“Search Engine Optimization is part magic, science and art not unlike the ancient concept of alchemy. Take a product or service and transmute its online image into a golden page-one site. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes to reach that coveted gold standard; no recipe is the same, which is why you need a team equipped with a talented alchemist. Ranking a website consists of many factors including links to the site and how the site is structured, but the key ingredient of user experience is often left out. If a website isn’t user optimized it’s not really optimized for search engines.”
The user is what the search engines were built for. Google includes quality guidelines that clearly state “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.” The purpose of the search engine is to determine what result is most likely going to be helpful to the user.
While site structure and links to the site are a critical part of seo work, its important to keep in mind that the structure should benefit the viewer’s usability of the site. Backlinks to your site are super important because they show that other websites think you have valuable content, saying to a user, “this is something you might want to look into.” If a link is only placed for search engine value, it’s a sub-par website recipe. We take an individualized approach to all of our clients and help create a recipe that works for their brand. Nowadays social media platforms are starting to have a bigger role in rankings and it’s because that’s where the internet users are. Google and their algorithms follow what will potentially benefit the user which now includes what users are discussing or sharing on social media sites. But social media is an off-page seo strategy for another post.
SEO the Science
The science aspect of seo comes from interpreting all the data that comes along with your site. This includes checking to see if google can even “see” your site to a detailed analysis of the user base for the site. For example what are your most popular pages, products or services? These are the questions the data can answer.
SEO the Magic
A lot of the mysticism around seo comes from the fact that no one knows google’s algorithm or secret sauce. This is definitely a good thing or we would have spammy spammertons across all google searches, and the intellectual library of human knowledge and cat videos would be ruined. This means when it comes to the site it’s important not to lose the forest to the trees and to heed the oracle google wisdom to put the user’s interest first in your actions.
SEO the Art
The art is catering to the user. People don’t always know what they want but it’s an SEO expert’s job to build a site that is visually appealing and offers an experience that is natural. This means balancing function with a form that makes your site stand out from all the other hundred sites seeking the same coveted spot in position one. This often takes the form of making educated guesses based on experience.
