Why SEO is More than SEO

You all know you have to do search engine optimization. It’s a little misleading to call it that, because it implies that rankings are all there is to the game.

This is where some people get tripped up and start focusing TOO much on the search engines – they get so obsessed with ranking that the start looking for shortcuts to the SERPs. That’s when you get your SEO gone wrong – first it’s gray hat, then flat out black, and pretty soon all you can think of is how to outwit the search engines.

There have even been cases of sites making it to the coveted # 1 spot by sheer volume of content and accumulated back links and PageRank alone – only to crash and burn within six months because of low conversions.

This is what happens when SEO is looked as a tool ONLY for SEO, and the reason for it is not fully realized. There are so many reasons for the components of SEO that really have very little to do with search engines.

Pretend, just for a minute, that there is no search engine. Pretend that the capability to conduct a comprehensive search with the assumption that the thousands of results will be sent back sorted in some order of importance is just not a reality.

How do you get traffic? You have to get out and promote your site, so people will want to visit you. You have to have top notch content, so when they run across it they will read it through and follow your links back to your site. You have to link from any where and every where you can, leading from great comments on blogs and articles in your field.

You need to make sure your website is easy to navigate. You need a map to show your visitors how much more your site is than just one welcome page. You have to take into account the different types of visitors, and what they might be needing, and make it your goal to attract all types and fulfill their needs.

You have to be good enough and interesting enough for them to tell all their friends and neighbors to visit your site and buy your product, and for that you need speedy service, a good contact number and a hook. You have to figure out how to draw attention to yourself, and keep that attention for as long as you can with terrific content and pertinent information.

You have to make sure you keep what you are all about at the customer’s eyelevel all the time by using words that grab their attention, remind them why they are there, and sell, sell, sell your product.

You have to – Wait!!! Doesn’t all this sound familiar? It’s SEO, ladies and gentlemen, without the emphasis on the SE part. O stands for Optimization, and we need to optimize for the consumers first and foremost.

All of the above tactics are what SEO is about, but they all are even more pertinent when it comes to attracting the consumer. Why settle for the traffic the search engine brings you by cutting corners and using tricks to climb the rungs of the SERPs? Do it right, and you can double your traffic from other sources. Don’t stop doing SEO. Just do SEO RIGHT.