Picture this: You find yourself up in front of a room of people speaking – which many of us do on occasion, in our work or making a toast or announcement at a wedding, party, holiday dinner, etc. You get everyone’s attention and you start talking about the 49ers, or the static on the radio or the lint on your dress after getting it back from the dry cleaners, etc., your going to find, best case scenario, people’s interest is going to wane, bigtime… They’ll think, “What the heck is this girl/guy talking about?” What’s the relevance? They may even say, “Hey Joan/Jonny, maybe we need to stick to the reason why we’re all here…”
(And the only reason they’re not walking out on you is because these people are your family, friends and coworkers and being polite!)
When you’re not being relevant online, the response is quick, simple and brutally honest; people leave your page. How does that relate to SEO? SEO is the technical extension of what I call, “the first rule of marketing” and that is, “CLOSE THE FREAKEN DEAL!”
You promise something? Deliver it! (That’s the most basic premise of marketing, and relationship building and seems so obvious that it’s hard to believe that so many people, small businesses and companies have such a hard time fulfilling that simple request.)
When you order something online, or grab a product off a shelf at the store, or order something at a restaurant (I think I’m hungry as I write this :) and it says it will do something, or be something and you’re all excited when you get it and it goes (audio here please…) waaaa, waaaa, waaaa, waaaa…
(And it doesn’t do what it says…) How do you feel? Totally ripped-off, no? Will you shop there again? Or buy that product from that company again?
When we tell search engines that a page is about xyz (a keyword phrase) and a user finds our results in SERPs, and clicks on Link, we need to damn well be sure that that page is providing RELEVANT info about that topic.
Being Relevant is CLOSING THE FREAKEN DEAL for an SEO. All the technical means that Search Engines (SEs) use to detect that relevance comprise the endemic knowledge of our craft, and the business of Searh Engines, but the underlying impetus which is often missed is just plain and simple; “Be Relevant” and give people what they want, without too much else.
Lawrence Touitou brings you the best SEO tools, tips and advice on his SEO blog: SEOWithoutBorders.org - a collection of some of the best, SEO best practices from the most prominent SEOs in the industry.
