My learning experience with Hubspot - WHY SEO is dead

I'm taking myself and my company through the Hubspot training program to learn more about internet marketing. I now have my blog set up and will be publishing posts to share my own marketing experience as well as more about what I’m learning for all my clients who follow. I can’t believe how much I have learned about why SEO is dead, the sales funnel and buyer personas in just the first week. Today I want to focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is the process of tailoring your website and web content to improve a website’s unpaid (organic) search results. Improved search results should translate to more quality and quantity web traffic to the website, giving the business the opportunity to earn customers.

The biggest and most important thing that I have learned today is that SEO is dead (well actually bad SEO is dead).

We've been doing what we thought was White Hat SEO but it turns out that these practices, which were once considered standard, are now seen as Black Hat SEO. Google frowns on Black Hat SEO and can penalize websites that are manipulating web pages you are optimizing for search engines. What Google wants you to do is optimize your website for the USER.

This is all happening right now and 99% of the people out there don't even know it yet.

What does optimize for the user mean?

Google wants to provide the best possible experience for their users – the people who come to their search engine to get information. If Google believes that your website is providing relevant information with authority on a particular topic or category, they will increase your search engine results rankings for relevant queries.

How do I optimize my site with the user in mind?

There are several things that businesses can do to improve the user experience and thereby improve their search rankings and site traffic. Here are some of the most important:

1. Improve site speed. Everyone is impatient these days. If your site takes more than a couple of seconds to load, you are going to lose traffic. One of the ways to improve site loading speed is to avoid placing too many high-resolution images on your site to make it look beautiful. Instead, go for a fast, simple and easy to navigate website design that will provide a great experience.
2. Meet the site visitor where they are at. Provide an experience that provides the information that the user is looking for (resolve their problem). Ensure that your contact information or contact form is easily visible on every page. Do not assume that a first-time visitor is ready to buy – be prepared to reach out to them again after they leave.
3. Create memorable content. Your content should be fun, serious, revelatory, and informative depending on your target market(s). Create content that they are eager to read and then provide a call to action or link to more information in exchange for their contact information.

Hire the right SEO expert

It’s vital to hire an SEO company that understands the history of SEO, where it’s at today and knows the difference between white hat and Black Hat SEO. While SEO is dead is a dramatic thing to say, you want to work with a digital marketing agency that knows the ways that SEO can be used to improve search rankings in today’s environment. The right SEO company can help get your site to the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) with consistent efforts over time.

Softwired provides digital marketing solutions for our clients and partner agencies. We’ve got you covered for web design, SEO, local online presence and optimization, digital marketing, digital sales, and digital advertising. Whether you’re interested in a silent partnership or a referral program, web design only or more. Contact us today to get started!