying links or links from really spammy sites that Google most likely already hates - they will then associate your site with them, and the outcome is not good! They want to see other established sites they love linking to your site because they recommend you.

A good way to do this is to get guest blogging gigs on sites you would recommend to others (that way you know they are good), and in turn, they usually let you link back to your site! Also, get yourself featured in directories of sites related to your business. - Women in business networking sites are great for this! Along with leaving relevant (and NOT promotional) comments on other people's blog posts and writing testimonials for others with a link back to your site.

Targeted Traffic

Driving TARGETED traffic to your site is also great for getting on Googles nice side 

This is where social media, blogging and advertising come in. It's all well and good for you to have hundreds of people in your Facebook group but if they never leave it and visit your website Google just doesn't know about them and that shiny new website you created (or paid to have created) is left lying in the dust with no one looking at it.

What is SEO's relationship with social media? Whilst your social posts do not directly affect your SEO, they can affect it by driving targeted traffic to your website.

I am not a social media expert; it's something I am still learning. However, I do know not to just post a link to my website in every post. Likewise, I know it is not best practice to sell in every post. Finally, I know I have to build relationships, because viewers are more than likely to ask for my contact details or visit my profile or page and find my website address. Additionally, because they have actually sought out my details, they are more than likely going to spend more time on my website because they are interested in my business.

This is all great for SEO.

What is SEO's relationship with blogging?

Now blogging is a great way of getting your website found, as they say that the last page people will find you on is your home page (unless they search for your business name or actually type in your website address). The pages that are more likely to get ranked in Google, whether you specify keywords or not, as Google picks them up through what you write anyway, are your blog pages. These are far more niche, or should be, and so tend to be picked up and ranked quicker.

These are the pages where you are writing about something specific that your target customer needs help with. Therefore, you are automatically including keywords that feature in the questions they have. Basically, your blog post is answering it for them.

What is SEO? Fresh Content!

Nearly 10 years ago, before Facebook pages and groups were even a thing. I had a party ideas site for girls. It was a blog where I wrote about party ideas for girls basically - so it did exactly what it said on the tin! Yes I included keywords but also worked on providing good, quality content that my visitors wanted to read each and every week, along with spending time posting in directories, parenting sites and Q & A sites. I built up quite a following and after around a year (these things do NOT happen overnight - you don't just add a few keywords and yup there you are number 1 on Google!) I was getting around 40,000 visitors a month Worldwide.

Returning to work (as it wasn't a site I was aiming to make money from I just enjoyed it) I saw myself spending less and less time adding content (Google LOVES fresh new content as it gives people reason to go back to your site more than once) and my visitors started falling... and fast! Instead of being on the first page of Google for most of my pages I was no where to be found.

The moral of that story is that I knew exactly what my visitors were looking for, I kept up to date with the latest 'crazes' that turn into party ideas and I basically worked my but off to provide people with what they wanted to see - so Google loved me!

When you stop doing that or you think ooooh I've got a website now the visitors will flow in so I don't need to do anything else to it Google does not want to be friends with you!

So in conclusion, what is SEO? Well it is all of the above things but writing quality and relevant content full of value is THE BEST way of getting people to your site and seen in Google!