SEO in the Past
Take everything you have ever heard about SEO and chuck it!
Well maybe you don’t have to go that far, but here is the thing.
If you are looking to build a site that Google Loves and has you showing up on the first page every time, then maybe it is time for you to realize the rules have changed a little bit.
In the past search was impacted by one thing more than anything else.
Link Building.
It was Link Building efforts that kept SEO and PPC marketers focused because it was the quantity and more importantly the quality of links that was going to drive page rank up and therefore position in a Google Search.
After Link Building, SEO was heavily focused on formatting.
SEO Experts would turn their attention to using the keywords in the right header tags (H2, H3 ) and then splattering the keywords throughout the content and using italics, Bold and underline to further improve search rank.
Link Building is still very important, but some other factors have become immensely important and B2B Marketers need to take notice.
SEO Today: Quality Content, Socially Authoritative
One of the first questions clients always ask is about SEO. How do we drive SEO to be found on Google.
While the traditional SEO items I mention above are important, I usually take clients down a different route. This route covers two areas. Their content strategy and marketing efforts as well as their Social Media, Curating and Sharing strategy.
SEO and the Role of Content
First question, do you have a blog and do you keep up to date with quality content driven to answer your prospective clients most important questions about the solutions you offer?
If they say no, then I know we are starting at zero.
Even the most optimized B2B site if just a static products and services website will have a hard time growing and sustaining traffic.
Wondering just how important content is? Check out this Searchmetrics visual aid showing the content factors driving search.
In short, to improve in almost all of these areas you need more high quality content.
SEO and the Role of Social Media Signals
The second question I ask is, how does your organization use social media?
- Are you consistently sharing the content you are (or aren’t) creating across the platforms?
- Do you curate and share other useful content to build trust and relationships with potential clients interested in similar subject matter?
- Is your brand engaged and having conversations with readers in your target audience?
The purpose of this question is to basically find out one thing…
Is the brand Social and do they have an engaged community of any sort that shares content.
Because here is a less known secret of SEO that most B2B’s are failing to realize.
Social Sharing is a huge driver of SEO! Looking for proof? Check out this second study from Searchmetrics.
Notice anything here?
7 of the top 8 factors driving SEO are Social Sharing related and not traditional SEO drivers whatsoever!
Want SEO? Drive Content, Get Social
For companies asking the old how do we improve SEO question, the answer is simpler than you may think.
The challenge for businesses is that unlike in the past where the building process was more about following steps, grabbing
backlinks and properly formatting content, the rules have now changed.
If you want better SEO then you need to be creating more content, and driving it through social channels. It really is (or isn’t) that simple.
Looking to better understand what drives Social Sharing? Check out this great graphic from Marketing Charts.
Daniel Newman is the co-founder of V3*Broadsuite and is an experienced C-level executive, serving as a strategy consultant for small and mid-sized businesses. He’s also an insight/analyst partner to four Fortune 50 enterprises and previously served as the co-founder and CEO of EC3, a hosted IT and communications services provider. Prior to that, he served as the CEO of United Visual, Inc. in Chicago Illinois.
He is a widely published writer who contributes weekly to Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post and industry publications such as Commercial Integrator, Sound & Communication and Corporate Tech Decisions. He’s also author of three best-selling business books including The New Rules of Customer Engagement, The Millennial CEO, and just recently Evolve: Marketing (^as we know it) is Doomed.
Daniel has established a reputation as a leading thinker in topics such as Social, Big Data, Cloud and Mobile. He has been named to many top influencer lists in all of these areas, including recognition by the Huffington Post as one of the 100 business and leadership accounts to follow on Twitter. He is also an adjunct professor of management at North Central College.