Is SEO BACK From the Dead? [Update]

In a previous post, we talked about how SEO and how strategies and web algorithms have changed over time, particularly in relation to social media and small business online marketing strategies. Content marketing may be partly to blame, with a huge focus and push on publishing content, establishing a tone, voice, and even a brand.

Most non-technical entrepreneurs or bloggers who think or hear anything about SEO often grown or run away in fear. Most perceive SEO as scary. It's big, bad, and can even harm us, if not taken seriously. But like something out of the "Thriller" video, we've seen the transformation of content marketing and shifts in SEO strategies and management over the last year (and even in the last week!) so much that it begs the new question: Is SEO BACK from the dead?

Yes, today is Halloween, and while its a time for ghosts, ghouls, and goblins to emerge from their dark hiding places, SEO is back from the dead, but its zombie-like presence shouldn't mean entrepreneurs and bloggers have to lock their doors tonight or plan for an apocalypse.

The Customer Journey is No Longer Spooky. Today when customers or website visitors hit the web for the purpose to look up or purchase something, they really embark on a journey. Back in the day, this journey used to be more like a haunted house tour...but without the thrill and the fun. Many websites employed tactics that were designed to "trick" (not treat!) customers into a specific call-to-action or even blowing up their screens with annoying pop-ups, ads, and download prompts. But those days are now gone...mostly. Not only are customers and users smarter, Google is smarter. Sites that attempt to trick customers by the allure of fancy keywords and back links now get knocked by Google.

Trans- "actions" -sylvania. The customer journey now involves three steps. Those steps are similar to the buying process we learn about in sales. Reaching a level of trust with a particular business, finding information on a particular product or service and recognizing the value of that product or service, and then make the purchase decision. In summary, the journey is informational, navigational, and transactional.

This customer journey experience now has everything to do with SEO strategy. It's about matching customer experience with SEO strategy; the SEO strategy ultimately playing the role of the customer map. Each "customer map" or SEO strategy should be informational and navigational in order to ensure a customer reaches the "transaction" or the step of "purchase decision".

SEO Becomes Human. Over the last several weeks, Google's algorithms have changed. It focuses on the HUMAN behind the MACHINE. Keywords, content, and SEO strategies are now all tied to the customer. It's all about user-centered SEO. So rather than focusing solely on keywords, back links, and meta tags, Google is now interested in websites and content that builds or represents a BRAND.

Brands Come ALIVE! Each small business should have its own content marketing strategy, which includes a unique tone, voice, culture, or recipe, if you will. Once this has been established, and even documented, this content strategy now becomes a part of the small business brand. So a brand itself has evolved from an image, a logo, a color, or even merely a customer reaction. A brand is still all of those things, but now throw in a superb blog and web content that incorporates all these great elements, and you've now got Google's attention. As a result, SEO has now shifted to focus on the end user, audience, and customer. It's now more about taking those keywords and HUMANIZING them.

So is SEO really BACK from the dead? Or with now more content marketing still taking charge and altering how Google ranks pages, does this really mark the death of traditional SEO? Traditional SEO can still be found haunting various web and social media channels, however, as we progress into 2015, small businesses and bloggers can expect to see an even bigger push on content marketing, but in different ways. As discussed, one of these ways is by embracing the customer journey, and their map is your SEO strategy. Each customer will be matched with a particular SEO experience. Talk about personalization tokens. We just might have created a monster...

Image credit: © Jeffrey Collingwood

Written content: © 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 J.H. Language Solutions