Technical SEO or Content SEO which one WILL pay off for you?
Search Engine Optimization – The Dominance of Content
“Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine. SEO refers to the improvement of unpaid results and excludes direct traffic and the purchase of paid placement.” Wikipedia
Most people I speak to believe SEO is a task for those with business websites to promote (Technical SEO). An addendum activity likely performed by an outside resource company that “keywords” your pages to improve organic search results. An update to that perception should include curated Content SEO. Content designed to target a specific set of search returns., answer a question, solve a problem, and provide a relevant answer at the right time. Both ideas are correct; however, SEO is much like eating food as medicine, a long, slow return on your investment with personalization and external forces driving your decision-making all along the way. Since both activities will benefit our brands, and both are long-term investments, which one is more likely to improve the lives of the masses?
Technical SEO tends to benefit larger endeavors whose ability to maintain first-position returns in competitive spaces can make or break their bottom line. Technical SEO is clinical, precise, and laser-focused on tweaking page content to support high traffic volumes on their web pages. Since the online consumer is a moving target with evolving needs, Technical SEO needs to recalculate almost daily. Hence, a highly-skilled SEO team that produces the desired results for their clients is worthy of a hefty retainer. Much like employing an ace mechanic to keep your race car at peak performance, the focus is on optimizing the machine, not connecting with the crowd.
Content SEO draws attention by connecting with the crowd.
Content SEO draws attention by connecting with the crowd.
To understand why the vast majority of us will benefit from the daily practice of Content SEO, you will need to catch up with the recently completed evolution of Google Search. Google Search is no longer a “Search Engine” Google Search is an “Answer Machine.”
While Apple and others successfully trained us to speak into machines to gain relevant answers to our questions, Google heavily invested in the reinvention of its tool. Voice recognition gave birth to the need for Google to understand “intent” when it comes to collecting the right group of answers.
That means any one of us can learn to create and distribute content that wins the returns race. A quality answer to a widely sought topic can even achieve an evergreen status endowing its creator with authority it cannot buy even with the deepest of pockets.
Google has laid its cards on the table, rewarding answer providers with free traffic and a powerful location to syndicate their content.
Content SEO has the added benefit of extended organic reach and evergreen behavior when syndicated into Facebook, Instagram, and Linked communities. Here your valuable content has free access to a relevant audience and, once posted, remains evergreen to your current audience and future visitors. We can all learn to break through, earn attention, and gain ambassadors for our brand with our high-quality content inside one of these communities.
Content SEO can be delivered via a blog post (written content), video content, bulleted lists, tables, handouts, PowerPoint, and memes. We should lean into our strengths; some will find writing blogs easiest, while others embrace video. Display your knowledge, insights, personal experience, and unique skills and talents to the world.
The economy of today is attention. We all need to learn how to build an audience, start a movement, gain loyal customers, or even attract the right people into our life.
The attention economy offers unlimited opportunities but has strict guidelines for participation. A brilliant idea can die on the vine or be catapulted into a fertile stream of admirers by the daily practice of connecting through Content SEO.
No one is suggesting that you need to become an influencer; in fact, you are better off earning a following as a natural byproduct of the quality of your work and the uniqueness of your product. The world is running two parallel realities. Growing or thriving today requires you to learn to cultivate your online brand. Whether you like it or not, everyone has a digital footprint; why not learn to define your narrative? Create ongoing fresh content around steps you are taking to improve your life, products, and services and contribute to your community.
Moving forward, the ability to curate and display your ongoing experience, knowledge, education and commitment via status updates, videos, and a thriving community will pay dividends in the ATTENTION ECONOMY. I hope you decide to participate, and for those who would like help understanding where to create your message for free to a relevant audience or a course on how to use the free tools for engagement, I’m here for you! I promise I will leave no one behind!
Tory Smith FelkeyFounder, Marketing Consultant & Educator
People-to-People Marketing