I don’t invest in SEO anymore- Google does it for me.

Authored by Gauri Bhatia, Founder&Director of The Unveiled Sagas

SEO is a process- the name in itself mentions optimization. Optimization is generally an act of testing strategies to settle on an equilibrium. 

Google is continually optimizing its algorithm to turn into an automated answering machine. Having started from a simple content dump, Google has updated its usage to analyse, record, track, learn and even manipulate human behaviour. This means that it now answers queries, depending upon the consumers semantic search- rather than just picking things out because they match the phrase. 

In other words- if your content is written with the intent of educating your customer- not selling yourself to them- then you’re most likely going to find your place on the first page of Google. 

How do you ensure that your SEO is truly optimized? And how do you ensure that you never have to touch it- ever?

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I think I have jitters reminiscing my emo phase- when I wasn’t able to download Poets of the Fall for free even though the website clearly said that you could. 

Google now blacklists websites that even look spammy. 

Google is looking for solution providers that actively understand the TG- I’d start with my typical lecture about embodying the client, but all in all, just try to understand where they come from. Google works both ways- it’ll know if you’ve invested your time trying to understand their journey, and it’ll know if you’ve been keyword stuffing your website overnight. 

• Work on your content. 

SEO is.. content. I mean, I don’t know how to word this better, but SEO is all about explaining your product through effective copywriting. Within a search the user should know if it solves their query or not. Its usual to feel some inhibitions when you know that you’re missing out on prospective clients who may type a different phrase, but Google has become more contextual than to go on a literal search for ‘running shoe men’. Don’t try to target the ‘maybe even those’- focus on targeting the ‘definitely will’. 

• Invest in your brand

Google sides with brands- that’s why the ecommerce extension favors certain companies over the other. And does it boil my blood when I see my competitors’ every time I try to buy a phrase on Adwords? Well, yes and no- because props to them for owning the whole PR market in India.

Get the word out there- instead of investing in a resource that keeps you relevant, invest in an information retention and recycling process that keeps you relevant. Provide solutions for the time and the trends- not for the people and their moods. 

• Hire a web Developer that knows about digital marketing 

A niche specialization is great, but I too, enforce content down each employee’s throat, no matter which part of branding they specialize in. If you don’t know how to sell, you don’t know your part of the job. 

Take for instance ad management- I’ve seen thousands of my competitors look for people who only know how to work the buttons- none specializing in content, campaign management or market behaviour. 

The end goal of every employee in the marketing/branding team is to sell incessantly- no matter direct, or subtle in their approach. If your employee doesn’t understand the two folds of communication, which is receiving and conveying, they won’t know how to use their skills efficiently. 

• For Dummies

After ten years in this industry, I still tend to consult marketing influencers who speak in a language that’s stupidly simple. Follow Moz, Neil Patel, and Hubspot for information that is easy to absorb and more about foundational strength than fancy animations and sparkly plug-ins. 

If nothing else, understand why they still remain relevant after all these years. 

Their content is stupidly simple, conversational, and just overall easy to follow, helping them maintain their place at the top. They focus on doing their business right, and doing their business right by their clients- maintaining their place at the top as relevant, credible and holistic with their solutions. 

SEO to me, when I started my career way back ye olde days, had only half the rules that it does now. 

Despite that fact, it was an overwhelming amount. 

From my boss scanning white texts, to invalid backlinks that marked the business as spam, I was told only one thing- 

“Google is always one step ahead of you. Learn all the rules and it’ll know that you know.”

Every single time since, every time I wrote a campaign, or optimized a landing page with the intention of making it the sweet spot for all of my ad strategies, I would last maybe 3 weeks. 

Alongside, there was an ad campaign that my boss kept ‘turning on and off’ when the sales team asked for leads. That’s literally all- he never needed to touch it. 

That campaign was always optimized/getting better. 

But isn’t SEO primarily for organic brand building? You’d ask. 

Well, yes. But here’s a metaphor- if you go only for SEO to achieve your sales objectives, you’re more so indulging in a crash diet of a lifestyle for Digital marketing. Good content habits, however, are a sustainable, healthy lifestyle that make you believe in your capacity as a brand. A good content strategy is the base for your next hike, when you choose to supplement your daily with a challenge- a ‘Let me see if I can do this too’. 

This is why I don’t invest in SEO. I focus on running my business, optimizing my content and my sales pitch through digital media, and let Google do its job.