SEO. You know what it is: the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. It鈥檚 a necessary strategy for a brand that wants a digital presence.
You also know why you need SEO; because it helps you聽rank better on Google. If you rank better on Google, you win consumer attention, which means you get more [鈥渇ree鈥漖 website traffic, and that translates into more sales, a larger market share, and a happier [insert-important-company-title-here].
More often than not, an SEO strategy will focus on elements like keywords, title tags, other keywords, meta descriptions, long-tail keywords, meta data, more keywords, link building, and website architecture. And keywords.
Simple, right? Optimize your website to the extreme, kick back, and watch the leads and sales skyrocket. If you use that approach today, you鈥檒l probably see a post-optimization uptick in traffic and sales. But for how long? As far as a search strategy goes, Search Engine Optimization isn鈥檛 your most sustainable option.
SEO is important, and there鈥檚 a reason it exists 鈥� because it works. That being said, SEO and Search Engines don鈥檛 work how they used to.
Google crawled, indexed, and searched words. In theory, the more times a word appeared on a web page, the more relevant it would be as a query response. That logic fueled some of the earliest Search Engine Optimization strategies鈥攗se the keyword as often as possible and you鈥檒l be number one.
When you search for something today, you aren鈥檛 just stringing together words鈥攜ou鈥檙e asking a loaded question.
Think about it. If you wanted to find a local coffee shop聽five years ago, you鈥檇 type 鈥渃offee shop [CITY]鈥� into your聽computer, and you鈥檇 get a list of coffee shops in that city. If you just typed 鈥渃offee shop,鈥� you鈥檇 probably get results telling you the definition of 鈥渃offee shop.鈥�
Today, if you want to find a local coffee shop, you can type-search or voice-search 鈥渃offee shop near me鈥� into your phone and, chances are, you鈥檒l get a list of coffee shops near you, along with hours of operation, phone numbers, addresses, and directions from your current position to said coffee shops. You鈥檒l even get real customer reviews鈥攔ight there in the result.
You need to optimize for more than an Algorithm. You need to optimize for your Audience.
So, how do you stop optimizing for words strung together? How do you start optimizing for the loaded question?
Let the search engine do what it does best鈥攃rawl, index, and search. The engine is still mission-critical. Actually,聽everyday the Search Engine gets smarter, rapidly understanding search and language nuances to the point where Google鈥檚 updated its algorithm with RankBrain鈥攖he almost AI equivalent of a human鈥檚 gut feeling.
But鈥攁nd this is important鈥攊t is the search experience that informs the algorithm. It鈥檚 the search experience that engages audiences and moves each person through his or her own consumer journey. It鈥檚 the search experience that builds trust between people and brands. It鈥檚 the search experience that sets you apart from every聽other brand on the Internet, which is why, in order to show up differently, you need to optimize differently.
To compete in today鈥檚 attention economy, we need new SEO. It鈥檚 time to stop thinking of SEO as Search Engine Optimization and start thinking of it as Search Experience Optimization.
Now, before you throw all of your keyword strategy out the window, know this鈥攖he importance of keywords and聽website optimization hasn鈥檛 changed.
What has changed is the importance of what the keywords mean. Today, keywords reveal searcher intent, allowing us to create better, more relevant information for websites that can affect brand experience, engagement, and loyalty across all stages of the consumer journey.
It鈥檚 not just what your audience searches 鈥�
Talk to any of your Customer Service reps or Customer Relations team members and you鈥檒l confirm that people have different questions when they are in different stages of their own purchase decision journeys. The same logic can be applied to search. If you鈥檙e in your consideration stage, you鈥檙e not searching the same way you would in your awareness stage. It鈥檚 the difference between searching 鈥渂est coffee maker鈥� and 鈥渃uisinart coffee maker on sale鈥�.
Keywords are just one element of new SEO. Because,聽ultimately, keyword strategy and website optimization聽won鈥檛 matter if the overall website experience disappoints and doesn鈥檛 help the user.
It鈥檚 also what they want聽to find after the click.
Don鈥檛 confuse good user experience with fancy design. You can find some pretty badass websites out there with elaborate scrolling and jaw-dropping parallax, but that doesn鈥檛 always promise a good user鈥攐r search鈥攅xperience. You can also find some pretty sweet SEO-friendly sites out there that look equally badass, but they are designed with purpose and usability in mind.
On-site behavior actually affects how your website ranks on Google because the data proves user engagement and signals search-needs-met.
Success online does not live and die in the hands of search engines. The power of user experience is just as, if not more, important.
Have you ever seen an ad for a life-changing product only to visit the website and feel your heart drop? Or maybe you see social posts with great aspirational imagery and powerful copy, but go the online store and get slapped in the face with stock photos and an unsecured connection? This kind of disconnect and disingenuous brand聽experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
If your website is impossible to navigate or difficult to read, people will continue their journeys elsewhere. If your website is full of empty promises and dead ends, people will not only leave, but they will also inform others of the negative experience through online reviews and social platforms.
Your brand鈥檚 identity鈥攊ts authenticity鈥攊s directly affected by how people experience your brand online. How people experience your brand online can be directly affected by Search Experience Optimization.
When you optimize for Search Experience, you鈥檙e making the Searcher the VIP. You not only聽get聽what the person is聽trying to find, but you also know how to capture the VIP鈥檚 attention by speaking his or her language and keeping that message true across all of your channels on- and off-line.
So, if you鈥檙e currently hearing or saying, 鈥淟et鈥檚 do SEO鈥� or 鈥淲e need more SEO鈥� or 鈥淚t might be time to add SEO,鈥� and you like the sounds of this new SEO鈥擲earch Experience Optimization鈥攍et us know. We鈥檒l help you figure out how to show up in those searchable moments that matter most.
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