What is SEO and why do I need it?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is something you may have heard of but aren’t quite sure how to tackle. It is the practice of earning visibility in search engine results to increase the quality and quantity of visitors to your website.
The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely your content is to be found and clicked on. Ultimately, the goal of search engine optimization is to help attract website visitors who will become an audience that keeps coming back.
Many web professionals focus on SEO as a major marketing tool, but it is so much more than that. It’s about discovery, accessibility, and making sure people can easily find the information they need to make important decisions.
SEO is more than words
SEO isn’t the act of sprinkling in keywords throughout your content. It isn’t about the number of times you use a buzzword or term. It’s about people—about having a deep understanding of your audience and what they need/want. You need to know and anticipate what your visitors are trying to accomplish when they visit your site. You have to understand their priorities.
SEO is a strategy that comes into play at the very beginning of your site’s design. That’s why the web team works closely with you on the basics of your site, such as content topics, headings, navigation labels, and linking structures.
SEO is for the people
In their book SEO for Everyone, Rebekah Baggs and Chris Corak describe an approach they’ve labeled human-centered SEO.
“Human Centered SEO shifts the focus from 'How much traffic can we win?' to 'How can we help more people find what they are looking for?' It emphasizes satisfying search intent—the actual tasks, question, or problem that drives the user to search for something in the first place.” (Baggs, Corak, 2021).
As you are writing your site content, think about your end users. What would they search for to come across one of your pages? What are they trying to accomplish? What do they need to know? Are those terms prominent on your site?
Tips to optimize your site for search engines
If you are interested in learning more about SEO, Google provides a great introduction to SEO for beginners. Additionally, these are the top five tips we have to share about creating human-centered SEO content.
- Understand Your Audience: Start by thoroughly understanding your target audience, their needs, preferences, and pain points. Create user personas to help you tailor your content and website design to your ideal visitors.
- Quality Content: Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that provides real value to your audience. Focus on solving their problems and answering their questions.
- Keyword Research: Instead of obsessing over search engine rankings, use keyword research to understand what terms your audience uses to find information. Optimize your content around these keywords naturally, but don't overdo it. Use long-tail keywords when relevant.
- User-Friendly Navigation: Create an intuitive website structure and navigation menu that makes it easy for users to find what they're looking for. Use descriptive labels for your navigation links.
- Readable Content: Use clear and easy-to-read fonts and maintain a good balance between text and white space. Proper formatting with headings, subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs is essential.
