Beyond Google: A Holistic SEO Strategy

It might sound counter-productive, but if you put Google on a pedestal and make it the focal point in your SEO strategy, it may end up hindering your progress. In other words, when working on your SEO, you need to be doing it for the right reasons in order to achieve the best possible results. Read on and we’ll elaborate further…

Google is interested in one thing: providing its users with a rich and valuable experience

The most important thing to understand about Google is that they are, fundamentally, a business, and their priority is their users. They are only interested in providing their users with a rich and valuable experience. In other words, whenever someone types something into Google, Google’s job is to put the most relevant webpage in front of them – and one that will not only provide the answers they need, but in the most user-friendly way.

When you understand that, it soon becomes abundantly clear that if you want to succeed and rank high in Google, then you need to put their users first (who just so happen to be your target audience).

Step away from the idea of pleasing Google. Put that out of your mind. Modern SEO has nothing to do with google, and everything to do with the user.

OK…when we say “nothing to do with Google”, that’s not entirely true. You still need to work on your technical SEO and edit your Titles and Metas, reduce redirects and server errors, trim down your codes, and create an XML sitemap (to name a few) in order to help Google efficiently crawl and index your website. However, for the most part (and we’re talking a large majority), the primary focus on your onsite optimizations are to improve the overall user experience.

A flawless user-experience

What do you want when you visit a website? You want each page to load quickly; you want an aesthetically pleasing design that is easy to navigate; you want clear and concise information; you want videos and visuals and all manner of content that answers all of your questions in as much depth as is necessary.

Is that so much to ask?

But what kind of experience are you currently providing your website visitors? Would you say it is a flawless user experience? Or is there room for improvement?

The better the UX, the more likely Google will be to rank you higher and this is for a number of reasons but namely because you’ll have a lower bounce-rate with more people spending time, navigating your website and engaging with your business.

Of course, perfecting a website in such a way is no simple task. In fact, it’s incredibly time and resource intensive – in which case it may be worth hiring the experts. A New York City SEO agency with a wealth of experience in the industry can help you make light work of these requirements.

People-first content

Google’s recent ‘Helpful Content’ algorithm update is all about putting people first. Google came to realise that the internet is littered with useless content that is chock-full of keywords for the sole purpose of pleasing their algorithm.

This has to change.

And in an attempt to essentially “tidy up” the internet, they are driving towards rewarding websites that go out of their way to create genuinely valuable, life-improving, ‘people first’ content.

It really is that simple.

If you change your approach from “writing to please Google” and instead make the sole focus of your content marketing providing superior value to your audience, you will invariably be rewarded for it.

Think of it like selfish altruism

The ironic thing is that by not focusing on Google and instead putting all your efforts into providing your users with awesome and valuable information coupled with a seamless user experience, you will ultimately end up pleasing Google in the process anyway.

It’s a win-win!

Also Read : 8 Effective SEO Strategies Agencies Follow To Scale Up E-Commerce Brands