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Guest Post — I asked a good friend who is the CEO of a company that specializes in helping companies doing $1MM-$100MM in Revenue handle all their SEO, SEM, PPC, Re-Marketing, LinkedIn & FaceBook campaigns. email me if your company needs help… Cameron@CameronHerold.com
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Although headlines can be too long and still get good traffic, I really wanted to make the headline above even longer: “Your SEO is failing because you are too focused on rankings. Stop focusing on rankings and start focusing everything on user experience.”
I’ve been doing SEO for a while now, and I just had a breakthrough as I was writing a lengthy email to a client of ours. Most people fail at SEO because they are so focused on trying to get a few “magic” keywords to rank at spot #1 on Google. They build pages about “magic” keyword. They create videos titled “magic” keyword. When rankings peak at around page three, they hire a new SEO firm to do more of the same, with the promise that this time it’s going to be different. The problem is not that SEO is that difficult, the problem is with your approach and your understanding.
The companies that get to the top of search engines are generally the companies that have the strongest brand (which creates trust with users) and that routinely create the best content. The key word in that sentence is routinely. They have a content engine that creates useful content for their users, and they constantly design their site for ease of use and to optimize for purchaser’s intent.
Think about this: When was the last time you polled your customers asking questions like “What do you hate about our website?” or “What are you really looking for online?” When was the last time you decided to convert your site to E-commerce because you polled your customers and found that they would strongly prefer to order from you without having to speak to any human being? Domino’s Pizza realized this massive shift and rolled out an App in the UK that boosted sales 14%.
Improving rankings in search engines is slow, it is deliberate, and it cannot be faked anymore. Google is now using AI machine learning to create an unbeatable search engine (i.e. RankBrain) that will seek out quality content and sites that have above average user experience for any given industry. Some might say it’s scary – we think it is awesome. It’s going to keep websites that belong at the bottom of search results at the bottom. So how do you get to the top? Here are three key things to consider:
- Instead of focusing on rankings, focus on your traffic sources and conversions from those sources
- Figure out, through talking to actual users and clients, what they are really looking for from your brand, and give it to them. If they want to order online, stop making them talk to a sales rep to buy your product.
- Create a content engine. Create real, genuine, helpful content targeted to your user’s pain, not just keywords. Even if you want to use an Ad driven strategy, this is still needed in order to get a high quality score.
Is it worth the work? Absolutely. There is a dis-proportionate share of sales and mind share available by capturing the top spots on Google, and many companies have used this strategy to grow well over $100+ Million in sales (Salesforce, BuildDirect, Moz, etc.). For those willing to do the work, the prize is worth the work.
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email me if your company needs help with your SEO, SEM, PPC, Re-Marketing, LinkedIn & FaceBook campaigns… Happy to introduce you… Cameron@CameronHerold.com
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