Give Google What Google Wants
July 24th, 2018 // Christian
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is both an art and a science. As an art, we create language that fits well with keyword (query) ranking while speaking to potential customers. As a science, we focus on giving Google what Google wants. And it’s that science that we’ll focus on in this article. Our goal is to show you how to give Google what it wants in four easy steps:
- Creating a positive human experience.
- Being informed and staying updated on what factors Google uses, how they are measured and which items have a higher level of impact.
- Focusing on improvement in cycles rather than creating perfection.
- Focusing on the quality of your links rather than on quantity.
A Brief Google SEO Overview
Google ranking is calculated on a page-by-page basis by web search robots (bots). These bots use an ever-evolving algorithm to determine the page ranking. This process can repeat several times a day for each page. While Google does not publish the exact details of the algorithm, they do share the intent of their updates.
This brings us to the core truth about what Google wants. Ultimately, Google is trying to create a positive human experience for the user.
This is something that often gets forgotten by some digital marketers as we do our work. And it makes sense. Our job as digital marketers is to get our clients in front of people who will buy from them. So from time to time, we can focus on the numbers and forget about the people. The problem with this is that as the algorithm evolves to better serve people, we may find ourselves losing ranking.
So remember lesson number one. Create a positive human experience.
Learning What Google Wants. Delivering it.
As mentioned before, Google does not publish the details of the algorithm. But thankfully, there are organizations out there who, through experimentation and statistical analysis, help create a roadmap for SEO success. One of these organizations is Search Engine Land. For the purposes of this discussion, we will be referencing their periodic table of SEO.
We are not going to go into each of the factors here. What we are really focused on in this article is lesson number two. Get informed and stay updated on what factors Google uses, how they are measured and which items have a higher level of impact.
To win at the science part of SEO involves being systematic with your factors. You start with what you control. On-the-page factors should be worked on as you code your site and as you create content page-by-page. It is also important to remember that pages within your site can affect the ranking of other pages. So many of the off-the-page factors can be taken into account as you create navigation, page organization and in-content links.
As the internet has evolved, there has also been evolution to SEO. Maps, voice search and augmented reality will drive these changes.
The second lesson we want to mention here is number three from above: Focus on improving in cycles rather than creating perfection.
It can be easy to get caught up in any single tactic and try to craft it to perfection. As a wise copywriter once told me, “Editing is never complete. Simply abandoned.” It is best to implement improvements, measure success, and repeat than it is to spend months perfecting and then implementing.
If you want more information on each factor, you can dive deeper into each of the elements above on Search Engine Land’s guide.
Making The Right Friends
For this section, we’ll get right to it. Rule number four relates to external link building:
Focus on the quality of your links rather than the quantity.
We’ve all heard it before, but having performed competitive audits on many sites, we can tell you we have seen it firsthand. One industrial client review showed a site with 32 inbound links winning over a site with 3,000 inbound links.
As with every factor discussed, keep in mind the human experience. If you’re trying to decide which electrician to use, a link from a blog of homeowners would outweigh one from a plumber. More and more, these bots have learned to categorize websites and they take those categories into account. You should too.
In conclusion, you will have to plan your site’s SEO path. We hope this article helps you craft that plan to start making large strides in your ranking. If you would like to have us consult on your SEO, you can contact us directly. We also invite you to attend one of our Intro to Smarketing seminars to get to know us.
