Taking The OMG Out Of SEO

As an SEO Specialist, I know firsthand that the Hows and Whys of making it work can seem overwhelming at times. How can we know if meta-keywords play any importance in rankings improvement? Are links pointing at a site more important than relevant content? Will my client with the site name that pays homage to their favorite beagle, but in no way indicates the type of products they sell, ever surpass sites with names chock full of keyword amazingness? Exactly what aspect of what I’ve done for a site in the past was what ‘worked’? If love was a fruit, would it be a strawberry or an orange? (Just seeing if you’re paying attention.)

The true, no holds barred answer to these questions usually points to something resembling “Can’t be sure.” Which leaves a lot of people scratching their heads, throwing caution to the wind, and really and truly messing up their sites. If they can’t be positive about something, they think they can afford to disregard the accepted rules. And they can’t. You know that whole philosophy about it being easier to prevent a problem than fix it? Yeah, that applies to your website. And that other one about getting what you give? Your website again. Try and try again? Yep, your website. And oh so many more! And the common thread between all these sayings and notions is that they employ logic, which is the very foundation of SEO. Sure, there’s variables, of course there are! But the really good news is that if you step back and stop thinking of the search engine as the enemy, you realize that everyone has a job to perform in this internet, and it can actually be quite democratic at times.

Let’s play a game. You be Google. I’ll be your website. That guy over there will be somebody using Google to find bright green coffee stirrers. (No…not that guy, the other one. OK, see him? Cool.) So that guy types ‘bright green coffee stirrers’ into Google (that’s you!), and you kind of have a lot riding on providing him with the best bright green coffee stirrers he’s ever seen. You want him to look to you again when he needs something else, and you know he has plenty of other engines he can go to, so you have to make the most of this chance to show him that if anyone can find him bright green coffee stirrers on the first try, it’s totally you! And it isn’t like you haven’t been preparing for this task, either. Day and night you’ve been working your spidery fingers to the bone looking for everything and anything that this guy, that guy, or the lady over there could ever possibly ask you for. You…are…ready! You have systems in place to ensure that you are a go-to kinda resource, someone that can be relied upon time and again to find what needs finding, uncover what needs uncovering, and help merchants provide what needs providing. You are pretty awesome, really – hats off! But there are some people who don’t think you’re so awesome. There’s some people that sell bright green stirrers that are collecting dust because you never seem to want to tell anyone, “Hey! Look over here at these bright green coffee stirrers!” Tsk-Tsk. Bad search engine, bad! What is wrong with you? What do you mean it’s not you, it’s me? How could it be me, I haven’t done anything? What do you mean that’s the problem? I stocked the stirrers, isn’t that enough for you?! No? Hmmmm. Who knew?

I knew. I’m back to being me, by the way, being your website was a little exhausting to be honest. And it’s not that your website is bad, it’s just that it has so much room for growth, literally and otherwise. But I know that all that growth, and the many directions it can take, is what has left you at this confused standstill. Which is why I came over to sit you down and explain that it’s really not going to be as difficult as it seems, but that it will take time. And in the end you will have something that is so much better than what you started with, and better in a way that makes sense for you and your industry. Ready? Let’s do this!

Accepting that SEO is logical and that Google is logical already puts you a step ahead of the competition. They are busy worrying themselves over minutiae, which gives you a chance to jump ahead with the tried-and-true, done well and done often. Put the variables aside for a moment – don’t worry about whether content or blog posts matter more. Just do both. It’s that simple. Not sure if meta-keywords are important? Nobody is really sure, so just assume they are and make them good. Focus on this keyword or that keyword? Focus on this one this month, and that one next month. Do what makes sense. Remember when you were Google and you had to find those bright green coffee stirrers? You had to do what made sense. Site A may have had the same exact bright green coffee stirrers as Site B, but Site B had them sitting at the bottom of a page titled “Miscellaneous”, while Site A had devoted an entire page of content to them that discussed the various ways you could use them, pointed back to the section page and related items, and referenced a blog post about how fun and functional bright green coffee stirrers can be. You only have a second to decide which site is more likely to have what that guy wants. Logic dictates that it’s probably Site A. Not voodoo, magic, favoritism or paid links. Good old fashioned logic, like Grandma grew up on.

See, SEO isn’t so scary. We aren’t shooting into the dark with eyes closed hoping for a hit. We are combining the logical with the trendy to create a marketing mix that makes sense for you. We are recognizing your site as a resource, and the potential customer as a person. First we have to make sure we get them to your site through optimization, then we show them why this is the right site to have been brought to. We work with the search engines instead of against them, which takes time, hard work, and a lot of thinking. But we’re so totally up for it! You onboard? Yay! The Solid Cactus SEO Team is happy to have ya!