It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re learning about SEO.

It’s techie and complex, and it has more fear-mongering around it than almost any other area of online marketing.

But a well-optimized site builds consistent, organic traffic over time, which brings in new visitors, increases your brand recognition and grows your biz for years to come.

That sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not uncommon for a popular post to generate new traffic for years.

SEO is a powerful tool.

Compare that to social media, which buries your posts within a day or two. Or ads, which stop driving traffic to your site as soon as you stop paying for them.

SEO is like free, long-term advertising, so it’s worth learning about.

And it’s easier than you might think.

First things first …

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it refers to the art and science of trying to get your site as high as possible in search engine rankings.

It’s all about how Google thinks.

Search engines want to provide the best results to their users. So, they determine what your site is about so they can include it in relevant searches. Then, they want to determine how valuable your content is so they know how highly to rank it.

Learning how they make these determinations is the key to understanding SEO, and it’s not as techie or complicated as you might think.

1. Content is Key

If you get nothing else from this article, I want you to remember one thing:

People go to the internet for information.

Whether they’re looking up a recipe, trying to find your acupuncture practice, researching attachment theory, or even researching how to drop an egg from space without it breaking, they’re going to the internet to find something out.

Search engines have savvy spiders (little bits of code that ‘crawl’ over your site to see what it’s about) to search for quality content to get people the information they’re looking for.

Long gone are the days when reciprocal links and meta tags were all you needed for good SEO. Today, if you want good rankings, you need good content.

What this means for you is that you’re in more control of your website’s rankings than you might think because you control the content.

Make it clear

Did you know that one of the most frequent recommendations from SEO experts is to have a professional writer write your content?

That’s because writers write well, without grammatical and spelling errors. Writers are also adept at brevity, and Google thinks that a few information-packed paragraphs are better than pages of rambling.

Why is this important?

Because people go to the internet for information (see? there it is again), and if your site isn’t clear and well-written, visitors won’t bother wading through your site. They’ll just go elsewhere, and Google will notice.

Remember, Google wants to give people the best information, and if people are always bouncing off of your site and going back to their search results, Google will assume your content isn’t so great.

Now I’m not talking about writing the next Great American Novel. Your writing doesn’t need to be perfect, just clear, concise, and missing most typos and grammatical errors.

Take a little bit of time to edit your posts. Are you creating YouTube videos or a podcast? Get the transcript and run it through an editor.

With tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway editor, this is easier than it used to be.

Make it relevant

Your website probably already includes a lot of what your visitors will be looking for—your services, your bio, your upcoming events, your location or phone number, how to book sessions, etc., but make sure you’re also including information that they can’t find anywhere else.

What can they expect from working with you?
How are you different from your competition, or other, similar industries?
What are your values?
What do you tell every client?
What do they need to know before they work with you?
Where can they start?

Don’t clutter up your menu pages with detailed answers to these. Take the time to write a few clear blog posts that you can link to in your content.

If you write even one a month, Google will notice.

(Again, not a writer? No biggie. Create a podcast or YouTube video and include the transcript in a blog post with the episode. You create easy content, the transcript gets Google’s attention, and your audience has one more way to interact with your work. Everybody’s happy.)

Keep it current

Whatever you decide to do, keep it current.

I know we’re all tired of the marketing rallying cry to create “consistent content.”

(I can hear your collective sigh.)

But, well … it works.

You don’t have to post a blog every day, but even once a month lets Google know you’re staying up to date and giving people a reason to return to your site.

Google keeps count of how many people visit your website.

If you’re consistently updating your information and people keep returning, the spiders are going to assume that you’ve got good information on your site that other people need to know about and rank you higher in search engine results.

Remember, search engines make their money off of ads, and those ads need to be accurate to pay well, so search engines have good reason to be right about what’s on your site (and everyone else’s).

Keep them on their toes with consistent content.

2. Inbound Links

As I mentioned above, a big way that search engines judge your content is how the rest of the web reacts to it.

Are other people linking to your site? How many of those links are quality, inbound links? For example, if your bestie puts your psychotherapy website somewhere random on her tractor repair website, Google’s not going to give that a lot of weight.

But, if an article in the New York Times lists your recent post about attachment theory as a reference in their article, Google will notice and boost the crap out of that post. #industryterm

That’s not to say that you need to show up in a major publication to see results (although it never hurts to write for those and include a well-written bio with an inviting link back to your site). If other wellness practitioners notice and use your great content, Google will pay attention to that and raise your rankings, especially for posts that get a lot of traffic.

Focus on providing valuable information that people will want to link to from their website. (After all, they want to update their content, too.)

And keep in mind, trading links (often called a link “scheme”) doesn’t work anymore.

Google isn’t interested in whether you can exchange meaningless links with someone.

So, how can I build natural, inbound links?

Write a useful article (this can include a YouTube video or podcast that has a transcript) that people want to visit, share on social media, and talk about on their site.

Think about solving a problem for your ideal clients.

What is a small, but persistent problem for them that you can solve in an article?
How about general advice that can give them a new perspective?
Have you had an experience you can share that they can learn from?
Mistakes you can warn them about?

These are the kinds of posts that get visited often and shared, which Google will notice.

But pictures and expensive design are important, too, right?

Not as much as you might think. While the initial impression people get from your site is important, most people ignore pictures and go straight to the text.

Whether it’s because they assume a picture is an ever-prevalent advertisement or they’re simply focusing on what they’re looking for—information (see? told you it was important), they don’t care as much about pictures as text.

So, keep the content of your site clear, relevant, and useful.

Make it as easy as possible for your readers to find out about you and your services. Make sure the design and images enhance your text, rather than overshadow it.

What about all the money I gave my SEO expert or designer?

It likely wasn’t money wasted. Other than content, there are a lot of ways your site benefits from quality design and SEO strategy.

A clean design, well-constructed page titles, and industry-focused keywords are just a few of the behind-the-scenes things that a professional designer can do for your site’s SEO.

But, always beware the SEO professional who says they can get your site listed at “number 1.”

It’s not really possible for decent keywords.

The search engines are too sophisticated and their algorithms change too quickly for someone to promise those kinds of results.

The only way someone can do this is to make your keywords so specific (what is normally referred to as “long-tail”) that anyone could put you at number one for them.

For instance, if someone promised me that they could make me #1 for “Diane Whiddon, Clarity Website Design for healers in Virginia” I’d be like, “Yah, no kidding. My cat could do that.” And he hasn’t taken an SEO class in years.

So, look for a professional who will encourage you to be involved in your SEO by creating great content, and will be happy to handle the technical side of things, but who is realistic with you about results and has more than one approach.

3. Be patient

Finally, don’t wait until the week before your sale or launch to start worrying about SEO.

SEO is a long game.

I know this can be frustrating, but this is good news.

Your SEO strategy might not pay off for months, but it will likely pay off for years to come.

I’ve had blog posts that were seven and eight years old send me consistent traffic. SEO doesn’t pay off quickly, but it pays off for a long time.

Focus on building a great site with useful content that others will want to link to, and be patient.

In an era of algorithms that can change overnight, and ads that stop working the instant you stop paying for them, this is actually a fantastic deal.

That sounds like a lot of work. How can I fake it?

You can’t.

The search engines are too savvy.

I mean, Google knows what you had for breakfast.

It knows what’s on your website.

But this is good news, too!

(I mean, relatively, right? #eternaloptimist)

Knowing that you can’t hack the system means you don’t have to worry about that. All the snake oil SEO salesmen who are trying to scare you into hiring them don’t need to take up any more of your time.

Instead, focus on having great content that is useful and relevant.

Try to provide information that isn’t readily available everywhere.

Do some searching on Google. See what results come up. Ask your audience what they’re looking for that they can’t find. Make content about that. Get creative with it. And have fun!

And update your content on a regular basis so people have a reason to visit. Work on building quality in-bound links. And hire a reputable professional to handle the rest.

One last To Do …

Now that your content is current, useful, and clear, and your website professional is taking care of the technical side, sit down and create your next thing.

What better way to update your website than to include new information about your next, upcoming creation/book/course?

Ultimately, that’s the best promotion you can get.

Want even more help with your site? Get your quick, easy, self-guided website audit checklist.

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