There is a lot of misinformation (or perhaps too much information) about SEO so let’s simplify, my definition of SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it increases your online revenues through paid and organic search. In my playbook, SEO is the difference between a website that generates revenue and one that doesn’t.
Important Note: You won’t find many SEO definitions that include Paid Search, but here is why I included it: Paid search runs via an algorithm that’s similar to Organic search. In fact, the Quality Score on Paid Search is based on a lot of Organic Search factors (ie. page speed, keywords, and elements of landing page optimization). If your website is organically optimized, you will be paying substantially less on your Google Ads / Pay Per Click Campaign — there is a direct correlation.
SEO is about satisfying User’s expectations so that they are motivated enough to use your service. Even though SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, what Search Engines, in particular Google, does is study User behavior. Essentially, Google’s algorithm has been trying to mimic the way people think and behave online.
When you realize that all Google is trying to do is mimic the human brain, it then follows that SEO doesn’t stop with Search Engine traffic. It actually includes all traffic coming to your website. Traffic from referral websites, traffic from Social Media — all traffic!
When Users land on your website, Optimization enables your website to have higher conversion rates, higher click-through-rates, and longer time-on-site.
An example of the way Google mimics User behavior is Pagespeed — 40% of users abandon a website when it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Google knows this from all the collated data on their servers and now includes Pagespeed in their algorithm. Below are other examples of how Google mimics User behavior.
