Great SEO isn’t about Code, it’s about People
If you want to make content that actually matters to your audience, you’ve got to know your customer extremely well. And one of the best ways to uncover what matters to your customer, is through their internet searches. As Steve Sirich, GM of Microsoft, noted at the recent virtual SMXNEXT conference: “search is the truest reflections of ourselves”, because any time we want to learn, shop, or solve an argument, we Google it.
Which means that a great SEO strategy, which is in turn, a great content strategy, must be driven by your audience’s wants and needs.
What is SEO?
Without getting too into the weeds, SEO is a methodical way of building and organizing your online content to make it Google friendly. We all know that Google basically rules the online search world. Which means you need Google to treat your online content with the same respect and care that you take creating it, to ensure your content appears when people search.
This means you have to play by Google’s rules. SEO strategy ensures that your content is 1) being crawled by Google, 2) organized with proper descriptions and accurate keywords, and 3) relevant and authentic. There’s lots of helpful tips and tricks out there to nail #1 and #2, but it’s #3 that transforms a traditional SEO strategy into a great SEO strategy.
How Does SEO = People?
As the world continues to shift dramatically, advertising will follow suit. Customers, especially Gen Zers, want the companies and brands they support to be purpose-driven. At SMXNEXT, Steve Sirich talked about three key ways companies can build that purpose: taking responsibility and being authentic, letting your values drive your dollar value and, most importantly, being inclusive in every facet of your business.
No small feat right? But good news everyone, great SEO strategy ticks off all those boxes. When you get to know your audience/customers through their searches, you’re learning about the trends that are important to them, the questions they need answered and the content they want to consume.
Using that information to drive the way you categorize your content and the way you create future content, helps you generate authenticity, because you’re creating content that isn’t driven by your sales mandate, but by what you can provide for your audience . And it gives you the opportunity to state your values, because you can uncover the causes that matter to your customers. And finally what better way to create inclusive advertising than by leading with a customer-centric marketing approach?
Brands that Nailed it
When the lockdown started, Google become our resource to the outside world. Those of us who were lucky enough to stay at home, started baking bread, making squirrel obstacle courses and watching marble races. We turned to Google to figure out how to do things we had never done, how to keep ourselves entertained and how to stay connected. And companies and brands that followed those search trends and created content to fill the gaps, were able to publish relevant and reactive content that really resonated – with the numbers to prove it.
DIY Tips
This video features a step-by-step guide on home haircuts. It was published at the beginning of quarantine and already has over 6.5 million views. The content is completely on brand for the men’s lifestyle Youtube channel, but has almost 6 times more views than any other content on the channel. Through smart SEO strategy, the channel’s team recognized their audience would have a gap in their style needs while stuck at home, and capitalized on the opportunity by creating content that provided a huge value-add for their audience.
Pet Adoption
I’d be lying if I said I haven’t spent at least an hour a week looking at dog adoptions during quarantine and it seems I’m not alone on that - pet adoptions in North America are at an all-time high. NPR quickly recognized that folks may be making some rash decisions on pet adoption right now and created this insanely smart and popular article to help people make an informed decision before bringing home a furball.
Rallying around a Cause
P&G’s #DistanceDance campaign is one of the most successful fundraising campaigns I’ve ever seen. Garnering over 8 billion views (yep, you read that right, 8 BILLION) in a freaking week, they capitalized on everyone’s need to be creatively engaged and gave folks at home the opportunity to come together in support of a cause.
These campaigns took off because they adapted, and in some cases anticipated, what their customers needed. And at the end of the day, that’s what great SEO strategy is all about - creating personalized, genuine and authentic content designed for your customers/audience. When you stop trying to sell and instead try to create content that provides value to your audience, it won’t just get you sweet SEO rankings, it will create long-lasting customer relationships.