What does SEO mean is a very popular topic in search. A bit ironic in a way.
But it speaks to the reality that SEO is a subject few truly understand. And yet a subject that is so important.
What Does SEO Mean
When people enter that term in search, are they trying to understand the acronym SEO or search engine optimization? Or are they inquiring about a bigger question. What does SEO mean?
We can somewhat answer that question thanks to Google and auto-suggest. Typing in the words “how does” and the first suggestion is “how does SEO work.” Second is “how does Uber work.”
So it’s probably a safe assumption that when it comes to the question, what does SEO mean, most are asking how it works versus what the acronym stands for.
Okay Now What
Semantics aside, the moral of this story is we need to understand more about SEO. And we cannot limit it to the subject of improving search results.
Digital is taking over our lives, as we recently discussed in, The Growth Of Digital. We turn to digital media for almost everything today.
Who watches the local news for the daily forecast when you can click an app and voila know the weather for the next ten days. Any where in the world. Need to hail a cab? Who walks aimlessly for a yellow, dingy car when you can “click an Uber.” And have the car find you.
45% of people prefer search and websites as their primary research tool. And today we research everything. Buyers are 57% into the buying process before they ever contact a company for the product or service they need.
At any given time, only 4% of website traffic is actively buying. The other 96% is doing some form of entertainment or research.
So What Is SEO
SEO will always be optimizing your website for search. But that does not mean perfecting every link, crawl error or more to make Google happy.
Rather it means providing the resources, tools and experiences your customers demand. And that is what makes Google happy. Quality websites that they can refer to searchers.
It’s You Or Someone Else
Either you are providing these resources and tools or your competition is. Either way, customers will find what they demand. And if someone else is engaging customers from step one, they likely will convert that sale as well.
So selling today, has to be less about the “in your face” hard sell. The “I’m the greatest, buy from me” mentality no longer works.
Value must be added along the way. From step one. Which is another way of saying how we market to our future and existing clients has changed.
It has evolved as digital expands. And the center of that role is SEO.
4 Corners
Did you know squares have 4 corners? Read less about squares and more about SEO, websites design and more on our Archives Page.
