What is Search Engine Optimization?

While many readers may immediately think “SEO, of course,” but what warrants the question being posed is the vast change in its definition.  In fact, the title “Summer Snapshot” had to be used instead of “2013,” because the SEO best practices and definitions that stood valid only 4 months ago are already obsolete!  Just a few years ago, when many people were building their new websites to “cutting-edge standards,” SEO was little more than the title, description and keywords you chose to put on your web pages – and there were few regulations regarding those, in fact.

Meta Data

Your choices of keywords are still important, if not more important than ever.  Your meta data is still critical, because it serves as your “organic ad” – the listing that appears on search engine results.  There are rules now, however, and while character limits may have only cut off your listing before, you can now be penalized for “over-optimization.”  Keep your title under about 70 characters, and your description at about 165 (including spaces).  If you choose to use keywords, remember that you’re allowed only 6-8 per page before Google recognizes your SEO as “keyword stuffed” and ignores them altogether or worse – lowering your organic ranking.  More important than ever is the relevance of the meta tags you’ve chosen… if there’s no correlation between your title tag, description and the content of the page, your on-site SEO can be ignored altogether and replaced with any text from the page that Google does deem “relevant.”

Local Listings and Social SEO

A few years ago, “link building” was all the buzz.  Yet again, something once deemed a strategy for success can now backfire and result in penalty rather than praise from the search engines[1].  Why?  Again, relevancy, with a big dose of quality.  If the links leading to your site are viewed as “spam” or “frivolously reciprocated links,” they’ll count against you[2].

Enter a whole new world of off-site SEO; your social networks are no longer just sociable, and your site’s design is no longer just an aesthetic choice[3].  “Social SEO” has become just as important as your on-site SEO, and 85% of your prospective customers will come to your Facebook page to look for information about your brand before visiting your website.  What’s more is that Facebook has become a search engine in itself, and a properly optimized Facebook page will appear at the top of Google search results; a Graph-Search optimized website will

come up on Facebook’s search results.  With only about 13% of Google’s organic search results appearing above “the fold,” you need every chance you can get – and it only gets worse with Yahoo! and Bing results.[4]  The loop (no pun intended) unfolds…

What’s replacing all those links you bought or established with your friends’ websites from a few years ago?  The fact that Google prefers brands – all those social media profiles, when optimized (and verified) properly, will not only serve you a search results page that you dominate, their currency of content and level of interaction serve to boost your organic ranking.  Furthermore, all the social media profiles that have been growing over the past few years, most importantly Google’s, give you the opportunity to verify several business details… and the more you verify, the stronger your listing.  Make sure you’ve got a well-branded presence on the following sites, and you’ve got yourself a good foundation of a “link wheel[5].”

• ·         Facebook – think of this as your “other website” and make the absolute most of it!

• ·         Google Plus – be thorough and get verified! This is critical for local search and also gives you an opportunity to brand yourself. Google still owns 67% of the search market!

• ·         Twitter – know how to brand your bird! Twitter’s popular, but few know how to use it wisely for business; don’t be that brand that just tweets all their Facebook posts

• ·         LinkedIn – again, Google prefers brands, and this is a great branding, reputation management and SEO opportunity

• ·         YouTube – owned by Google, video blogging has risen in popularity as quickly as video advertising

• ·         Pinterest – “the world’s largest user-generated online catalog.” Still growing, Pinterest drives more traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter combined. Take an interest!

With those profiles, your listings could potentially dominate the top half of the search engine results page (SERP), which is clearly the goal as most know that the majority of searchers do not look at results below the fold.  If they don’t find the results they need at first glance, they’ll deem the search terms insufficient and re-search.

Other Movements in SEO

As if these weren’t enough broad-stroke changes, the rise in mobile internet usage has had a strong impact in the most recent algorithm changes[6].  While most smartphones’ and tablets’ browsers will scale down the size of a website, that’s not the same as the website being “responsive” (coded to automatically reformat depending on the device being used)… and that can count against you now, too. 

What can you do without overhauling your current site?  Supplement it with a mobile site –

a responsive-layout, mobile-friendly website that fits comfortably as a subdomain folder of your current website.  In other words, people viewing your site will automatically be redirected from www.yourwebsitename.com to www.m.yourwebsite.com and find a far more user-friendly format. 

 While the current definition encompasses your website, its design and navigation, your social media profiles and so much more, one can’t deny that the moniker “search engine optimization” still applies – there’s just a lot more to optimize.  If your business has been slipping, it may be because your competitors have adhered to these changes while you’ve been comfortable thinking that you already took care of it.  The truth is, SEO changes more often than your vendors’ prices, and your online marketing requires ongoing dedication.  If you’re surprised or apprehensive about being able to do so much optimization yourself, consider hiring a professional who’s adept at online marketing, sensitive to the needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses and qualified to take your business to the next level.  This also gives your customers the perception that you’re a brand, reliable and trustworthy for doing business.  What’s the best investment you can make as a small business?  Optimizing yourself!