What is SEO
First of all, what is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and it is a methodology that helps search engines like google, Youtube, Pinterest, Quora, or Bing to find content related to queries performed by users.
every time we search for something online, most certainly we will go through a search engine, and we expect to find answers fast and accurately.
User questions can be as broad as the imagination. From restaurants or local shops, to how to do a specific task, find suppliers for products or services, and find examples of something to be inspired to develop a new project.
This means to appear in the SERPS ( search result pages), somehow the search engine must know or understand how your content relates to the question asked.
And remember that you are not alone in the market so, so even if your content relates, who should come first, or how the SERP should be organized?
It all comes down to the relevancy of the content, how it is mapped to be identified, and feedback from users (for example, time spent on a specific page, number of visitors, or views).
What is the goal of SEO
But going a few steps back, what is the whole purpose of this?
SEO helps your content to be mapped or identified by search engines so every time a person makes a question on google ( or another) gets not only a preview of the answer but also links to articles or webpages that are related to the question.
If you or your business has a webpage or blog or some kind of platform to show products or content, it can be the best page in the world, but how will others know about it? Especially your customers or people that do not know about you, but need what you provide.
It is like having a store in a street with no people passing by or even if there are, you have no front window or a sign that you exist.
It means nobody will find you online.
Having this scenario in mind, every piece of content should be optimized to be found by search engines, presenting a clear message of what you are talking about or showcasing.
It increases web page views or content views related to a specific query.
Who should be focused on SEO?
The question is, are your customers or potential customers looking for solutions like you online? Google, Youtube, Pinterest, Quora.. etc? If so, you must focus on it, or your business is losing prospects already.
People are searching for a solution that you provide but you are not available. Less opportunity to sell.
If you have a local business and want to know how to increase sales from your community, we have an article dedicated to Local SEO that can help you.
One SEO strategy for all?
No, each search engine has its own rules,
For example, if you are optimizing a youtube channel it is different than a webpage or a Pinterest profile. Every platform has a distinct algorithm.
Youtube use tags to describe videos, title, and image description..
Webpages use meta descriptions and indexes, and Pinterest uses keywords related to the images.
(actually, there is a lot more than just this, but it can provide you a global idea of how different SEO can be depending on what platform you intend to optimize.
How long to implement a strategy of SEO?
( example.. google)
According to several sources and other experts, webpages page takes a minimum period of 3 months to 6 months to be recognized by google using SEO.
It depends on how competitive and popular your keywords
are as it takes time for search engines to crawl the web and map everything.
They constantly update references, but it’s not an overnight thing.
Once it is mapped and indexed in google, any changes take at least one day to be applied.
SEO is not a one-job task, it's a way of work. Why?
Three main things are really important:
Creating content, analyzing results, and editing to optimize search intent as one of the top priorities.
It is an ongoing process to keep relevant information, mapped to questions and ways of asking questions.
Today there are more complex questions and also audio, so it is mandatory to adapt content to this reality and also the relevancy of the topic.
Example: If in 2020 you wrote an article talking about the best cellphones to take pictures, now would be good to update the article or write a new one to reflect the reality of 2023.
What do you think will receive more clicks? ” top 5 phones to take pictures in 2020″ or ” top 5 phones to take pictures in 2023″?
What tools do I need to implement?
Fine, so what is necessary to start implementing SEO?
It takes a group of tools to answer this, from tools that indicate keywords to use while creating content, tools to index those keywords to be identified by search engines, how hard would be to top rank using those keywords, and finally to see the result in traffic, how many people enter the webpage and stays in it. ( yes bounce rate is not directly SEO but it comes in hand with it, because if the user searches for a topic or solution, finds your link, and whatever you have on your webpage does not have quality, they leave fast and it will ruin the effort of SEO because the search engine will downgrade the page.
How are AI and SEO related?
Artificial intelligence is taking the web full steam, but until now there is no direct relationship between AI platforms and content references (pages or profile content). What is seriously relevant now is the speed of content creation and automation, which allows creators to deliver more content in a very short period, or even organize ideas on what to write.
But things can change quite fast. Either way, AI has to find a structured way to connect content and queries or tasks… and probably the way pages are organized currently will be somehow useful… So it means even if full SEO gets replaced, the main structures probably will stay as is the way to link query intention to content created.
SEO is applied just to webpages?
No, nowadays, queries or search intents are made on multiple platforms depending on what the user is looking for.
It can be inspired by something, so maybe a visual platform like Pinterest is best to use. Or video to explain how to do something or learn more about a specific topic, then youtube would be the place.
Search for local businesses, business-to-business, or e-commerce.. google is the place to start.
So SEO started more focused on webpages, but now it is a broad content tool that helps to map where is what.
Conclusion on SEO being relevant
SEO is still a very valid tool to use in any digital marketing strategy as it helps, not only to organize content while it is being created but also, to be easy to find by those who matter ( your audience).