01 Mar Growing Your SEO Part 1
What does search engine optimization have to do with a great looking lawn? Nothing really, until you read this analogy. Okay, just humour me.
Most people want to have a nice looking lawn outside of their home, right? It adds to the curb appeal of your home, and how well it’s maintained is one of the mainstream values in an urban culture that helps to identify responsible home owners. As a member of the urban culture, I ascribe to many of these mainstream values, so I thought it best to consult the experts for the best way to have my home adorned by healthy green grass.
The experts came, and I paid them a fee for the consultation. They walked me through the process of how I too could be a home owner with a great looking lawn. They offered me two options. Their company would provide the full services for me, or if I wanted to save money, they would do the initial work, and provide me with a maintenance schedule that I could implement myself. Wanting to save a little money, and fully trusting my intentions… I opted for that.
They came to the house and completed the initial work and left me with the maintenance schedule. I was optimistic and grateful for the guidance, but… I was also super busy. Before I knew it, summer had passed, and I had missed the maintenance window. The lawn fell back to its original state, and didn’t benefit from any of the investment I’d made. The lesson? Results require more than intention. I needed to be dedicated to the process to get the results I wanted.
Similarly people in the online culture want their businesses to rank well in Google search results. There is a perceived value put upon those who have achieved good rankings. Not only does it mean that your business is among the first choices for visitors, it also provides a message of credibility. Investing in initial SEO is similar to the lawn experts coming to do the initial work on my yard. By optimizing your site based on the current best practices, they give your website the best chance to improve in rankings over time. Like the grass, it requires an ongoing strategy and regular maintenance to get the best results. This effort includes looking at your online conversation as a whole, not only from your website but in all of the ways you share it through your online communications, newsletters, social media posts, blog entries and so on.
By considering the message you want to send to your customers in the context of your annual marketing calendar, you can plan ways to share your message with the online world. Through the process, you build relationships with your customers and get your networks and customers sharing information about you. According to industry experts, Google’s future algorithms will focus less on exact keyword matching, and more toward domain authority and viewer intention. That means that your online activity as a whole can have an influence on your rankings and should be a marketing focus.
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