The term “SEO,” or search engine optimization, seems relatively new. We tend to associate it with the search-engine boom in the last decade. In fact, SEO has been around ever since the internet became a mainstream technology. People differ over when the concept of SEO was born or even the first appearance of the term.

There’s a general consensus that it was introduced in 1995 or sometime around then. If that’s the case, then SEO is old technology. It has been around for over two decades. Only now does it receive the recognition it deserves. SEO has been important ever since the first search engines came into existence.

For the longest time, the practice itself was unknown to many. Today, companies devote an entire line item on their budget to SEO. Those familiar with the inner workings of SEO who can take advantage of them are highly sought after. It’s a major shift from 10 years ago. I would have received a confused look if I mentioned the term.

On the other hand…

While SEO has finally been recognized as an indispensable component of online marketing. It’s also become notorious for a number of reasons. There are of course those SEO practitioners who recklessly spam the Internet. Black-hat practitioners use dishonest methods to improve rankings. It is on account of these practices that SEO on the whole has been regarded as a shifty enterprise.

Google is then forced to respond by introducing new rules and penalties. Companies reluctant to take on these newly penalized practices that did so to compete in the fierce jungle of search engine rankings suffer as a result. It is a vicious cycle. It forced many smaller enterprises out of the business. Many SEO practitioners may currently find it difficult to market themselves as a reliable and legitimate resource.

Does this sound discouraging?

It should not. I’ll tell you why. Many of the stalwarts of the SEO industry are leaving the business. They have had a good run for the most part. They brought SEO to the very forefront of online marketing technologies.

On the other hand, for the very reasons mentioned above, companies all around the world seek those who can reinvent SEO and its possibilities. Like the internet itself, SEO does not and cannot remain static. It constantly needs people who can innovate in a way that matters.

The time is ripe for major changes. We need people who can lead the way in the next SEO revolution. What this means is that now is a very exciting time to get into SEO. You might feel like it is impossible for you to break into the industry.

How could anybody stand out in a job market as competitive as SEO?

In this article, I’ll give you my take on the essentials of SEO as well as on how you can make yourself an exceptional SEO practitioner.

1.  SEO: A Tool for Marketing

Despite all the bad rap, there is nothing inherently suspicious or devious about SEO. That’s because when it comes down to it, SEO is simply an element of marketing. Just as companies can use marketing to inform or to deceive, SEO too can be used for either good or bad reasons. At the end of the day, it is only a technology, a means to an end.

What is marketing?

Marketing is working to sell the product. As a marketer, your goal is to communicate the value of a product to customers and potential customers. SEO is no different. The aim is to transmit information about a product to those who could benefit from using that product and as many of those people as possible.

In the end, you equip them with the data they need to determine whether to purchase the product. For the very same reason, SEO isn’t a fraud or just an easy way to make money. False or empty advertising no longer gets you anywhere. It might have in the early days of the internet.

Once again, SEO is a marketing strategy. Marketing strategies can only go so far. Marketing requires a solid product worth something to the customer. Without this, SEO is just fluff. These days, fluff is easily detectable.

2.  SEO & Staying Relevant

Contrary to popular belief, SEO is not just a matter of arithmetic. It is more than coming up with the right keywords. More than just inserting a magic number of those keywords into a site’s text. That isn’t enough.

SEO is much more complex than that. Search engines are ever-changing battlefields for relevance. The best way to come out on top is to provide a product genuinely relevant to the keywords in question.

Beyond that, presentation is key. You need to offer your customers a concise, informative, organized, useful, and accessible website. See to it that your website reflects the quality of your product.

Make sure that you reach the widest audience possible by making your site mobile-friendly. Don’t waste any opportunity to make customers satisfied.

Be proactive!

Anticipate what concerns they might have. Organize targeted e-mail campaigns. Launch coupons and discounts from time to time. Customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in SEO.

3. Strategic Thinking

Technology never stops. It is constantly changing, innovating, leaping into the future. Just think about how rapidly social media changed the entire landscape of the internet. Likewise, SEO is subject to a shifting and dynamic system. No longer does it only apply to search engines.

It already moved onto sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and so on. You can be certain that it won’t stop there. Soon, it will move on to things we never imagined possible, such as virtual worlds and wearable technology. You won’t keep up if you only “play by the rules.”

You will not win by only trying to work the system. Search engines are always changing the game. Not just to counter those who reverse-engineer their algorithms but also to genuinely improve the quality of their search results. If you only work according to a static model of SEO, you will be left behind.

Instead of focusing exclusively on algorithms and data, think about the function of your product or service. Don’t just make your product look unique and actually be unique. Make your product or service responsive to new technology. Once again, make it relevant and stay relevant. Make it new.

Ask:

• What market niche does it inhabit?
• Who does it need to caters to?
• What are its advantages over similar products?

4. The Importance of Semantic Relations

Search engines have moved well beyond the idea of just searching for “strings,” or units of data. They now work on the “semantic search” method of improving search accuracy by seeking to extrapolate user intent from the query. In other words, its goal is to determine what someone is searching for by finding out why or in what context someone searches for that particular query.

It’s a huge improvement from the older model of searching. That older model does not take into account the ambiguities of language. Words can mean many different things. A lot of the time, these differences have to do with where a word stands in a phrase and how it relates to the other words in the phrase.

Search engines could not account for those differences because they considered words in isolation from one another. They did not account for the relational aspect of language and of knowledge. The problem is that word sense disambiguation cannot be automated.

The data must come from natural, authentic human communications. Does that mean that everything has to be manually done? Do humans need to painstakingly tag every possible word that comes up? In fact, it looks like the job could in fact be much easier than that. With projects such as Wikipedia, Google’s Knowledge Graph, Wolfram Alpha, Linked Data, and DBPedia, resources are quickly becoming available to create a reliable semantic search engine that can accurately predict user intent.

Google paves the way in this revolution in searching!

The first major step, of course, was the release of Hummingbird, which affected around 90% of all searches. Yet, many people still continue to describe it as merely a penalty or an algorithm update. It was neither of these, but a complete overhaul of their system.

It changed the basic way in which their entire search database was structured as well as the way in which the engine processed data. This was as significant of a change as PageRank. It is absolutely essential to understand this if you want to do SEO in this day and age. With Hummingbird, you have to begin thinking about search engines primarily as relational databases.

Too many people think that the older ways, such as guest posting, reciprocal linking, and directory listing, are gone. On the contrary, they are very much alive. If you think about the way Google privileges semantic relations, you understand what role these things play in the way Google sorts through those relations.

Guest posts and reciprocal links are used by Google to determine how different things might relate to one another. It’s absolutely essential for them to function. It’s the only excess that comes to bite you in the end. If you abuse the system, Google fights back.

Be Creative!

You might end up paying more for it than you originally thought. You shouldn’t try to outsmart the system. The system is already too smart for that. Instead, focus on genuine relations. Be creative about who the target audience is. Think of new, interesting, and relevant keywords. Research sites with potential customers.

5. Following Rules

Earlier, I said that you wouldn’t get ahead just by following the rules. What I meant was that is no textbook for optimization. It is something with which you have to be creative.

What I did not mean was that you can choose not to follow the rules. You need to. It might be annoying. Mostly, there is a reason lurking behind it that you do not and cannot see.

You really have to adjust to following Google’s relentless policy of change. It’s just a part of technology. Get used to it. Otherwise, it might come back later and haunt you.

6. SEO Means Working With Other People

We talked a lot about how SEO constantly changes.

Why is that the case?

SEO is part of technology. Technology is about innovation. Innovation requires competition and collaboration. When you first get your feet wet in SEO, you learn a lot by looking at how other SEO experts do things.

You must always qualify what you read and see. Just because such-and-such does this thing this way does not mean that it is the only way. People have different ways of doing things. Sometimes, one way is good for one but not for another. Instead of just learning routines, think critically about the things you learn.

These questions allow you to truly understand the practice of SEO in an authentic way while giving you the mindset of a leader & innovator:

• Are there any disadvantages to doing something a particular way?
• Could it be improved?
• Should it be done every time?
• If not, under what circumstances should it be done differently?

In the end, you have a commitment to your clients. You can’t devote all your time to thinking theoretically about different approaches. You must bring back results. Inherit SEO techniques from others and deploy them effectively. Balance your time between analysis and implementation.

It’s a lot to think about. You can get much further if you connect yourself to the wider SEO community. You find that many of us are more than willing to share our knowledge and experience with you. We take and give back.

The collaborative setting really allows us to constantly innovate. Using a collective wellspring of knowledge, we enhance older techniques and develop new ones.

Get on Social Media!

Many of us are on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Quora. We have to be. It’s our job! We are a great resource that you do not want to miss.

7. Looking at the Big Picture

What I tried to show in this article is that in the end SEO isn’t about algorithms, keywords, numbers, rules, or penalties. These are all a part of SEO. Individually, they don’t get even close to what SEO is all about.

Just as search engines try to come up with a way to relate search terms and websites to one another in a way that humans would, SEO must move in a way that anticipates these relations. That means doing everything.

Start with finding and analyzing user behaviors. Collect data on conversion quality. Then, design your site accordingly. Test the site and start again.

SEO Encompasses a Variety of Disciplines:

• Psychology
• Computer science
• Graphic design
• Creative writing
• And more!

It is a lot to take on. Also, it makes for a rich and interesting experience. The many different kinds of skills, experiences, and knowledge that SEO draws upon make it possible to excel in your own way. It forces everybody to be creative and really put everything they ever learned to use.

For all you new SEO experts out there, welcome. It’s an exciting time right now. We’re glad to have you. Every new SEO expert brings something new and interesting to the table. I have no doubt that you’ll make your impact too.
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Links Web Design is a Website Design Company in Bangor, Maine.