Optimized for Readership: Bots are Important—But So Are Your Readers

By Bryan Zmijewski

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a topic on the minds of most marketing professionals that have anything to do with their company's web site and online strategy. Even those marketers who may have stuck to more 'traditional' means of campaigning can no longer ignore SEO's impact; thanks in part to the enormous popularity of Google's AdWords program, SEO is now seen as a mainstream vehicle for attracting customers.

Certainly, a site that is search engine optimized drives better, more qualified leads. But is that the only way? Not even close. What many companies fail to realize is that a successful SEO campaign can only occur as the result of a well organized, content rich Web site. Optimizing your site's content is but one part of a much larger initiative. Your focus should be on creating a good online experience that doesn't just draw people in, but holds their interest for longer and invites them to return more often.

What it comes down to is this: If you create a good web site with relevant content, an intuitive user interface and a compelling reason to return, your search engine optimization results will be better, and the amount of time you'll have to spend on SEO will decrease.

If you're used to approaching SEO from more of a 'keyword density' point of view than a 'relevant content' point of view, don't worry—you certainly aren't alone. But by considering some of the areas below, you'll be thinking about SEO from a different angle…an angle that can drive the elusive traffic you've been looking for, while better serving current clients and staff.

CONTENT-DRIVEN SEO: From Effective Content Comes Effective Optimization

1. Meeting Expectations. How does your link title affect a user's expectation of the page they're about to read? If high ranking is the promise of good and relevant content, do you meet (or even better, surpass) their expectations?
   
   Building a brand presence is important online. It's not just about keyword loaded URLs, or a cool logo with a unique name--it's about creating a compelling web experience that engages people. Pay attention to keywords that increase a visitor's average time on site, and consider whether it's a result of the particular page they entered on, or the topic being covered on that page. Often it is both.
   
2. Consistency. Avoid creating psychological noise in the mind of your visitors. If a user is searching for information about a specific topic, they may run across your site numerous times on different visits, simply by using different variations of their search keyword. Does your site maintain consistency in the way it looks, feels, and reads? If you can show a user that your site has great organization, they'll be more willing to come back when they want to further understand your topic.
   
   Remember: you have less than 30 seconds to create an impression in the mind of a customer. Making sure that your site is consistent, and offering the promise of good content throughout buys you more time with that customer—time that they'll spend searching and clicking elsewhere on your site instead of backing out and heading off to your competition.
   
3. Longevity. A page that's well-optimized for search engines is set up for non-human spiders that enter, leave and return on their own. A page with great content must serve ALL of your human users, be they first-time visitors, veterans, or something else entirely. There is no guarantee that a search engine algorithm will continue to value to your hyper-optimized page. Trying to beat a system is a rat race. Creating a page with rich and relevant content will keep users happy long after the next Google dance.
   
   It's worth mentioning here that search is not the only method of growing traffic to your web site—there are many alternate ways, both online and off. We've found that good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth referrals and a solid online PR strategy are your best bets.
   
4. Content. Pages that are rich in content will need very little optimizing. They fall into the area of diminishing returns, where it simply isn't worth the additional SEO time spent to get a few extra visitors. That same time could be put into creating a better user experience through visuals or other design assets that play off of the content to tell a good story.
   
   A site that draws traffic is important; but a site that converts more visitors to buyers (or at least turns the heat factor from lukewarm to piping hot!) will make your marketing dollars more effective.
   
5. Tools. As you use ClickTracks and other tools to better understand what drives traffic to your site, don't forget to look behind the numbers and at the visitors themselves. What emotionally drives a user to engage with your web site? Reports and statistics make marketing on the Internet interesting, because you can track the effectiveness of your activities, but they only tell part of the story.
   
   As with any one method, depending on just the numbers to connect with customers online is a terrible mistake. Your resources could be invested in converting visitors through additional interesting content, providing a more intuitive design, or making stronger calls to action. Use the technology to test the results of the emotional side of your site (e.g. will users like 'Ask us for more info' better than 'Click here for more info'?) until you've created a mix that works. And remember that conversion doesn't always reveal itself in a stat.

Bryan Zmijewski is founder and head cat-herder at ZURB, a Campbell, CA-based customer experience firm. ZURB specializes in gathering and creating the right images, words and technology to help their clients tell their story. Bryan can be reached at 650.533.0469 or z@zurb.com