What is SEO to you?
If we’d asked that question ten years ago, you’d probably have enlightened us with your magic formula for keyword density and placement or given us chapter and verse about the importance of backlinks.
To say SEO is somewhat different today is somewhat understating the point. The SEO gurus of yesteryear would be completely dumbfounded by the challenges facing us right now and would be unlikely to recognize much of what we do at all as ‘SEO’.
The truth is that the goalposts have shifted into an unrecognizable territory. Google’s constantly evolving algorithm is squarely aimed at bringing searchers better results from the most authoritative sources, factoring in very modern issues such as SSL encryption and mobile-friendly pages.
What this all means for us, as search marketers, is that we need to be constantly evolving too. The SEO principles that worked last year (or last month, in many cases) may not work today, and that means we need to stay one step ahead of the game. If you feel your SEO knowledge may still be stuck in the Panda generation, let’s get down to busting some of the myths that are still floating around to bring you to bang up to date.
Keyword optimization is the most important part of SEO
In times gone by, matching precisely the keywords you’d picked to optimize for in your content was crucial. This sometimes resulted in a clunky text, awkward ‘invisible commas’ and generally a poor user experience. This level of keyword matching is no longer important, and thus, Shakespeare stopped turning in his grave.
The reason for this is that for a couple of years now, Google has been using an artificial intelligence system to help rank search results. Known as RankBrain, it’s a machine learning AI system designed to fill in the gaps in the search engine’s capabilities with logic. It essentially considers queries that, perhaps, have never been seen before and, using its understanding of written language, makes an educated guess at what the user is searching for.
For marketers, what this means is that the traditional emphasis on keywords has been taken away. A few years ago, you might have had a list of 10 or 20 high priority keywords for your website; now there are thousands of variants of long-tailed phrases which could be yours to rank for. The point is, your keywords will occur naturally in your content, and you’ll no longer be punished for not using keywords in your title or headings. However, you could very well be punished for over-using keywords.
Backlinks are even more important than content
In the past, link building has been almost like the dark arts of SEO. Nobody really knew how to do it, but we could all see that it worked, and its effects were astounding. Permission for backlinks saw huge sums of money changing hands, linked comments on unpoliced blog posts explode and entire websites created for the purposes of link building alone.
Times haven’t changed so much; in fact, link building is still one of the four most important ranking factors for Google, but not all links are equal. Over the years, Google has worked to sort the good links from the bad, and today looks for high-quality links from authoritative sources and will actually penalize websites with too many low-quality backlinks.
You need your keywords in your meta descriptions
Are you still including keywords in your meta descriptions? Don’t bother, because Google is no longer using meta keywords as part of the ranking factors for a page. In fact, it hasn’t been since 2009. So, does that mean you shouldn’t bother writing meta descriptions at all?
No, because although your meta content won’t affect your ranking in the SERPs, it does affect your click-through rate, so in terms of driving traffic, it’s super important. So important is it that, in December 2017, Google announced it would be expanding the length of the meta allocation, to allow users to include more compelling descriptions of the page.
In a roundabout way, meta do still affect SEO, but not in the way you think. Keywords are no longer effective here, but because click-through rates is a significant ranking factor, your meta is still crucial to your success. For modern SEO greatness, focus on compelling reasons for people to click through, not stuffing it with keywords.
The more pages, the better
Back when Mark Wahlberg was Marky Mark the emphasis in terms of website content was more is better; never mind the quality, it’s quantity that counts. Burgeoning websites with pages and pages of stuff were always going to be more powerful than the little guy with his ten pages of insight. Thankfully for all us little guys out there, this is no longer the case.
Just like link building, today’s Google wants you to think more about quality than quantity. New content is good and demonstrates that you’re an active, contributing website, but the crucial element is that every page you have is worth its place in the web.
Pages that are too similar to content which is already indexed are likely to not be indexed at all. Pages that neglect to put user experience first will sink down the ranks. And pages that simply don’t tell the user anything useful could go so far as to get you a Google penalty for the whole website.
Content needs creating, but it needs creating well, so get your head down and focus on a few pieces of amazing content instead of reams of half-baked trash.
SEO is all about getting to #1
Remember those ads from a few years back, where SEO ‘experts’ would loudly proclaim “I can put you at number 1 on Google!”. Perhaps they could, for the most obscure keyword out there. Rather than obsessing about what rank you are, today’s SEO savvy marketers recognize it is far more important to be valuable to your customers, as only this will get you the click-throughs that you really need.
Imagine you’re ranking number one for a keyword that is not directly related to your business. You’ll be busy celebrating your number one spot, but what’s happening at the user end? Finding your listing, users are clicking through to your website, only to discover that you’re unable to help them with what they were looking for at all.
The outcome? High bounce rates, low conversions, low page views and a badly damaged reputation.
A better strategy would be to focus less on your placement in the SERPs, and instead work on providing valuable content, genuinely useful information and a flawless user experience. You may get less traffic, but the traffic you do get will be worth its weight in gold.
If you’re feeling like you’re a little out of touch with modern SEO, Probella are here to help. We focus on increasing the relevance and authority of your site, building high-value backlinks and valuable content on site. It’s our job to stay abreast of the latest iteration of the Google algorithm, and with us, on board, you can be confident that your content is ticking all their boxes. Talk to Probella today about your website SEO and see how we can help you drive more quality traffic to your site.
