What the E in SEO Really Stands for

Of course, you are all thinking what is he going on about, it’s Engine isn’t it? Well of course, bearing in mind the full phrase is Search Engine Optimisation, you would think you were correct, until that is you understand that the ‘S’ in my view of SEO, does not stand for Search, but Signposting You may have seen my previous post on this, but if not, let me do a quick recap. The purpose of doing any SEO work on a website is to get it listed in Google when someone searches for an appropriate term. Hopefully being in the list will lead to a click and a visit to the site. From then on, it’s up to the website to convince and convert the user so that a sale or at least an enquiry is forthcoming. The ‘Horse’ as the saying goes has been led to the water, and it is up to the site to make it drink. But, how to get Google to list the site in the first place. This is where the S for Signposting comes in, as it is the SEO professionals’ job to ensure that the right words are in the right places, in essence ‘signposting’ to Google that the site is about ‘X’. You Have to Hand Feed Google You see, despite being a ‘super computer’ Google still needs to be ‘hand fed’ information, and that means doing this their way and using the areas on a webpage in the right way, in other words writing the right words in the area deemed as a Signpost by Google… But, to get back to the point, what does the E stand for then, at least in my view? It’s ENGAGE of course. Remember, the ‘S’ got Google to list the site and that (hopefully) thirsty horse is there looking at the page. BUT, it won’t drink unless it likes what it sees, and that means knowing what the customer wants and then, quite simply, giving it to them. Your Content Must Be Engaging This could mean convincing them that you can solve their problem (and that by the way can take more than one page, or indeed visits to accomplish), or that you are the right place to buy ‘X’ from. The term Engaging covers a lot of ground of course. For a start the layout of the page has to be engaging, i.e not a wall of text. Then you have to make sure that your tone of voice is pitched at the right level, but most importantly of all, you have to give the customer what they want, as only then will the TRUST build to the point that they really want to do business with you. Also, if you have an engaging page as far as the human viewer is concerned, then you are more likely to have been granted that rank by Google in the first place… So, that is what the ‘E’ in SEO stands for in my view I would be pleased to discuss this with you if wanted, just fill in the contact form or email me at graham@somltd.co.uk In the meantime though, just how ‘engaging’ do you think your webpages are???

For more information on What the E in SEO Really Stands for talk to Serendipity Online Marketing Ltd