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How To Find the True Search Intent Of A Keyword

SEOs talk a lot about search intent as a major factor for achieving search visibility. The significance of search intent is that search engines want users to be able to find what they’re looking for with the least amount of effort. If you know what a user is looking for, you can publish the content that can be displayed as the best result to a search query. This article outlines how to find the true search intent of a keyword to drive more targeted traffic from higher-ranking positions on the SERP.

This function of SEO is critical because if you miss the mark identifying the intent, no matter how good your content is, no matter how many backlinks your page has, you will NEVER maintain a position on the first page of Google. This makes identifying and satisfying search intent a fundamental aspect of developing keyword and content strategies.

Basic forms of intent

At the highest level, you can break down search intent into three major areas; informational, navigational and transactional. Each of these categories represents a basic motivation for initiating a search.

Informational

As it turns out, informational searches account for about 80% of the total searches made on search engines. Providing useful information on your website can accelerate the growth of traffic being driven to the top level of your marketing funnel. 

Marketing funnel concept helps categorize search intent

By making visitors more aware of their problems and the solutions that you offer, you brand your company as an expert in your niche. Publishing SEO content regularly facilitates your ability to reach a larger group of people searching for information about the problems your product or service solves.

Navigational searches

These types of searches are when users already know what they’re looking for and are looking for a way to get there. There are millions of searches for the term “Facebook login” every single day made by people who want to get to Facebook.

Although navigational searches can drum up a significant number of searches, they are typically not keywords you would use in your SEO strategy.

Transactional searches

Users who want to make a purchase will use transactional keywords that represent buyer intent. Transactional searches represent users searching for a way to buy a product that they have already researched and are ready to purchase.

One way to research transactional keywords is to use Google Keyword Planner. Here you can find the level of competition, the average price paid for a click from that keyword (cost per click or CPC) and the approximate volume of the keyword being searched.

Determine general intent with a SERP Analysis

The first step to identifying search intent is to analyze the first page of search results. You can tell a lot from the features that a search engine displays in response to a query.

For example, if you were to search the keyword microwave oven you would find a slightly mixed bag of results. Users who search this term could be at the buying stage or they could be in the research stage.

The first three results are category pages for big-box stores selling microwaves.

How to identify the true intent of a keyword by analyzing the organic search results

Further down we have a local pack for people who want to visit a store that carries microwaves.

IMage of a local pack indicating the existence of local intent

Lastly, we have a section Google titles “Research microwave oven” and displays articles that compare brands and models.

A research section in the search results shows tinformational intent

If we were to change the search to Walmart microwave oven, we immediately see the intent of the search switch to mainly transactional. Evidence of this is the Google Ads that immediately pop up above the fold.

Branded search for walmart microwave oven is considered to have transactional search intent

The organic results are primarily Walmart pages because this is a branded search. It’s clear that the user is in the purchase stage and is ready to buy a microwave, making this a transactional search. 

If we type in the keyword best microwave, you can once again see how the intent shifts to an informational search. The articles displayed on the top 10 are all targeting the consideration stage of the marketing funnel. 

Example of informational search intent which is usually the case whenever "best" is in front of a keyword

This is an informational search because users want to research and compare options. Evidence of this is in the fact that the search results are mainly blog posts that compare different microwaves.

The lack of Google Ads is also another indication that the main intent of the user is to gather information and they’re not quite ready to buy yet.

Identify the content type that ranks best

To rank highly for informational search terms, you have to pinpoint the underlying motivation of the user and address their intent better than any other page. The titles of the top 10 organic results are a good indication of the type of content that has the best chances of ranking.

The term best microwaves clue us in to the fact that the user is looking for a) a buyer’s guide on how to choose the best microwave or b) The best features that microwaves offer. Every search listing in the top ten for this term is either a listicle (numbered list of “X of the best microwaves” or a buyers guide.

To publish content that has the best chance at ranking, you would publish an article written in this form.

Account for complete topic coverage

To publish a page that outperforms the competition you need to be able to provide the user with what they need to end their search. The proof is in the pudding and by going through the top three results, you can get an idea of the level of depth and topic coverage required to satisfy the intent.

Example of analyzing the top search result to cover all topics

If you scan through Consumer Reports, the number one search result, they’ve grouped microwaves into two major categories; countertop and over the range.

They compare five microwaves in each category and provide links to buy the microwaves from multiple vendors.

To compete with this page in terms of content, your page would need to cover each of those aspects and provide some sort of value-added aspect. 

An example could be by adding more detailed images, a video that summarizes the content or more products in your comparison.

Create audience-centric content

Search engine optimization is constantly including more ways to measure audience-centric content. User engagement statistics enable search engines to gauge how well a piece of content can hold the attention of visitors and ultimately satisfy the underlying intent of a search.

Identify search intent during part of the keyword research process to optimize to be found by the most accurate audience. Understanding what a user is looking for enables you to publish content that hits the mark and ranks highly in the search results.

Anything less and you can be sure any first page appearances will be short-lived. Content that nails intent creates long-term value and high search visibility that drive streams of highly targeted traffic.

Domain Authority & What It Means For Your Website

You may have heard the phrase domain authority being passed around quite a bit and it’s probably for good reason. Many SEOs use the term to describe the likeliness of a website to rank since it refers to the aggregate link equity a domain possesses.

The truth is that domain authority or DA is a term and value that has been formulated and branded by Moz. Other companies have their own versions of how they measure it but the entire concept is a proprietary metric Google used in its algorithm called PageRank.

What is PageRank?

To be honest, no one knows for sure what exactly went into the PageRank calculation, but what we do know is that it had a lot to do with external backlinks. Google used to disclose the PageRank of every page on the internet. This way you would know how powerful a page was and whether it had a strong ability to rank.

Google's old display of pagerank which is now replaced by domain authority

PageRank is based on one of Google’s earliest patents. It states that the popularity of a site could be measured by how many websites linked to it. This is baked into the Google ranking algorithm and remains true today since backlinks are among the top three ranking factors.

The more backlinks a website possesses from relevant websites, the more ranking power it gains. This flow of “link juice” is commonly referred to as “authority.” When a website accumulates thousands of links from related websites, its authority grows.

The concept of pagerank visualized by numerical values of interlinked websites. This somewhat resembles page and domain authority

In 2016, Google stopped publicly displaying PageRank because it contributed to rank manipulation. People would focus on PageRank rather than relevance when linking to other websites in an attempt to boost the ranking ability of their page.

When PageRank stopped being published, a few companies developed their own system for assigning a similar value to web pages. Moz was among the first to come up with DA or domain authority, which measured the aggregate link equity of a domain.

Page authority vs. domain authority

Page authority represents the aggregate link equity of a specific page. Google doesn’t rank domains in the search results it ranks pages. This makes PA or page authority a more accurate measure of the ranking ability of a specific page.

The content on a page is what counts as being relevant to a search. This means that even if your domain authority is considerably lower than another website, you can compete with their pages if you have enough support from other websites linking to your page to bridge the gap in authority-assuming your content is a better solution to search intent.

Advantage of high DA

Keep in mind that a high authority domain has a head start on low authority domains when they publish a new page.

For example, a website with a DA of 80 can publish a brand new blog post whose page authority automatically starts at 45 DA.

Whereas when a website with a DA of 33 publishes a new blog post the new page will start with a DA of 18.

Therefore it will take more backlinks for the lower DA website to even out the page authority when competing for the same keyword in the search results.

The importance of domain authority

The truth is that the higher the authority, the easier it is to rank. It’s easy to get hung up on page authority and domain authority because there’s a specific value to compete with, however, it’s not the only thing that will rank a web page.

Google has actually stated that domain authority doesn’t exist.

Here’s a video of John Mueller actually stating they don’t use overall website authority scoring.

That may be true for them but for SEOs and businessmen, it helps to know what you’re up against when you’re considering keywords to target. If you see 8 out of 10 websites on the first page with a DA over 80, you know you’re in for a long battle to get anywhere near the first page.

Domain authority places your domain in a general category that’s comparable to other websites. It gives you an idea of how close the website is in terms of credibility and authority.

DA in link building

Link building is not an easy task these days, so having a high domain authority is a big advantage to ranking in the search results. Linking from high DA websites is a big advantage because they drive your DA up higher.

PA in link building

Page authority is more accurate in measuring link authority when it comes to ranking for keywords. It gives pages a chance to compete with high DA websites. When there is good content on a page that serves the intent of the search and other websites are linking to it like crazy, it’s going to move up in the search results.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s only because of the links and actual value of PA. It’s a combination of the fact that people are linking to the content because it’s obviously worth linking to in the first place.

There are plenty of instances where low DA sites rank on the same page as high DA websites. It just depends on the content, the optimiztion and how many links the lower DA site has to compete with the higher authority websites.

Here’s an example of a website with a low DA and NO links ranking on the first page with high DA websites:

Low authority website ranking on the first page grouped with high DA websites

Other measures of DA

Moz was not the only company to come up with a measurement for authority. There are several companies that use a similar system to measure the quality and quantity of backlinks that a page and domain possess.

Here are a few:

Ahrefs: DR and UR (domain rating and URL rating)

Majestic: TF and CF (Trust flow and Citation Flow )

SEMRush: Authority score

Conclusion

In an effort to gauge the competition, many companies have come up with their own systems for measuring overall authority. Although it does not represent the actual value of PageRank, they are a measure of the aggregate link equity that each page or domain possesses.

Domain authority is not an exact measurement for determining rank, but a tool that is commonly used to gauge the level of difficulty in acquiring a similar number of backlinks to compete and outperform competing pages.

The takeaway here is that although it’s an important ranking factor, it not the measurement of DA that matters most since it’s a combination of ranking factors that make up a ranking. Use DA as a general guide for determining the strength of competition and as a way to look deeper into what makes a page rank highly.

The Difference Between SEO and Content Marketing

There are a number of different strategies within the digital marketing spectrum. Most of which are their own unique and distinct entities that can easily be differentiated between one another. SEO and content marketing are unique in that sense.

A PPC campaign is different from a website design. Social media marketing is completely different from email marketing. When it comes to SEO and content marketing, however, the lines are more blurred because they work together pefectly.

The overlap between SEO and content marketing
Image source: Lyfe Marketing

People get confused about the two strategies since quite a large part of each strategy overlaps with the other. This article should straighten out any misconceptions you may have about the two and give you a better understanding of how they are used together to maximize results.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization services incorporate a variety of tactics to improve the likelihood of content being found by users and search engines. SEO uses keyword research, keyword targeting, keyword mapping, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, content creation and technical SEO elements to improve the overall optimization of a page or piece of content.

SEO has a narrow focus

SEO has a more specific focus because it is primarily keyword-based. It’s true; search engines have evolved from ranking web pages solely by keywords, however, keyword targeting is necessary to make sure your page gets in front of the right audience. The result is that an optimized page will not only rank for one keyword, but a series of keyword variations as well.

Search engine optimization is an analytical process for not only identifying the audience, but for finding out what they type to search for topics and what is required to appear at the top of the search results.

SEO is technical

SEO involves incremental changes and additions that continuously move your page closer to the top of the searches. SEO goes beyond the content to improve on technical aspects of performance that search engines credit as positive ranking signals.

Technical issues that affect indexing are a major component to SEO. Improving page speed is also a factor that affects the ranking and engagement statistics of a web page. Maintaining longer dwell times, higher click-through rates and increasing the average number of pages per session are all calculated efforts to improve the quality of content on a website.

benefits of SEO
Image source

So how does this tie in to content marketing? First let’s define what content marketing means to a business.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing means identifying an audience and creating content to educate and/or entertain based on their interests. Content is typically created for a broader audience that appeals to all stages of the buyer journey.

Content marketing can be for social media, increasing conversions on a website or creating awareness by appearing on popular websites. Content marketing can come in the form of research, storytelling, articles, images, videos, slide shows and literally any form of multimedia.

benefits of content marketing
Image source

What’s the difference between SEO and content marketing?

The difference between SEO and content marketing lies in the scope of which each has in terms of an audience. SEO has a narrower focus that is keyword based. SEO focuses on the intent of the audience and identifies the technical requirements to reach that audience.

Content marketing has a broad focus that can apply to an audience with multiple intents. There are no technical requirements to create the content necessary to serve its purpose.

How content marketing and SEO overlap

Combining SEO and content marketing is where we see powerful results. 

First of all, SEO can’t exist without content. 

SEO optimizes content to be found by a specific group of searchers. Without any content to optimize, there is no SEO.

Content marketing becomes a powerful method of marketing when it’s optimized to appear in front of a specific audience. By identifying what people are looking for in searches, you can create content that satisfies their intent.

Good content brings brand recognition, brand loyalty and more confidence in making a purchase from your company. 

By identifying the major keywords being used to search for your products and the problems and solutions related to using your product or service you can reach a specific group that is more likely to convert from visitors to new clients.

SEO establishes the parameters for what content is needed to generate more traffic to your website. Content marketing supplies those requirements.

Create content that’s in high demand

At the end of the day, you want to create content that people are actively looking for on Google. The process that’s proven to be the most effective for driving targeted traffic is simple:

  • Establish the true intent of keywords that represent high business value.
  • Create content that satisfies the intent of the search.
  • Optimize content to appear for your keyword topic.
  • Improve ranking and increase traffic to your pages by building links and promoting on social media and other content distribution channels.

This four-step process works to create new streams of high converting traffic. This system requires targeted SEO content writing with consistent production to create long-lasting results in the search engines. The result is increased revenue from more traffic and new clients.

Speak to a professional today and learn how to drive traffic with an SEO content strategy custom-fit to your website. For more details visit our SEO services page.

How To Pick A Good SEO Company For Your Business

Choosing an SEO company for your business is not a decision to be taken lightly. When you work with an SEO expert, you’re usually in for the long haul, so you want to be sure that they’re not just a good SEO agency but that they’re the right SEO firm for you. Learn how to pick a good SEO company to maximize your results in developing your website.

The SEO industry has grown dramatically in the last few years. Companies are realizing how much money there is to be made from being in a position to be found by people searching on Google for the products and services they offer. The industry is estimated to have grown to almost 80 billion in spending.

how to pick a good SEO company since so many have emerged as depicted in the image that shows 80 billion in SEO spending

This has translated to floods of people becoming “SEO professionals” in an attempt to get a piece of that 80 billion dollar pie. This wouldn’t be an issue if every SEO agency and SEO expert were able to do a great job for your business.

The problem faced is not just knowing how to pick a good SEO company, but how to choose an SEO company that’s right for your business.

Here are a few ways to get you on the right track for choosing from the SEO providers you’re considering hiring.

Find a business like yours that can refer you

Most SEO companies acquire new clients because the clients were referred. This accounts for about 45% of the new business an SEO company generates.

Learn how to choose the right SEO firm for our business. This image illustrates how SEO companies acquire new clients

Considering the number of self-proclaimed “SEO professionals” in the business, it puts your mind at ease by having someone vouch for a company that you’re about to invest a considerable amount of money in.

Referrals from family and friends of the company or employees of the company will need further investigation. Don’t just blindly jump into an SEO company because your buddy’s friend works there.

It’s a good start, but you need to dig deeper into the company before making any decisions.

Getting a referral from an existing client of the company would be the best-case situation. You can hear from them first hand what the SEO Company has done for their business and get an idea of what to expect.

Read the reviews on your prospective SEO agency

The service industry is littered with companies that don’t treat their customers right and those that provide the best customer experience. Reading through the reviews of a prospective SEO company is a start for getting some insight into the credibility of the business.

5 Star Google reviews are one indication of a good SEO agency

Most people will immediately read any reviews that suggest a terrible experience. This is probably the best place to start because you may want to move on if there are too many of these.

Read the five-star reviews as well to get a sense of what the company is about and whether customers are talking about similar situations you want to find yourself in. There may be a lot of dentists that have reviewed a company that suggests they specialize in that niche.

If you’re a dentist, it’s probably a great fit for you. It’s probably a great fit if you’re a physiotherapist or any type of doctor since the company has experience working with businesses like yours.

Scan objective lists and recommendations on credible websites

Find objective opinions by reading the reviews on different platforms. The first obvious reviews are those on Google. Rather than solely rely on Google reviews, visit Clutch.co to see more reviews on SEO companies from legitimate businesses.

Clutch is a directory for digital marketing companies that conducts interviews with the clients of these companies. The reviews you read on Clutch.io have been written by the Clutch employees based on the interview they have with the clients.

Clutch.co review on Digital Ducats Inc. as evidence of credibility as a good SEO company

Other sources of reliable lists can be on websites that don’t accept payment to be on the lists. The source is only credible when they aren’t being paid to tell people that the SEO firms on their list do a good job with their clients. 

Interview your top choices

After searching for an SEO service provider, you should easily be able to come up with a list of three to five prospective companies. You won’t know exactly what each company has to offer without speaking to them first. 

Of course, some have their programs and pricing listed on their website, but the truth is every website has a unique set of needs and may not require the same type of service.

To be sure you’re getting someone who understands your business and knows how to generate more income from your website, you need to speak to an SEO consultant.

Make sure the lines of communication are open

Even if you’re not familiar with SEO terminology, you should be able to understand what your SEO company is proposing for your business. If the SEO expert you’re talking to is worth their salt, they should be able to explain the answers to your questions in a way that makes sense.

It may not be important to every business owner, but for those who like to be kept up to speed, your SEO consultant will need to report to you and communicate what’s happening with your site. If there are some communication issues or it’s a cultural mismatch you may want to reconsider going into business with this person since SEO is all about the long game.

If you feel frustrated after talking to an SEO it’s a bad sign that you’re not getting the answers you’re looking to hear. Make sure you’re able to communicate freely and you’re comfortable with entering a business arrangement that will most likely be a minimum of 6-9 months (if not as an on-going service).

Questions to ask your SEO consultant

You can qualify your SEO agent by asking questions that show whether they’re on the right track with their business and whether they can help yours. Here are a few suggestions to ask your SEO expert during your consultation meetings.

What KPIs would you use to benchmark performance?

Ask your SEO which key performance indicators they’ll use to benchmark your progress. The answer they provide should include the values that will make a difference in the revenue your website generates.

Does your business rely on more subscriptions? Then you need to know whether your SEO is going to increase the number of unique visitors and track goal conversions.

Do you use your website to generate more leads from phone calls? Your SEO should be talking about installing a call tracker or setting up conversion goals on your site that count how many visitors press the click to call button.

Rankings and traffic on their own are not an indication of success. True success is being able to get your content in front of the right audience and inspiring them to complete the desired action that results in increased revenue.

Ultimately, increased revenue is every business’s goal. Find out how your SEO can benchmark performance and measure the progress of your SEO campaigns.

What is your process and how will it help my business?

Any upstanding SEO company will not have a problem explaining to you how they intend to develop your website. The process for implementing SEO tactics is not proprietary or a heavily guarded secret. 

Search engine optimization is a combination of many different tactics and strategies to increase the search visibility of your business. Most strategies are well-known across every legitimate SEO company and it should be an easy conversation that follows the question.

The proposal that your consultant provides should make sense to you and match your business goals. If the search engine optimization professional you’re talking to you can’t disclose a method for how they intend to make you more money, time to move on.

Ask about the areas they excel in with their clients

Most SEO companies are capable of performing most aspects of SEO but you want to find out whether your prospect is a specialist in a specific area of SEO. The perfect match for your company is one that specializes in the exact services you need.

Some companies are extremely good at SEM and PPC campaigns. 

Some companies don’t offer that service at all. 

If paid ads are a big part of your strategy, you’re going to want a company that can fine-tune your campaigns to get the highest conversion rates at the lowest price per click.

Alternatively, may find a company that specializes heavily in content and can effectively target and generate organic traffic. The content writers in this SEO firm may produce better results with content than any other firm.

If your company needs more branding and exposure across a large audience, finding a company that specializes in SEO content creation and marketing is your best bet.

Finding the right fit for your business means more money for your company in the long run.

What’s your method for reporting?

Ask your SEO how they intend to report the progress of your SEO services. Are they using tools that will provide you with clear data as evidence of the status of your website? Do they set aside the time to explain any questions you have about the data you’re being presented with every month?

The SEO consultant you hire can be considered an extension of your in-house team. Make sure that you’re able to agree on seamless integration of how data is reported that fits into your decision-making process.

Can I speak to one of your clients as a reference?

If you’re dealing with a successful SEO company that’s capable of helping your business, they should have no problem referring you to a happy client. If a consultant says no they may have something to hide and you’re going to want to move on to the next option.

Common mistakes when choosing an SEO company

It’s easy to make the mistake of trusting the wrong information when deciding on an SEO company. The following are a few common mistakes that you can avoid to make more informed decisions.

Avoid “best SEO lists”

There are a lot of companies that build directory sites specifically for selling SEO companies a spot as the “best SEO company in [city]” Avoid making decisions based on these types of sites.

The motivation for these websites is not to help you find “the best SEO company” but to make money from the SEO companies who need more clients. 

It’s not to say the SEO firms listed won’t be credible, but you should still go through your due diligence in qualifying the SEO company for your business.

Avoid mass email marketing

Be skeptical of the “SEO professional” that’s cold emailing you to tell you about your website. These emails are sent out to thousands of people and businesses and are not sent by credible companies.

In many cases, these emails are sent by lead generation businesses who sell your contact information to companies that are looking for new clients. 

If you want to get a good SEO company to work on your site, do your homework.

If it’s too good to be true it probably isn’t true

Anyone offering SEO services for a few hundred bucks a month is not going to do the same type of work as real, qualified SEO. The average costs for SEO services range between  $750-$2000/month.

Anyone who offers to do your SEO for anything less than $500 is more than likely very risky services and can end up doing more harm than good to your website. Google penalizes websites with unnatural linking patterns, over-optimized content and anchors text backlinks-and that’s just the beginning of the things that can go wrong.

If you let someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing you may end up paying more to recover your site by a real SEO, or need to start over if your website sustains too much damage.

Location

The location of your SEO company shouldn’t be the only deciding factor that you’re using to make your decision. Although you may like the idea of an SEO company being local, it’s not a requirement to get the best service for your website.

If one of your competitors is hiring a talented SEO agency in another city to handle their website, why would you settle for a company just because they’re closer? At the end of the day, you want someone who understands your business and can deliver on their services.

You can circumvent problems with distance by holding virtual meetings, phone conferences and the occasional in-person visit. It’s not necessary to meet every month anyway so if your SEO firm happens to be close to your business it’s a bonus.

Ranking alone doesn’t tell you the whole story

Just because a website ranks number 1 or doesn’t rank at all isn’t an indication of the quality of work they do as SEO providers.

You can look at it from both ends of the scope. If a company doesn’t have any clients, they spend all of their efforts on their ranking on Google. It’s not that it doesn’t count for some credibility but it doesn’t necessarily make them the best choice for your company.

Many of the best SEO companies constantly have clients referred to them. They don’t need to invest time in ranking their website for “best SEO Toronto” because they have long-standing relationships with their clients, a high retention rate and are more than likely struggling with an overloaded schedule.

Choose the best SEO firm that’s right for you

It’s not easy to know exactly which SEO agency will be the best fit for your business but you can increase the odds of success by following the advice in this article. Learn how to choose a good SEO company and get on the right track for dominating your competition in the search results.

Is SEO Dead For Small Businesses In 2021?

While it may seem a ridiculous question to some, there are some aspects of SEO that have died. For those who practice out-dated tactics, SEO is dead. If your skillset is limited to SEO strategies that are short-lived and ineffective, then it would make sense why someone might think SEO is a dying practice. However, for those who implement white hat tactics, it’s a ridiculous question. For a reliable SEO company, SEO is still very much alive and more important now than ever.

Why do people ask “Is SEO dead?!” It could be because a widespread SEO tactic was exposed by Google and has become ineffective after an update. Many of the Google updates literally turned the SEO world upside down. So when a popular tactic stops working people start sounding the alarms and making all kinds of noise.

Is SEO dead? After many Google updates, people start to ask this question

The reality is that Google has vigilantly made an effort to eliminate any type of tactics that could be used to manipulate ranking. Updates to the algorithm aren’t just an attack on SEOs but an attempt to produce the best search results for users. 

And so far it’s working.

The search engines have steadily reduced the amount of low-quality pages that surface near the top of the search results. Even if they do manage to make it to the first page, their stay is short-lived if it’s apparent that users are not engaging with the content.

SEO is not dead.

It remains an important catalyst for growth. Millions of businesses depend on website traffic to survive and grow. Ranking for keywords without strategy or optimization is like trying to win a race blindfolded. You need to know the direction you’re headed, what you’re up against and what strategies and tactics that will get you there.

Here are a few major changes to the algorithm that most likely account for the bee in the bonnet of those who claim SEO is dead.

Keyword stuffing

One of the most common practices that were put to rest was the art of keyword stuffing. The truth is there was no real art to it at all. The trick was to repeat your keyword throughout your content as an attempt to trick search engines into ranking your page highly for that keyword.

That meant that no matter how bad your text read and regardless of whether it even made sense, you could get away with a ranking if you had your keyword repeated enough times.

This practice evolved into attempting to manage specific ratios of your target keyword. Over-optimization became a thing and many SEO’s maintained a 1-3% keyword density to maximize on-page optimization. 

Finally, this practice has also become obsolete since search engines no longer rank solely on keywords but rather by keyword topics. If you repeat your keyword an unnatural amount of times you may be priming yourself for an algorithmic filter penalty. Over-optimization will cost your website search visibility.

Link building tactics

The links that point to your page make up one of the largest ranking factors that search engines take into account when they display a website in the search results. They provide ranking ability, credibility and authority. As a result, there have been multiple link building practices that became popular, only to become obsolete after Google became wise to the tactic.

(Related reading: 17 Effective Backlinking Strategies)

As stated in the Google best practices for web development, it is against the rules to manipulate links for ranking.

Anyone whose link schemes were exposed would probably ask whether SEO is dead. This is a snippet of Google's rules on link schemes

Every link building method you implement, should look as natural as possible and be from websites related to your business. The filters Google has put into place are designed to identify and penalize websites that are engaging in the following practices.

PBN link building

A PBN link is a link from a website that has been created solely to pass on PageRank (authority metrics or more loosely known as “link juice”). There were two major types of PBN links that have been exposed and devalued.

The first to go down in flames was the big networks of websites that were built to sell links. The digital footprint was easy to trace. Google was able to identify websites that were involved and penalize every website that was linked to the network.

Many companies who had built hundreds of websites and sold links were deindexed overnight. Websites who had acquired a lot of their backlinks from PBN sites were also penalized and forced to rebuild their backlink profile, or start a new website from scratch (if the damage was too heavy).

PBNs part Deux

This update spawned a new generation of PBN sites where SEOs were much careful at covering the digital footprint. Rather than linking PBN sites together, you could build a single website and send your website a money link from the home page.

The process involved buying an expired domain that already had backlinks and good authority metrics. 

Domains were registered under different names, email addresses and built on different servers and hosting accounts. 

The content was in many cases considered “thin content” and Google had another field day targeting websites that had one or a few pages of content with links from the homepage. It doesn’t take much to spot a PBN website and once again, many people suffered the consequences of a link manipulation penalty.

PBNs are still used today, but the number of resources that go into hiding them makes them much less effective to produce at scale. You have to build and develop a legitimate website to avoid being penalized and when it’s all said and done, you still risk a penalty. 

PBNs are considered a black hat SEO tactic.

Guest comment link building

Another popular method of link building that has been devalued was linking from the guest comments section on blogs and articles. Several companies developed automated software that allowed the user to target thousands of websites and leave spun content messages with a link back to their site.

Google devalued this form of link building and what’s more, penalizes any form of link building that looks unnatural. When your website acquires 10k links overnight it’s enough to raise a red flag and put your site on Google’s radar.

Link building in mass quantity

Before the algorithm filters and more advanced systems for identifying quality backlinks, the general rule was that the more links you built, the higher you ranked. If you had the most links, no matter where they came from, you could rank on the first page of Google.

Search engines can determine context and put more emphasis on quality backlinks over the number of backlinks. 

If the links pointing to your website are not from relevant and contextually related websites, they are ignored. Too many unrelated links may also work against your search visibility.

Welcome to an evolved way of search engine optimization

Today, quality websites that have top-notch content are what’s moving the needle the most. Search engines are assessing websites using hundreds of factors that affect how to display their top results. 

It’s fair to say that over the years, the quality of content that appears in the search results has gone in the right direction and improved dramatically. Having said that, this also proves how much search engine optimization plays a role in driving traffic, leads and revenue. 

The number of users and total searches performed daily are higher than they’ve ever been. And the trend seems to continue.

Total number of people around the world that use the internet showing that SEO is not dead but growing

To capitalize on the growing dependency on search engines like Google, you have to make your website easy to find for keywords that affect your business. Here are a few reasons why SEO is NOT dead and what tactics are working to drive real results.

Targeting keyword themes

A major shift in the way search engines rank was when they stopped ranking based on keywords alone and started ranking according to keyword topics. 

This has been an evolution that includes many different updates that allow search engines to understand more about what users want and how to answer that intent. 

Topic clusters have emerged as a way to establish a website’s ability to cover an entire topic with authority. The emergence of topic clusters has contributed not only to top rankings for a keyword topic but also hundreds of other keywords that come with creating a strong presence in a specific topic.

A topic cluster is a collection of related articles and blog posts that are linked together internally. The internal links provide the user with a way to navigate to additional content that provides more information on the topic of interest.

This structure not only provides a better user experience (as seen in the rise in user engagement statistics) but also raises the level of expertise a website demonstrates in a specific topic.

The most infamous implementation of a topic cluster is the use of a pillar page model that incorporates clustered content. The pillar page provides broad sweeping coverage of an entire topic. 

Rather than going too deep into detail on any particular subtopic, the pillar page will link out to blog posts and articles that provide more in-depth coverage.

An example of topics clusters, another reason you need SEO in your life

Every page in the cluster links to the pillar page as well as the content within its cluster. 

This internal linking strategy raises the profile of your pillar page within your website and communicates the major keyword topics to search engines and users. Whether a user lands on a pillar page or one of the cluster content articles, they can navigate throughout the topic learning more about it as they go. 

This is extremely helpful to users at all stages of the buyer journey.

And what’s good for users is good for search engines. 

Topic clusters can make your website known for a specific keyword topic so that pages in your cluster appear for keyword related searches. The internal linking strategy and strategic content lead to higher click-through rates, longer dwell time and reduced bounce rates.

These are all major indications of popular websites that users are enjoying. And what’s good for users, is good for search engines.

Optimize for search intent

Underlying every first-page ranking is the ability to satisfy search intent. Your content needs to match the true intent a user has when they type in a specific keyword. If visitors land on your page and then immediately back out, it’s obvious they aren’t liking what they’re finding. 

The assumption would then be that you’re not providing them with everything they need and as a result, your ranking will suffer. 

Search intent has been a concept from the beginning of the internet. After all, the idea is to supply what searchers are asking for by matching the right content to the keyword.

Since there are fewer ways to game the algorithm and more ways to measure user engagement, it has made the issue of user intent/search intent vastly more important. If you’re truly looking to achieve long-lasting results by staying on the first page, you have to provide the exact solution to the true intent of the search.

So much of Google’s efforts are to provide the most accurate information in the easiest way possible. We’ve seen this through the variety of SERP features that have developed over the years. 

Giving users exactly what they need to satisfy their search ensures your website stays on the first page of search results.

SERP marketing

The features that appear on the first page of results have become numerous and frequent in appearance. You no longer see a few ads and a list of 10 blue links on the first page of results. Here is what it used to look like: 

This is an example of the old search engine result page before Google displayed SERP features. Another reason SEO is not dead

Today we can expect to see featured snippets, PAA boxes, local packs, images and videos in addition to the organic search listings. Here is the SERP for the keyword french press:

SERP example for the keyword french press stars with video carousel
The SERP starts with a video carousel, shopping ads and a PAA box
This SERP example for the keyword french press continues with a local pack
The Local Pack is displayed next
This SERP example for the keyword french press continues with a definition and finally the first blue organic link
The first organic result is now visible after 5 SERP features

It’s important to optimize for SERP features whenever the opportunity presents itself. For the first time, less than 50% of the total clicks made on Google are going to websites. 

Google has developed ways of answering intent that has eliminated the need to click on websites and therefore resulted in zero-click searches.

Zero click searches are growing. Is SEO dead? Not by a long shot if you want to increase traffic

There are many searches where you don’t see an organic search result without scrolling way down the page. Although this translates to less organic click-through rates, it also means you need to adapt to the trend and optimize the features that appear.

Position zero

The number one position used to be the goal, but today the real prize has become position zero. The featured snippet is an enhanced search result that is most often positioned as the first feature on a search engine result page.

Featured snippets are a primary focus in SEO in order to optimize and rank content

Being featured in this box is an excellent source of traffic, branding and increased click-through rates. Winning position zero makes your website look like an expert in your field and attracts the most attention as it is used to directly answer search intent.

Related questions

The related questions box (or People Also Ask box) is another way to drive more traffic to your website from a different position on the SERP. Adding questions that people commonly ask to your content is a way of creating more relevance to your keywords as well.

The PAA box is a way to drive more traffic directly from the SERP

When your website appears for one question, it also appears for several variations of that question. Similarly to how pages rank, Google will display your website as the solution to questions with the same intent.

Local pack

The local pack is another Google feature that needs to be considered if it appears when searches are made for your keywords. The advantage of appearing in the local pack is that you can attract more local clients who convert at a higher rate.

Local pack for table cloth appears for the keyword buy table cloth

The local pack is another Google feature that needs to be considered if it appears when searches are made for your keywords. The advantage of appearing in the local pack is that you can attract more local clients who convert at a higher rate.

The local pack means you’re in the top three positions of the local finder. Many users will use this feature when they need to buy something relatively soon. 

If you offer products and services to local traffic, develop a local SEO strategy to appear at the top of the local finder, and therefore the first page of Google.

Many companies depend on local businesses to survive which makes this feature crucial for maximizing growth and new client acquisition.

Video is on the rise

As a form of content, video is on the rise in popularity and should be incorporated into your digital marketing strategy. So many people will search YouTube itself to find answers, which creates an additional stream of traffic. Many of these videos will show up in a Google search as well because they are the best answer to search intent.

Video feature wedged between the featured snippet and a PAA box

If you’re seeing videos show up in the SERP, it’s an indication that people are clicking on them for answers, which will generate more traffic to your site. The advantage of publishing a video is that they are generally less competitive to rank than a webpage since they are much fewer videos than websites.

Rich results

The first page of results is getting crowded. With more features to contend with, getting your organic listing to stand out as a rich result can mean the difference in winning the click.

Rich results are much more attractive search result listings because there are additional features added to make them stand out. Different types of content qualify for different types of markup.

One of the more recent types to be released was the FAQ markup that allows websites to display a series of frequently asked questions underneath their search results listing.

FAQ rich result that takes up a lot of the SERP

One of the more recent types to be released was the FAQ markup that allows websites to display a series of frequently asked questions underneath their search results listing.

This feature improves the click-through rate of your website by attracting more attention as well as pushing your competitors further down the page. You can even add links to pages within your answers to promote more pages directly from the SERP.

More popular forms of rich results include recipe and review snippets.

Recipe rich result shows an image of roast beets along with a star rating which is why SEO is not dead

This SEO tactic is an advanced method of improving the traffic to your site by creating a more competitive, more attractive search result.

The importance of user engagement

Search engines have always rewarded user-centric websites. Publish your content with users in mind since it’s the only way to ensure your pages appear on the first page of search results. There are so many ways to enhance the optimization of your page and improve the user experience and ranking at the same time.

There are multiple metrics for measuring the level of user engagement a web page demonstrates. Google’s Rankbrain is an AI program that is specifically designed to measure the user engagement statistics that websites generate.

For example, each position in the top ten results has an expected percentage of clicks it should receive. If your website receives more than the expected amount of clicks it produces a positive ranking signal and maybe moved ahead of a website that’s receiving lower than the expected amount of clicks.

SEO improves user engagement which is exactly what Google measures using Rankbrain

Search engines will also monitor the length of time a visitor stays on a website compared to the other sites ranking for the same keyword. If users love the content on a website, they tend to spend more time and click through to more pages.

On the flip side, it would only make sense that a user who doesn’t enjoy the content on a website will be quick to back out and spend less time and view fewer pages.

Monitoring, maintaining and improving these statistics are becoming a larger factor in the position your website holds on the SERP.

SEO will never die

The SEO industry is growing at a rapid pace. The industry has grown to 70 billion in just a short period.

SEO spending is growing and is expected to reach 80 billion this year (2020)

Companies are investing a significantly larger portion of their marketing budgets into search engine optimization because it produces one of the best returns on investment.

If your competitors are ranking ahead of you with inferior content or products, they’re stealing new client opportunities. SEO gives your business the competitive edge that’s needed to generate more traffic, leads, new clients and revenue.

That’s just not going to change anytime soon.

Long live SEO.