Last Updated on February 18, 2024
SEO is about Getting in Front of People
SEO Search Engine Optimisation. Or Search Engine Optimization if you aren’t speaking the Queen’s English. That’s a thing, right? There’s High German, Low German, the Queen’s English, Parisian French, and even Baseball Radio English … regardless of what it is, there’s always a different way to cut it. Even Pizza.
I swore I wouldn’t write another SEO post for a while, but it isn’t working. Obviously. I have my SEO class to teach, there’s a 1 euro SEO ebook coming out this summer (200 pages for a euro – pretty cool), then there are the articles I write for clients which while not exactly SEO tasks need to be found and engaged with, so are on the cusp of SEO.
That’s what SEO is all about. Getting in front of people. SEO is, in a nutshell, a stop sign.
Search Engine Optimisation is a Like a Taxi Stop (Sign)
It’s a good stop sign though, and honestly, After a stop sign you keep on driving. A stop sign grabs your attention. I hope. That’s why they’re red. Taxis have a unique way of interacting with a stop sign called “a taxi stop”. They don’t actually come to a complete stop as they taught you in Drivers Ed, they slow down and then they’re off again!
If we are looking for something – like “wood-burning pizza ovens” – the best result, or SERP, grabs our attention, we pause, and then we click. Like a stop sign.
I want to quickly clarify what “best result” means. It doesn’t mean anything other than the “best” for “us”. That’s why SEO and other forms of online marketing are so interesting, fun, stressful … choose your adjective … “the best” for me is not always “the best” for you. We try to nail “the best” using long-tail keywords, Google Ads, Content Marketing, Social Media posts, having our Mum write a Google review – we really go the distance. In the end, it’s just all about getting people to stop – then go to our website.
I Talked with Kevin Barry About SEO on His Show “Marketing Chat”
SEO – Warren Laine-Naida
MAY 11, 2022 HOSTED BY KEVIN BERRY WITH GUEST WARREN LAINE-NAIDA
SEASON 1 EPISODE 14
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1924424/10586822
It was a great talk, and I’m thankful, again, to Twitter, for bringing me into contact with cool, interesting, and supportive people. Everyone else I block. ;o) Kidding! Twitter has been very very good to me. Thank you Bridget Willard for coaching me out of my cave and showing me how to use this amazing tool!
A Recent SEO Idea We Thought and Talked About in Class, or, Why We Don’t Need to be On the First Page of Google
Honestly, perhaps our visitors aren’t even looking for us on Google. There are many other search engines. Perhaps our visitors are at another party – Social Media for instance. They hear about us there. They see a mailing, a sign, hear someone talking about us, or see someone using our product. Google is great, but it is not the Alpha and Omega of being found.
Idea – The Pedestrian Search
Many people, myself included, perform the “pedestrian search”. Perhaps we were too deeply affected by the “Let your fingers do the walking” ads of the 1970s and 1980s. When I go to a website I don’t look at the menu or the search bar – I surf through the site and find what I want. Doing this I find other, interesting information too.
I know we are not supposed to expect visitors to learn about our website. I know people will leave our sites if they don’t find what they want – but what if we give them the chance to look around a bit first?
I’m Not On the First Page of Google
People still find me.
Let’s turn down the heat on the SEO pot. It’s going to not only cook the soup, but melt our pot if we aren’t careful. People can find you most of the time outside of Google.
Have fun with search engine optimisation. Enjoy it. Don’t make it your god.
What’s Your Own Take on Search Engine Optimisation?
Want to exchange pzza recipes? Do you need some SEO help? I’d love to chat. Drop me a line!