Good SEO is about a lot of things- you should make sure your website is well-designed to be easy to navigate (for humans and search engines), eliminate duplicate content, intelligently internally link, convince nice people to link to you, do smart keyword research, and make sure to actually use those keywords in your meta data, page titles, and URLs. But that’s all so…easy. Tasks like these might make up the definition of search engine optimization, but SEOs who are dedicated to the practice of SEO that only considers how to play search engines are the reason that so many people badmouth SEO. It doesn’t have to be that way. SEO, for someone who cares about the long-term fate of a website and the real value of that site, is a much more inclusive concept. And the beauty of thinking of SEO in this more expansive way is: it gives you more stuff to do. You’re not confined by the boundaries of “traditional SEO”, and you can be more innovative in getting yourself- or your clients- value from a website, and at giving more value to your visitors. Everyone is happy, and when everyone likes you better, you’re going to have more success online.

There are a lot of ways to consider the value you’re offering visitors now and improve upon it, and some of them are so simple that there’s really no excuse not to integrate them into your SEO strategy. If your site is all basic-SEO-optimized up and you’re thinking “what a great job I did”, then: too bad. You’ve got so far to go, but don’t worry: this is the fun part. You always have to keep in mind all of the SEO basics, but once your site is tidy, it’s time to look into making it cool. And this is how.

1. Give the people what they want

You surely have analytics data. If you don’t, you need to get some ASAP. Determine where people are entering your site, and with which keywords, and what they’re doing when they get there, and when they’re leaving. Analyzing this data is like a little treasure hunt. Who’s getting what they want? Who isn’t? Can you figure out what you’re not offering them? You can also use the questions people are asking when they contact you to form the basis of additional information you need to be providing.

Analytics, and your own visitors’ queries, are a great place to get ideas for:

Website Optimizer tests- Test the various value propositions you’re offering to your audience, and let them tell you what they want to see.

New content for current pages- Address the unanswered questions that come up frequently!

New pages- if you offer something and it’s not apparent to people that you offer it, that…is bad. This is one of the best ways to expand your reach into a whole new group of keywords you’ve never ranked for before, and increase your website’s usefulness for your visitors as well.

2. Ask the industry

No industry is static, and that’s why you can’t optimize a site once and say done. The pace of change will vary from industry to industry, but everywhere, new terminology, trends, news, advances, and scandals will occur. It’s going to happen, and you need to make sure you stay knowledgeable about it in order to update your keywords and content to stay relevant.

Talk to the client- If you’re working for a client website rather than your own industry, it’s important to touch base frequently about what’s going on, and how those occurrences can be integrated into your site content.

Add an industry events calendar to your site- Especially if you, or your client, attend events frequently, you can list industry events and mention your attendance, which is fantastic both because it tends to be easy to rank for conference and event names, exposing you to a large industry audience for branding purposes, and because it lets people know they can find you there for personal interaction.

Add an industry news section to your site- This is a great way, if you are not in the industry of the site you’re optimizing, to keep apprised of what’s going on and identify new areas for keyword and content targeting. It’s also useful, if you just write small summaries of each news item, as a way to integrate a variety of relevant industry terms onto your site.

3. Give people a chance to interact

Social media etc. etc. etc. – there are a ton of ways to interact with your audience now. Pick a social media platform or two that you can be dedicated to, let people tell you what they want, and be willing to respond by giving it to them or telling them why you have a better alternative.

4. Don’t forget your roots

Local SEO- If you’re a business with a local presence- whether you’re targeting a nationwide or worldwide audience or not- it’s usually silly to ignore your hometown business. They’re right there. Local SEO isn’t just the same as more widely-targeted SEO efforts, but it can be done in conjunction with them, and a lot of the things you can do- from opening a Google Local Business center account to integrating local keywords and an address on your site- are so straightforward it will probably cost you more to ignore them than execute them.

The SEO game is never over: there’s always a way to be better, and the key to long-term success is to keep reaching for it.

As you know full well, the search industry is constantly changing, and that means SEOs and businesses must adapt. This is always made abundantly clear at the change of each year as the previous year is reflected upon, and predictions about trends in the upcoming year are discussed. SEOs know that adaptation and ongoing education are crucial. The problem is that businesses don’t always understand just how much the search landscape actually does change. This can present a whole different set of challenges for both the small business and the professional SEO.

What are some SEO tactics you’ve had a hard time convincing clients to employ?

Searching for Profit founder Amanda Watlington recently discussed some arising trends in the search industry and how understanding the changing search landscape is of vital importance. One example of change is the possible inclusion of site speed as a ranking factor in Google. Matt Cutts dropped that bomb a couple months ago, and while many welcome it, a lot are dreading it.

For one, businesses and clients of SEOs simply may not be so eager to put forth the time and money required to make the necessary adjustments to their sites to optimize for speed, although it is clearly in the best interest of the customer’s experience anyway.

Another challenge, as Watlington mentions, is personalized search. Companies don’t always get that not everybody is necessarily going to see the same search results for any given query, and it can sometimes be difficult for SEOs to convince them that this is the case.

Although things appear to be looking up, budgets have been tight, and businesses are demanding better results for their bucks, but they are not always aware of the big picture, which is why it is up to the hired SEO professional to educate them as best they can, and for other businesses to educate themselves.

Luckily, there are plenty of industry resources freely available on the web. After all, you’ve probably read about the very tactics you have in mind there yourself. SEOs should find instances to back up their case to convince stubborn clients. Some of them are just hung up on outdated trends. Obviously this can make it hard to produce the results they are after.

“The evolution has been slow, and I don’t think we’ve helped it as much as we could,” Watlington says of companies’ understanding of SEO trends.

If you are the client of an SEO or a business trying to get things done yourself, don’t stay hung up on old tactics that might be outdated. At this point, these are some of the things you should keep in mind:

- Site Speed (it’s going to matter, so don’t ignore it…here are some things to consider)
- Personalized Search (Not everyone is going to see the same Google results)
- Universal Search (Showing up here requires attention to different indexes)
- Real-Tme Search (look for more evolution in this area)
- Changes in Local (there are frequently tweaks made by Google here)
- Some things do stay the same (things like reputable links will always be in style)
- Most importantly, stay informed (just keep up with the latest in industry developments)

As Watlington notes in the interview, metrics are very important, and there has been a great deal of focus on them in the industry in recent years. New metrics come about, just as new tools do. Metrics can help illustrate the bigger picture, custom-fit to a particular organizations goals.

At SES Chicago, there was an interesting session in which a group of search marketing professionals debated the issue of which is better between PPC and SEO. Participants included Dave Naylor, Chirstine Churchill, Michael Gray, and Karen Weber, and Rand Fishkin.

Does PPC have more benefits than SEO? Comment here.

Chruchill pointed to a study from Engine Ready on conversion rates by source of traffic (PPC vs organic). The study found:

- Conversion rates: PPC just barely beat SEO
- Average Order Value: Paid won
- Average time on site: Paid won

She gave the following as advantages of PPC:

Christine Churchill- Gives immediate online presence

- Have a new site? Have ads in an hour
- Start getting ROI sooner
- No ramp up time
- Great for seasonal items or time sensitive promotions
- Great for testing
- Easily test effectiveness of new marketing message or site design change
- Quickly gather feedback
- Regulate traffic volume
- Sales pipeline empty? Use PPC to push traffic
- Overloaded? Pause campaigns or cut back spend
- Have limited sales season? Saturate market while demand is high

“PPC is very agile. It’s also has targeting advantages,” said Churchill.

For targeting, she says PPC provides opportunity for high visibility in multiple channels (search engines, content sites, mobile phones), expands results beyond search results, and gives you control over placement on SERPs and better control over landing page/message.

It’s often easier to sell PPC to management because the concept is similar to traditional advertising, and provides for direct accountability. It’s easy to track measures of success. It’s an effective way to drive qualified traffic to your site, and it allows you to expand your opportunities.

Karen Weber Weber says the top five reasons why “PPC rules,” are: speed, flexibility, it’s unlimited, it’s goal-driven, and it’s controllable. You can quickly manipulate keywords to those that drive conversions, you can quickly change bid prices, and you can quickly get in and out of the market. You can turn your campaign on and off, and change ad copy, keywords, etc. You can target a much wider range of keywords, adhere to a budget, and have an immediate impact on sales.

Fishkin pointed out that PPC gets 10% of clicks, but 90% of spend. He said SEO is more challenging and less controllable, but the spend is there and the fact that people click organic results.

Gray said he believes that PPC could make SEO better, but Google is banning people now, so it makes things more challenging. Naylor said he believes SEO is more “open.” Weber and Fishkin both said they would outsource PPC over SEO.

Michael Gray Gray said it’s important to get in the top during the early part of the research phase, especially since Google is personalizing results for everyone now. Churchill noted that Google’s personalization is a better argument for PPC. Like iEntry CEO Rich Ord recently noted, the addition of personalized results could “make people less reliant on organic search results for their traffic and in turn increase their use of Adwords.”

Another point was brought up as we recently discussed – that the search engines are pushing organic listings down with mixed media (blended, universal) results.

Certainly there are many advantages to both PPC and SEO, and they can compliment one another. Actually, a recent study from a couple of NYU Stern professors found that organic search engine results can play a direct role in whether or not a paid listing is clicked.

Which do you think is more important – SEO or PPC?

Share your thoughts here.