First up - a disclaimer. We are not SEO experts. In fact, it’s a service that we don’t offer through One Little Seed. However, we do work with multiple SEO agencies in our quest to partner with the right one for our clients (truth be told, we’re still looking).
I always say that I know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to SEO.
Kiss off keyword stuffing
When done correctly, organic SEO can be one of the most effective low-cost tools in your marketing tool kit. However, Google constantly updates its algorithms to ensure that readers (aka searchers) get the best experience. I may be showing my age here, but I remember when you could hide your keywords in the background by simply making them the same colour as your background and putting them on the top line of your HTML body code. Today, however, the constant changes and the effort required to keep up with them are part of why we look to experts who understand the nuances of Google’s terminology and requirements.
After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they've learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
These days, Google leans into ‘people first’ content, which is a good thing. It’s no longer about keyword stuffing and repeating those exact keywords again and again. The best question from Google’s own content recommendations is: After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they've learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
Colour me discontented
As anyone who knows me will attest, I'm rarely afraid to speak up and speak out. So, I recently challenged an SEO agency on some content they delivered that I felt well and truly missed the mark.
They provided content for a solutions page that was pure keyword stuffing in the first two paragraphs. I felt like we had returned to the early 2000s, and it was all product keywords. Best <insert service name> in Australia. Reliable <insert service name> with 24/7 support. Side note: 24/7 support is not a service offered, and I don’t even know where they got that from. It wasn’t until you got over halfway down the page that the problem-solving content came into play.
The content was so amateurish that I doubt anyone in our target audience would have bothered to read that far.
Write it right from the beginning
I believe there is a key difference between optimising content for consumers (B2C) and the B2B market. The B2B market is a complex sale, and according to Semrush, 56.5% of internet traffic in 2022 was informational.
This is why your content strategy is so hugely important to your marketing plan. Prospective clients are doing their online research, validating, and taking their time over it.
Our clients that are succeeding in these macro-economic conditions are being regular and relevant in their content. They are providing value and building trust. Their content is written for their audience and not purely for search engine optimisation. (Well, in truth, we keep search engine optimisation front of mind, but we’re far more subtle and natural in our approach, and never at the expense of readability).
You can support B2C in a manner of different ways and there’s generally less risk involved in a purchase, and - aside from your significant other – you don’t need to consider any other stakeholders.
Make your content eat-able
Google talks about E-E-A-T, meaning experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness when creating content.
This is why we’re so passionate about thought leadership content here at One Little Seed. Your potential clients want to know that you’re an expert in your field, and you can demonstrate this through sharing knowledge. To note: We’re not talking about product demos or reciting the latest tech specs of the shiny newly released widget. You’ll miss the mark if that’s what you are currently thinking and doing.
The power combo of thought and fact
A quick example of thought leadership would be in the land of cyber security.
Did you know that CloudFlare has a tool called Radar? At any given time, you can see where the majority of attacks on Australian businesses and organisations are coming from. It also gives you visibility into the types of attack traffic. Equipped with this information, you can create highly relevant, timely content and meaningful insights for prospective clients to prove how your solutions can help them mitigate these real threats. And they are real threats, not hypothetical ones. You are working with real-time data from a vendor blocking this traffic – in the here and now.
However, that said, there does come a time when technical validation of your solution comes into play.
This is where video comes in. And yes, you can optimise video for SEO. In fact, Google’s latest core update referenced that it now indexes the CSV files on your website. So, it’s important that you’re thinking about everything available on your site and how it can impact your SEO. One of the top tips from Google’s own help article on video SEO is to provide structured data. i.e., keep the same title, thumbnail and URL on all links for your video.
Be a people person
Getting to grips with the ever-changing ‘black art’ of SEO is challenging. Just when you think you’ve mastered best practice, Google throws another random rabbit in your path.
So, my advice?
Always remember that people buy from people. They buy from organisations that they feel they can trust. SEO content is a long game and requires specialist expertise, patience, and persistence. But done correctly and consistently – with a human voice and without keyword stuffing - it pays off.
