SEO Strategy

TBmountain

What is SEO Strategy?

Search Engine Optimization Strategy. WOW! What a mouthful. What does that even mean? Why do we even need it? Simply put, without SEO Strategy, customers will not be able to find you. Let us stop for a moment and break it down.

Search Engines explained

A good place to begin would be with the term “search engine”. We hear this term thrown about but not many of us stop to think that this is in fact a software system, encoded with its own algorithm that crawls billions and billions of websites at any given moment, and presents the best solution to the person who is searching for something online.

Whether it be about a new product, where the nearest record store is or how long the Queen was married to Prince Phillip, the answers you receive on your results page are all due to the search engines out there, the most famous of course, is that of Google. But let us not forget, there are others, such as Bing and Yahoo, or the ever-popular Baidu that dominates the Chinese search market.

Optimization unwrapped

A word with 5 syllables truly can overwhelm. Say it with me, “op-tim-i-zay-shin.” Place this word next to search engine and what does it mean.

To optimize, as you are probably aware, is to adapt to ensure smoother, easier performance. Think of an old vintage car for a moment. To optimize its performance, you may want to consider choosing a specific oil, or gas to power it. What about the tires? Which tires will ensure the smoothest ride with the least resistance from the road?

A similar thought process applies for SEO optimization. The question is how we line up a website to be the most likely to be displayed on a search results page, how do we reduce the friction to ensure the smooth delivery of your website as the answer to a searcher’s query.

Easy, (well not quite, that is why there is an entire industry dedicated to unravelling this) it ties back directly to the algorithm that powers the search engine software, whereby SEO specialists like myself, work very hard to try and understand the unspoken facts, requirements and trends of search engine algorithms, because if you can understand the algorithm and what it is looking for, you can align and optimize a website based on the algorithmic requirements, which of course, gives it a better chance of appearing on the search results page.

However, the algorithm is probably the world’s best kept secret, so a large part of an SEO’s job is to understand what has worked to date, what no longer works, and what is beginning to work. In other words, proving theories by exclusion.

Strategy, in the context of SEO

Now, let us talk strategy. Such a serious sounding word. But the truth be told is that this is an important component to consider, because just like a game of chess, each move needs to be thought through from beginning to end. Short term tactics, with no strategy, can cause unwanted results such as your Queen falling, which leaves you at a serious disadvantage and weak in the game.

Likewise with strategy in SEO, one wrong move tactically, can hurt you significantly, which means it will take a great deal of time, effort (and often money!) to bounce back. Tie in the fact that each business has their own objectives that they set out to achieve to turn their profits, and this needs to be tied into all decisions made when altering and optimizing a website, which remember, is to try and meet the needs to the search engine’s secret algorithm.

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SEO Strategy is quite simply the long-term plan to match optimization tactics to anticipated search engine requirements, while ensuring business objectives are met.

Brigette Muller