Back to the Roots: SEO Basics
Oh SEO. The ever-changing proverbial thorn in our side that is important for survival, yet seemingly impossible to keep up with. Search Engine Optimization can be overwhelming, but I am determined to break it down so it feels like second nature to you and your content strategy.
With a new social platform every year and ever-changing google algorithm rules, it would appear that business owners are being run by technology and losing the authority to run their business with authentic intentions (myself included). Of course, we hope our audience will like all of our content; however, more thought seems to go into if the algorithm will like it that day. We are overwhelmed by the thought of being subjugated to the algorithms, but I’m here to tell you that we do not have to be.
And while I do believe that SEO is important, I’m a bigger believer in creating content your audience wants and that the SEO rankings will come naturally.
SO if you are looking for the scientific way to beat the google algorithms, this article isn’t for you! But if you’re looking to authentically align your site with your mission and the needs of your audience, and then focus on SEO, keep on reading.
There are many different branches to SEO, but this guide will focus on website structure, page structure, content, and authority.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is SEO?
-
Search Engine Optimization is simply making your website easier for Google and other search engines to read and catalog. Bonus points: some of the ranking factors also make it easier for real humans to navigate your website and understand your offerings.
The higher you rank, the more likely you are to get traffic to your website (we all know that no one goes to the second page of google).
The digital world is changing daily so search engines like Google are often changing their algorithms so the rules are constantly changing (more on what goes into rankings and how to optimize your site are below).
So while you know Human Nature Creative Co™ is human first, SEO is one of those technical things that make both bots and humans happy.
All of these rules or ranking factors are intended to drive the most relevant traffic to your site so we need to be very clear on who we are trying to attract and for what reason.While there are over 200 ranking factors that goes into Google’s ranking efforts, I’m going to focus on the lower hanging fruit: website structure, page structure, content, and authority.
-
Whether you have kids or not, you will understand this metaphor. You are with three 5-year-olds who all want to tell you the same story at the same time. Your brain is trying to comprehend all three stories at once. Your brain is scanning the three children trying to pick up on facts - some contradicting, some missing, and many are repetitive - and it cannot immediately put the story together. So your brain has a few options: stop listening (we’ve all done this), misinterpret the story, or continuously rescan to try to figure out the story.
When your website structure and content strategy are not optimized for search engines, the search engine acts as the brain in this story. And because it cannot understand the story, it simply will not show your page in the search results when someone searches your keyword.
How seo helps your business
Unlike paid social advertising, influencer marketing, or out-of-home marketing, SEO can be free*. SEO drives organic traffic to your website; and unlike paid ads or brand awareness campaigns, this traffic is of higher quality. Organic traffic is further along the consumer journey because they searched for you. They’re already a step further in the buying cycle than if your ad interrupted their browsing experience.
If you have a physical storefront or products, SEO can also make sure you show up in the google product listings.
If done right, SEO can
Increases organic traffic and drive higher-quality traffic
Increases organic revenue
Increase bookings
Increase brand credibility
Create a better user experience
*Free, yes, but time is money and you’ve already paid to be on the internet. I get it!
-
If that’s not convincing, here are some SEO stats:
Only 0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the 2nd page.
The #1 result in Google gets approximately 32% of all clicks (Backlinko)
The #1 organic result is 10x more likely to receive a click compared to a page in #10 spot. (Backlinko)
49% of marketers report that organic search has the best ROI of any marketing channel (Search Engine Journal)
53% of US consumers say that they research products using a search engine before deciding whether or not to buy (Google)
There were 81,000 searches per second in 2020 (Backlinko)
People are searching online!
What goes into SEO Rankings?
Google has over 200 ranking factors…200! Many are incontrollable and others speculation and this is why I tell my clients to not put SEO first. Put your clients and their needs first!
-
Site Accessibility
Quality Content
Use of Keywords
User Experience
Image Optimization
Site Architecture
Page Structure
Inbound and Outbound Links
Outbound Links
Mobile Usability
Site Analytics
-
What not to do:
Keyword Stuff
Broken Links
Don’t deceive your viewers
What is a keyword and how do i use them?
A keyword is a word or phrase mentioned or located on your site that tells google what your page is about. When a user searches that keyword, google will know to show your page in the search results if we’ve optimized our page for that keyword.
-
Search engines are giant answering machines. In order to understand what keywords we need to use, we need to understand our audience, their goals, and how we exist to serve them.
When creating content, you’ll want to assume that visitors do not know anything about the subject.
Choosing Keywords
What is your audience searching? Use some of those words as keywords.
Choose short keywords (1-2 words) and short phrases (3-5 words).
-
WHERE SHOULD KEYWORDS BE PLACED:
Page title (H1 Tag)
Subheadings (H2 and H3 Tags)
The Introduction Paragraph
Image alt-text
The SEO Title
The SEO Meta Description
The URL Slug
Naturally throughout the page content.
*That might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that 4/8 of those won’t be read on the page.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not use the same keyword or phrase on multiple pages (this will confuse google)
Keyword Stuff - So if Google wants to see my keyword, I have a better chance at ranking if I use the keyword more often? No. Keyword stuffing used to be an SEO tactic, but Google understood that it wasn’t a user friendly experience or reading experience to see the keyword used over and over again.
-
Blooming Nursery is a nursery located in Washington State. They might have some obvious keywords like “nursery” or “flowers,” but you can imagine that those search words are very broad and come with a very competitive search page. What kinds of flowers? How big? Where?
In their cases, it’s advantageous to target a niche keyword or phrase like “zone 6 flowers” or “zone 6 border flowers.”
Some questions we can ask to find more keywords and phrases:
What types of plants do they sell?
Do they sell equipment and plant foods/soils?
What will be their busy season or will it be consistent throughout the year?
What zones will it serve?
How are people searching for their desired plant?
Why are they searching for their desired plant?
Where are they in their consumer journey?
Where are they located?
Are they homeowners or contractors?
What is their plant experience?
And on and on we can go to get to know our audience’s search behavior.
Answering the questions above can shape your content strategy and your site architecture.
So what does this have to do with web design?
As we covered, Google’s ranking factors have the user experience in mind. Your website experience will determine if you make it to page 1. Google will measure each user’s behavior - specifically how much time they spend on their site and how many pages they viewed.
If users spend little time on the site and view only one page, it tells google that they keyword isn’t as relevant as Google originally thought. This will lead google to lower your ranking.
-
Ensure that your site is responsive.
Remove anything that is significantly slowing down your site
Ensure that the answers to their question is easy to find by making content easy to skim. People should be able to find their answers within 10 seconds.
Optimize site images by reducing the file size and adding alt-text.
Write captivating content or include engaging media.
Ensure that site navigation is simple
Reduce the number of decisions the user is required to make. Hick’s Law states that the time it takes to make a decision will increase with the number and complexity of choices (of course there are exceptions to this rule).
Minimize the use of pop-ups and ads.
