SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” When someone searches for a product or service on the internet, search engines have the task of matching relevant content using different algorithms and classification to enhance searchers’ experience. Google basically acts like the Dewey Decimal system in a library by tagging websites; however, it is a revolving system, meaning that it isn’t just a single code that “sticks.”
How Keywords in Revolving and Static Pages Work
There is “static” content, which covers the content, titles, and meta tags that search engines use when you index your site. Those pages and the information contained on them helps Google classify the site and create a directory of keywords that help to match an organic inquiry for a product or service. In addition to the static pages, which are not changed regularly, you can have revolving content in the form of blogs and updates to the site to add keywords as you identify them and to enhance what your static pages read.
Adding Content Continually Is the Key
Google has bots that work around the clock to collect data and information. If a website sits idle without any updates or revolving content, then Google assumes that it is an inactive site, which will hurt the site’s ranking. SEO is a practice that helps to add content to a website, either text, videos, infographics, images, etc. that signals to Google that you are active. Adding content also helps to enrich your keyword base, so it is an accumulating process.
Google’s EAT Principle
However, SEO is not about just posting content for content’s sake. Google’s algorithms follow the EAT principle: “Expertise,” “Authority,” and “Trust.” The reason it is important to know how Google is classifying content is that if you don’t know what you are doing, SEO’s “presumed” practices can work against you. An SEO strategy has to include content that is targeted, relatable, value-added, engaging, and smart.
It’s similar to the Yellow Pages; at a certain point, all the “A” named companies were taken, so to get noticed you had to have a “highlighted” ad. Soon, it was a full-page ad. That is the practice of SEO. First, professionals realized that if they filled their website with the same keyword over and over, the website ranked higher.
Google caught on and began to have a maximum keyword saturation, because content became nonsensical and the user experience suffered, which is the opposite of Google’s intention. So, blogs help to add more content. Since everyone caught on and began adding a blog, Google stepped in and discovered not all blog content is the same, and upped the standards to the “EAT” principle to keep pace with industry tricks and tools.
SEO Necessarily Includes SMM
On top of organic search tools, you have paid search engine avenues. If you want to rank higher, you necessarily have to buy ad space because Google, like the Yellow Pages, has discovered all kinds of ways to get people to pay. So SEO is no longer just about keywords and keyphrases and blogs; you have to continually pivot to keep pace. The rules continue to change, which is why you need someone like A is for Advertising. We understand that you can’t rest when something works. It is a game of cat and mouse with Google. We figure out the rules, then they change them. It is an ongoing battle and one that has to be fought minute-by-minute.
SEO also used to just be about websites and social media was social media. The two have become integral to form an overall strategy so that you are everywhere at all times. It isn’t enough to post to your website and wait for your organic rankings to go up. When you update your content on the website, you have to stream it to your social media and vice versa; it is now a circular system where the two have become so intertwined. If you only focus on one, you are dropping the ball. SEO is a full-time job, but a necessary one.
We’re Here to Help!
SEO extends past keywords and paid ads to your social media presence and your online reputation. There are so many different paths that people get information from. There are also new ones popping up daily, it is hard to keep track. The good news is, you don’t have to; that is our job. Contact us today to get the ball rolling!
