Understanding SEO: Just Like Cooking 101

157372431When you hear the acronym SEO, you likely hear it in the context of several other terms. Maybe to you, it sounds like alphabet soup. And perhaps that’s an appropriate analogy because Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is part of a recipe, a technique of inbound marketing.

Rather than a standalone function, SEO combines with elements in an effective marketing campaign to achieve branding, visibility, customer engagement, relationship and conversion.

Sounds kind of magical, doesn’t it? Think that it takes a secret recipe? Some exotic spice?

If you stop to think about the wonder of technology, well, yes, it does seem mysterious. I mean, any time you search for something online, the list of results you are presented with by the Web’s search engines match and rank those matches as closely as possible the query you searched. How does the Web know how to do that?

Cook with the right ingredients. Along with other ingredients in the alphabet soup that comprises a marketing campaign, SEO incorporates a mini-recipe like title tags, meta descriptions, keywords, keyword density, image attributes, anchor text, links from certain domains makes the difference.

If you don’t know how, or don’t have dedicated staff with expertise in SEO, consider outsourcing to an agency partner that understands and can provide this critical ingredient.

But SEO has a changing shelf-life. You may have the best SEO for your Website this week, and that helps visitors find you. What about next week? Next month?

Inbound marketing does not remain stagnant. Like keyword optimization, it evolves with the ever-changing content on the Web, within your blog, and with your social media posts. Your competition also impacts your search results. So does the introduction of new technology.

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So you have to keep stirring the soup. What happens if you don’t stir the soup? It sticks or burns in the pot.

Because SEO works with other elements of inbound marketing in a fluid process, the ingredients may vary from day to day. For every blog post, keywords change, titles change. Your visitors look for new things.

It is why the “old cookie-cutter” ways don’t work.

Marketing your business is not a stagnant function. For example:

  • Be focused on specifics
  • Consider each page separately and make it strong for a specific need or topic
  • Use multiple variations of keywords
  • Ranking in itself is not enough; provide what people are looking for
  • Content should be meaningful (not a sales pitch) to engage a customer, resonate and compel action.

MORE: SEO for staffing firms

Steve Isenberg

Steve Isenberg
Steve Isenberg is president of ASJ Partners, a marketing agency for the staffing industry. He can be reached at steve.isenberg@asjpartners.com

Steve Isenberg

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