Getting the Hang of SEO
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It can be hard to understand what SEO is. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to the publishing of information that helps search engines understand what website content is relevant to search queries. It’s also the process of increasing the number of visitors to a website by achieving high rank in the search results of a search engine. These definitions come from our previous blog post on some essential SEO terms you need to know. (Take a quick look to brush up on your SEO knowledge)!
But, sometimes definitions don’t paint a clear picture of what the SEO industry really encompasses. In fact sometimes analogies, not words, are easier to understand! It’s hard to grasp all the aspects of SEO yourself, let alone having to explain how SEO works to someone else. A Search Engine Watch article by Matt Morgan says it’s essential to use analogies when explaining to clients or your boss how SEO works and what results to expect.
A Few SEO Analogies
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An analogy is a comparison of two similar things. For example, think of SEO as antibiotics you might take if you’re sick. You have to take antibiotics for awhile before you see any results, if any. The same with SEO. Your business is not going to see quick results or increased traffic in one day just because you set up some keywords to optimize SEO on your website. You should also not take more that the prescribed dose. Imagine taking triple the dose of antibiotics, it’s definitely not going to make you feel any better and might even make you even more sick! Your wallet isn’t going to like it either. The same with SEO. Just because you spend more money or stuff lots of keywords onto a page doesn’t mean your SEO is going to automatically improve. You also need to stick to a schedule of taking antibiotics over time, and setting up a plan for SEO progress for your business is very similar.
“SEO is a long-term tactic that requires a solid foundation and consistency over time. When you get sick or have an infection, antibiotics aren’t going to provide instant relief,” says Morgan.
In addition, both doctors and SEO experts don’t always have exact answers and need to test different strategies to see what works and what doesn’t, according to Morgan, but both antibiotics and SEO require consistency. Morgan says one of the worst things a doctor deals with is when a patient doesn’t follow the prescribed treatment plan.
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“The inconsistency throws everything off and makes it difficult to determine if the prescription (or strategy) was really working,” Morgan says. “Consistency is very important for the success of your SEO campaign. It’s not something you should ‘turn on and off.’”
Here’s another great analogy from a Green Lane SEO blog post by Bill Sebald that compares racing and SEO. In racing, cars need to be constantly upgraded or optimized and factors need to be analyzed like driver and pit crew talent, competitors and track conditions, Sebald says. He says racecars always need to be optimized and improvements made, whether you’re winning or losing each week. For example, let’s say you are a team owner and work constantly to improve a car. You put in an expensive exhaust system and new suspension, but your car isn’t winning the races. Your competition still beats you, despite the two optimizations. But, you keep up with it and test and add more optimizations. You finally beat your competitors!
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“Your wins offset all your losses with a healthy margin of revenue leftover to enjoy. But it’s important you think about next season, and your next level of racing,” Sebald explains. “New technology will arise. New track conditions, new team members for both you and your competitors, and a hundred other factors will need your monitoring.”
This process is the same in SEO. You need to always be optimizing your business, and you should pay close attention to what your competitors are doing. Say you own a chain of fast food restaurants, and a fellow owner of a similar set of fast food stores is extremely active on social media and has local listings set up on Google. As a business owner you need to do the same in order to keep up, but you need to be prepared to manage and maintain your SEO whether your business is up or down in the margins. Even if you don’t see success or have prosperity right away, trust us having an SEO will pay off!
More Crazy SEO Analogies
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Here are two more hilarious analogies to help you understand SEO from an Internet Marketing Ninjas blog post by Bonnie Stefanick.
“It is often said that people learn through analogy, by comparing subject matter being explained to other familiar topics and lived experiences,” Stefanick says.
To this end she says SEO is like a poker game and cites a State of Digital article by Barry Adams.
“Poker is a card game that involves certain skills, techniques, and a bit of luck, to win more money in a game than your competitors,” Adams says. “Search engine optimisation is a profession that involves certain skills, techniques, and a bit of luck, to help a site rank higher than its competitors in search engine results.”
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Adams says luck in SEO refers to the constant algorithm updates search engines like Google put out or any externals factors SEO experts and business owners have no control over. Adams also says both poker and SEO were viewed as sleazy or shady in the beginning. Poker was once illegal with some players being considered as criminals. SEO also had less-than-stellar beginnings, with the SEO’s industry considered less than respectable and full of hackers and questionable methods. Some of these black hat tactics still continue today, and poker will always have the cheating gamblers and those that work the casino system.
One last funny and helpful analogy Adams discusses is that SEO is like being in high school. Say what?? Stefanick cites a Spokal blog post by Alexandra Skey. Skey says first off, the classes you take as a senior are different than the classes you start out taking as a freshman. At first, you are required to take a certain type of prerequisite classes like math and science and have a full schedule. Years later you can usually pick and choose a few classes you like such as choir and ceramics or might even have a half day schedule as a senior. In SEO, you start out doing many things and are probably blogging, doing social media, building links, etc. in accordance to what everyone is doing to start out in SEO. Then as time goes on, you see what types of tactics work for you, and like in high school, you’re trying to figure out what your interests are after getting the essentials out of the way. SEO is also like high school with the fact that you’re always trying to impress the popular kid, Skey says. The popular kid in SEO is Google! It’s true, whenever new updates come out like Pigeon and Panda, SEOs are scrambling to make sure their websites are up to snuff.
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“SEO is a popularity contest – everything you do is geared towards getting Google’s attention so your pages will rank higher and give your website more authority,” Skey says.
For more on how SEO is like being back in high school and more comical SEO analogies, like how SEO is comparable to Batman villains (!), check out Stefanick’s article! How do you think about SEO or explain it to others? What SEO analogies have helped you in the past? Leave us a comment below or chat with us on social media.