Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a topic that brings about a terror or fear to many marketers because of its complexity and great involvement.  In addition, there are so many changes being made to algorithms used in search engines that marketers are having the feeling of being lost in the dark.  For example, Google changes its search algorithms around 500-600 times per year. That’s a lot of shifting to keep up with leaving marketers with an overwhelming feeling.

Product Manager Steph Ferrel compares algorithms to that of a horror movie scene.  “Sound like the opening scene of a horror movie? While it very well could be, fear not: we’re talking about SEO strategy here. Yet for most marketers, SEO generates the same kind of unease and suspense as your typical tale of terror” (Ferrel, 2019).

Summary

In the March 4, 2019 newsletter by Skyword, a marketing firm, Product Marketing Manager Steph Ferrel in her article “Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy” advises marketers on how to deal with the overwhelming fear of changing algorithms and fuel your strategic SEO strategy by leveraging competitive keyword.

Ferrel says, studying every algorithm update will drive you mad, so don’t focus on the number. Here’s a few tips she advises marketers to do to break ahead (Ferrel, 2019).

• Keyword Benchmarking.  Keyword research and competitive intelligence are critical in this effort. You need to build a smart, competitive keyword strategy that can answer these questions: In relation to your competitors, how do you know where to focus and where not to? In the overcrowded world of search, which keywords are worth targeting to beat your competitors and which should you avoid entirely?
• Track and improve upon your SEO strategy based on performance and insights. You must be continually tracking and improving upon the performance of your strategy. Tracking your keyword performance can be difficult if you don’t have the right tools to keep tabs on how Google is—or is not—ranking your individual pieces of content.
• Engage in SEO best practices by staying on top of trends, not the updates themselves.  This is a continual practice.  While the algorithms are constantly—and frustratingly—being updated, keep in mind that they’re rehauled in support of a now very constant pillar of SEO: positive user experience. Google prides itself on creating great user experiences, and that means finding and serving content that picks up right where Google leaves off.

Ferrel states “At the end of the day, your content needs to put the consumer first: with friendly layouts, useful topics, and high-quality content (Ferrel, 2019).

Reflections and Analysis

I connected with this article.  SEO is one of those topics that can be frustrating and sometimes overwhelming without the changes in algorithms, at least for me.  Deciding whether to use On-Site SEO, Off-Site SEO or both to optimize your website and keyword research is already enough to drive you crazy.  Tasking search engines to perform searches based only on a very small clue given by the users is very difficult.  The truth is, algorithm changes in a search engine, whether Google or some other search engine, leaves a website vulnerable to losing some of its rankings.  Sites are sometimes affected negatively by these changes. 

Search engines have undergone constant evolution since its beginning. There are two main factors contribute to the continual algorithm changes.  First, search engines must continually combat against black-hat SEO tactics.  Spam websites that don’t provide any valuable content and wishing to rank well are a constant threat to search engines.  Creators of spam websites are constantly discovering new ways to manipulate search engine results, so search engines must continually update their algorithms to fight against these manipulators.  Second, a search engine can never achieve perfection, so there is always room for improvement and innovation (Larsen & Draper, 2018).

So how can digital marketers overcome the overwhelming feeling of fear and dread to stay ahead of these changes?  The first step is to keep yourself informed.  Check sites, like Moz.com, that report on Google’s algorithm updates, or Search Engine Land articles.  Second, study the history of Google’s major algorithm changes so you can better understand the trend of the changes and why.

In conclusion, SEO doesn’t have to be like that of a horror film or leaving a feeling of overwhelm and dread. Using the tools advised by Ferrel, can help you feel confident about your SEO strategy and execution.  The goal is to be found, and for your site to be more discoverable than that of the competition.  Not doing the SEO right, because of fear or dread, jeopardizes the success of effort and web content.

References

Bentz, J. (2018, December 4). Competitor Benchmarking: How To Stop Competitors From Eating Your Lunch Read more at https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/competitor-benchmarking-how-to-stop-competitors-from-eating-you. In Business 2 Community. Retrieved from https://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/competitor-benchmarking-how-to-stop-competitors-from-eating-your-lunch-02146136

Ferrel, S. (2019, March 4). Why You Need Keyword Benchmarking in Your SEO Strategy. In Skyword. Retrieved from https://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/why-you-need-keyword-benchmarking-in-your-seo-strategy/

Larson, J., & Draper, S. (2018). Digital Marketing Essentials (Fall ed.). Idaho Falls, ID: Edify Publishing.

We all know that the overall goal is for the search engines to provide good result to search queries. However, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is incredibly important for websites because being found is a priority.  The goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is to be a result of many different search queries – and even better, to be the top result on many different searches.  The most reliable way to accomplish this goal is to help the search engine accomplish its own goal.  That is, to be a top search result, a website should be a good search result – provide high-quality content so the searcher will be happy he or she clicked on that website (Larsen & Draper, 2018). 

From the user perspective, searching on an internet engine is one of the easiest things to do. “You tell the search engine what you’re looking for, then click the most promising link from the search engine results page.  If that link doesn’t give you what you want, you click the ‘back’ button and try a different link (Larsen & Draper, 2018).  However, users have no clue of the complexity and work involved to get good search results. Tasking search engines to perform searches based only on a very small clue given by the users is very difficult and users don’t realize this.  They expect precise results from using two or three words for the search, which is not a thorough description of the information desired to begin with. Users have no concept of the reality of how search engines operate.

When it comes to SEO strategies, On-site and Off-site SEO strategies are key to ranking your website higher on Google’s searches.  And still, webmasters are continuously looking for new ways to rank their websites higher in search rankings.

In the Expert Session “How to Use Search Intent to Get Results from SEO” speaker Mitch Causey, Director of Marketing at Lessonly, teaches how to use search intent to focus on SEO strategies that lead to actual revenue, not just website views. What is search intent? “Search intent refers to the results a user hopes to see when they enter a keyword into a search engine (Hughes, 2019). It is the ultimate goal of the person using a search engine. 

Causey suggests boosting SEO through search intent and understanding the searcher intent funnel.  There is a specific emphasis on Google search and the way Google looks at a website.  Causey has organized this into three buckets: (1) architecture, (2) content, and (3) endorsements.

Architecture: Architecture includes things like an HTML sitemap or how quickly your page loads on mobile.  Although these are considered to be nerdy things, they are important.

Content: Content is King!  Content is key! It includes blog posts, any written word or copy that’s on your site (i.e. e-books, white papers, …). Search intent is crucial to content marketing success. So how do you come up with content that you should write and publish on your website?  Marketing teams must be creative.  Sometime content is locked into a media gram.  Searchers don’t care about a lot of creative energy being put into content.  They want to find what they are looking for.  No one goes to the last page of Google unless you are desperate.

Endorsements: Third party website that link back to your websites.

The focus of search intent must be on all three buckets, and all three must be good to have success in SEO.

Understanding searcher intent is the key to everything.  Anne Leuman, blogger at TopRank Marketing tells us “When we marketers understand search intent, we can create new content and/or optimize existing content to be more tailored to their audience’s specific needs, problems, and questions—helping gain SERP visibility in the increasingly crowded content landscape, and attract more qualified traffic and build trust with those visitors (who will hopefully feel like you ‘get’ them and their needs)” (Leuman, 2018).

People are making decisions at every step of the journey: beginning, middle, and end. The key is predicting that intent although it can be challenging. The search intent funnel has everything to do with the marketing funnel and is one of the most critical part.  (See Figure 1 below.)

            Fig. 1: Intent Funnel Basics:

By understanding what customers will be searching and looking for, understanding their desires, it’s possible to tailor content according. Determine how you content can deliver. Anticipating the customers intent is the secret to satisfying customers at all stages of the journey. 

In conclusion, optimizing your site for search intent can lead to increased page views, as well as increased sales for e-commerce sites. It also helps establish a wider audience by increasing your brand’s visibility on Search Engine Results (Hughes, 2019). 

References

Causey, M. Causey, M. (Lecturer). (2018). Expert Session: How to Use Search Intent [Online video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuaq9qWi6Oo

Hughes, J. (2019, February 15). What Is Search Intent and How Should It Factor Into Your SEO Efforts?. In Elegant Themes. Retrieved from https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/marketing/search-intent

Larson, J., & Draper, S. (2018). Digital Marketing Essentials (Fall ed.). Idaho Falls, ID: Edify Publishing.

Leuman, A. (2018, December 17). The Key to SEO & Content Marketing Success: Understanding Search Intent. In TopRank Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.toprankblog.com/2018/12/content-marketing-seo-search-intent/