As you look at your competitors online, you may wonder why they deserve to be ranked higher in the results than you. After all, you have a bigger, better website will all the right SEO ingredients – your software, a blog article, or even your prior SEO person even said so. You’re blogging like mad, using proper headline tags and sprinkling keywords in all the right places. So, why does Google give the other “lesser” sites so much credit? The answer is simple. Google has almost gone full lock, stock and barrel into rewarding meaningful brands for a topic, throwing keywords to the wind. They are after a genuine web presence. Good SEO, up to current standards, creates that presence when nature hasn’t.
To convince Google that your business is the best choice for all things “your business”, there is a complex branding recipe that must be followed. Chasing individual keywords just won’t do it, because the newest search algorithm is designed to better uncover intent, not to match a literal string of words to your website or strategically placed link text. For example, today, if you search for “movie where alien flies bicycle”, Google first serves you the movie E.T… and not sites with that bicycle keyword string. Google knows what you mean and more and more people are asking questions in the search box rather than typing in just keywords. A delicate dance is happening and now the other partner is leading.
As the experts can best hypothesize, the right “brand” for a search is based on certain signals of authority. Creating one-of-a-kind, relevant, helpful, and uniquely valuable content that is likely to spread should get you on the right road as a start. But, if you want to drive on the expressway and get to your Page 1 destination faster than the pack, you must do even more than that. You must engage your brand online, in a variety of places. Social Media, for example, has been shown to have a powerful impact on brand presence (but just having your own page is not enough). Your brand needs to be all over the internet, associated with what you do. For example, if you are a chiropractor, filling the Internet with your business name and ‘chiropractor” won’t do it. Associating your brand all over the right places with words like “back pain”, “spinal adjustment”, “doctor”, etc. is a start. Google is noting what is said near your brand name around the Internet as well as on your site.
The foundation of any successful SEO campaign is relevant content to convert them. As a business, focus on creating a great user experience with genuinely helpful content. That way, when people do visit your site, they will like what they see. Gone are the days where they call because they found you like a Yellow Pages listing. But, if you want anyone to see it, there is some hard work ahead to establish your brand. You must create “real” business relationships that can help crank up the buzz. That is meaningful to both clients and Google!
