I just finished a 12 km run in the forest surrounding my apartment and was thinking about the communication surrounding SEO. It appears that most of the content about SEO published on blogs and social media is either technical or covers common topics.
This can be tough to understand for the former and useless for the latter.
The problem I see in this way of communicating is that it leads you not to think and act for yourself, even when the intention is to help you understand the ins and outs of SEO.
That just has the opposite effect.
So, during my run and thinking session, I was reflecting on what SEO would look like if we discarded all technical arguments, no matter how reliable and pertinent they are.
SEO is contextual
You’re getting SEO wrong if you think this domain is mainly related to keywords and backlinks concepts. Search engine optimization is first and foremost about context—yours, precisely. This means that your web discoverability depends on your real-life situation as a business owner.
In this regard, the more you are aware of:
- Who you are (as a person and as a business)
- What your business stands for
- Who the people working with you are (business partners, your employees, your customers)
- What you are dealing with the most
- What your expectations are
The more you will succeed in framing your brand’s big picture. And so in revealing the context you are in.
Look at context as the starter pack of your search strategy. As you are aware of your situation, you are more efficient in knowing what you want to communicate to your public, on what medium you want to communicate, and with whom you want to work so that you spread your message wider.
SEO is taking the floor
I always say that the Web is a digital reflection of our reality. In such a way that to be visible, we have to be findable. And to be findable is to take the floor. Yet, there are some nuances: to communicate on the web means to do it wisely, with a sense of purpose and in a way that is meaningful for each actor: you as a business, your public, and search engines.
The more you communicate your opinion and your knowledge, the more trustworthy and credible you will be for both your public and search engines. But this is not a guarantee; to speak up on the web requires much more effort, consistency, and preparation than in a simple real-life conversation.
SEO is about relationship
Your content alone is not enough. For it to be found, read, and trusted so that you can derive commercial benefits from it, you must create and nurture bonds—still with that meaningful approach.
When I talk about links in SEO, I’m pointing out two things. The first is to create a connection between your various dialogues, which could be a blog post, a press article, a podcast, an image, or even a video. The logic is simple: if two or more of your contents are related, whether closely or distantly, link them together.
The second thing, which seems to me much more important than the first, is to create a relationship with your audience. The idea is not to become close friends, although I wish you all the best in that regard. No, the idea is to become « indispensable » in their eyes as a source of information.
But to do this, you must step out of your corporate guise and become human. A human who thinks, who doubts, who is curious, who does things with conviction and purpose.
As I tried to explain to you, SEO is more related to our social reality than to a technical process. The more you will put away keywords and backlinks to embrace, context, dialogue and bonds, the more you will succeed in being visible on the Web.