Times they are a changing. SEO has become passe as chipper new search mechanisms pop up. SEO once determined where a website stood in terms of rankings on search engines, but not anymore. People aren’t just going to the search engine text block to input a keyword that they want to find. Nowadays, users congregate around the water cooler of news sites like Huffington Post, NPR and The New York Times to find out the latest happenings. Internet searches are starting with social media sites like Google+, Facebook and Pinterest, where users look for information, such as craft ideas, homework resources, and directions to a new barbeque joint.
So does this mean that SEO is as worthless as a Confederate nickel?
Not quite, but you are on the right track. As web content providers, it’s up to us to provide content that is going to help our customers in terms of searching success. Everyone wants to be the kingpin of the Google search page, even if social engagement is taking over. Additionally, while many web users are looking for social media to find their facts, not everyone is. Therefore, you shouldn’t give up on SEO completely, but you do need to incorporate social media in the process.
Balancing SEO with Social Media
One of the first things you can do to add fresh air to your website is to provide content that is sparkly and revolutionary. People want to be the first to know, so look for content that is popping up everywhere on social media sites and relate that content to your web content! For example, if a load of posts are popping up in your social media feed about global warming, that means your social circle is interested in this topic. Find a way to create visionary content for your site that is related to global warming.
There is a fine line here, however, since you don’t want to create crap for content by publishing forced and irrelevant prose. Look for the professional abilities of web content writers who can do this in their sleep.
Publish Great Content
Thanks to the invention of social media, web content is much less dependent on SEO. This means that your web content doesn’t need to focus so much on awkward keywords and colorful backlinks. Instead, you need to publish not good, but great content. This will attract more users who are interested in the quality of a website. Since most web users are coming across information through social sharing, having content worth sharing will keep you in the loop. You certainly don’t want to be that web page that is shared across social media feeds because your content was asinine.
Get in the Social Media Groove
Make it possible for readers to like, share, email, digg, stumble upon, pin and poke–well, maybe not poke–your articles. After you set up your site for social sharing, establish a social media profile and start the sharing game yourself. Get into the groove by starting a blog, too, so you have one more place to promote your product. Just like advertising in the print form, the more places you have your logo and business name, the more likely users are to come across it. After that, just as long as you have content worth reading, you will be able to overcome the lack of SEO importance.
Miranda B is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
