Search Engine Optimization and Google Search Ranking

How Does Search Engine Optimization Relate to Ranking on the Google Search Engine ?

You write great content about something you deem worthy and want to share it seen with your target audience. But, just because the content is "great" in itself does not guarantee a place high enough on the Google's search engine results page (SERP) so that your audience can see it. In order for your content to meet its intended audience, it should be backed up by either paid advertising (e.g., PPC) or organically optimized for search engines like the Google search engine to find it at right time by the right person. When the latter choice is made, this is referred to as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Depending on whether you have some good advertising money available, you might be tempted to choose the easier option: PPC (Pay Per Click). But sometimes, you and your organization live on a tight budget, if any, but still aim at a fair shot when it comes to showing up when someone searches for the exact product or service  that you offer as described in your "great" content. In this case, your gateway is simply SEO. Of course, joining forces between SEO and PPC is the ideal thing to do. But few of us have this luxury. We sometimes face a tradeoff  between  the two. This post is for those of you who somehow have to go for SEO at the expense of PPC.

Before diving right into SEO and its use, defining it might be a good start.

Just what is SEO? 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is strategically organizing your content in a way that attracts your intended audience and meets their specific needs. This may sound simplistic as definition, but the emphasis on audience attraction and need satisfaction is key to writing effective content and constitutes the very essence of what SEO actually does.

How Does SEO Work?

People go online to search for information about their every need. The fact that they go to a search engine, like the Google search engine, and type in a query means that they are intentional to take certain action. If, by any chance, any term (keyword) in your content happens to match their search queries, it shows up to them through the help of sophisticated algorithms built in most, if not all, search engines. That's the basic mechanism of a search engine work. But you don't have to leave it all to chance; you can make use of SEO and make sure that everytime someone searches for the type of product or service that you offer, your content is the next thing they see. Here's how to do that:

• Anticipate Needs 

• Perform Keyword Research 

• Test Keywords 

• Implement Keywords 

• Iterate Keywords 

Anticipate Needs 

Anticipating the needs of your potential customers, by putting yourself in their shoes and imagining the "key" words they type in a search engine when looking for what offer, is crucial to an effective SEO strategy. So far, this is no magic; it is all common sense. What seems more of a hurdle, though, is how to come up with such keywords and optimize them for search engines algorithms to easily crawl, index, and return a relevant user outpout. The way to tackle this issue is through proper keyword research performance.

Perform Keyword Research 

Now all words should be included in your content. You want the most effective ones only, don't you? (this will spare you from the troubles that "keyword stuffing" usually brings). As such, performing an effective keyword research and norrowing down on the most effective keywords is a sure way to determine and choose which keywords are to be used to optimize your content for user search queries. There are some powerful keyword research tools available out there. SEMrush is one of them with its Semrush Magic Tool. Entering a keyword into the SEMrush Magic Tool search bar, for example, gets you a list of keywords listed from most used to least used quantitatively. The most frequent ones represent what people are mostly searching for and therefore are the most competitive ones. And you don't want to face that stiff competition, but you don't want to spread yourself too thin either. So, you have to choose the keywords that are mid-range and long-tail (made up of multiple words) to weather out the competition. In other words, you need to find yourself a keyword niche and test it out before adoption.

Test Keywords 

Once you find your keyword niche, you need to test it for suitability. Your keywords will need to suit the user need and intent and, hence, be placed in strategic positions in your content. Most importantly, you should test them yourself by performing relevant searches. If you tested a keyword for its likelihood of being typed by the typical customer searching for your product or service and found out that it shows up with enough frequency than others, you should retain it. Be aware, though, of extremely popular keywords for which competition is stiff. Instead, choose the less popular, long-tail keywords with less competition. This will be more cost-effective and increase the odds that your product or service ad is served when related to your potential customer's search term.

Implement Keywords 

Now that you have tested your keywords (for mutual need suitability), you need to implement them in your content. But how do you do it? Well, this is where on-page SEO, the pluging of keywords in key parts of your content such as title tags, descriptions, and URL (Unique Resource Locator), comes in handy. If you run advertising campaigns, this strategy is particularly relevant. Furthermore, if you have a body in your content such as in a blog article or related content, you will want to include the most important keyword (s) in the first 100 words your article. This is believed to have a positive impact on the search engine results page by facilitating the work of search engine algorithms. By making use of one-page SEO, you exponentially increase your chances of showing up higher on the SERP, particularly on Google.

Iterate Keywords 

Keywords implementation is not a one-off activity. People's needs evolve and so do their queries. On the other hand, your offerings might evolve as well. All of these changes require adaptation. Keyword iteration, the constant reviewing and adjusting of keywords with regards to user search intent and query, is key to showing up and staying on top of search results for what you offer.

Conclusion 

Whether you have a budget to pay for ranking on search results or not, SEO should be your friend. SEO should be your best friend if all you have are words. Optimizating your use of those words is a must if you want to stand any chance of being shown to those who are looking for what you have and possibly pay for it at end of their journey.

COVID-19 and TELECOMMUTING

COVID-19 Points out to a New Normal: Telecommuting: Adaptability is Key

Ever since COVID-19 broke out across the world earlier this year, it has brought nothing but fear and uncertainties. Fear of the death of the individual, and uncertainties about the future of everything, including, and particularly, work.

It turns out that this 'fear and uncertainties' combine was put into perspective with what I call 'unnecessary anxiety' about whether people will die or lose their jobs, and things like that. Doubting the future due to current uncertainties is human nature. We always want to know what the future will bring, but we rarely take advantage of current trends to foresee and prepare for it. The truth is we are too conservative and have an affinity for the habitual while disguising the imminent new. And this makes us vulnerable to the uncertainties of tomorrow. People tried so hard in the first place to land their jobs, as we know them, which  they still comprehensibly hang to in these times. And suddenly they are about to so strangely lose them. To make matters worse, besides the risk of losing their jobs, people find that their own lives are at stake. So, there would be every reason for them to be anxious. After all, aren't they realistic since these events  are actually occurring putting everything they have--jobs, their own lives, their loved ones' lives-- at risk ? What if my answer to this question were, well,  'No'?
Yes, 'No' is the answer I formulate to that question.

why? you may be wondering.

Well, this is because what's realistic is the fact that most of us won't die, will regain our jobs, and will be given a chance to perform again--only not just how we used to. What's realistic is telecommuting--working from home--is the new normal. That's reality.

Eventually, some people will die, and many  have already, and the death toll can still rise if we can believe those knowledgeable  guys out there that we call epidemiologists, doctors, health authorities, and you name it. And yes, some people have already lost their jobs, too. These are two undeniable facts, among many others. Still, a great many of other people have retained their jobs through telecommuting and managed to do well so doing. There have been some complaints from both employers and employees about this newly made mainstream virtual workplace setting. But the essence of those complaints is part due to the inherent discomfort that characterizes any attempt to bring about and effectuate change. Research shows that people's natural and primary response to change is resistance. But change is irreversible and irresistible by nature. It ends up enacting itself. If this has always been so for people, my take is that COVID-19 is about to change people and force them to see change from a more favorable, realistic lens. In fact, increasingly, both employers and employees are thinking about making of telecommuting the new normal of a work environment. And this has serious implications for the future of the workplace globally. Those workers who find working at home to be demotivating or distracting and would like to return to the traditional workplace to get their concentration back--even at the expense of some flexibility advantage from telecommuting--might find it to be e zero-sum game. We might not be able to restore what's  been lost. Those people either want to get their normal workplace back or they deny, thereby deviate from the new normal and get locked out of work. But, it does not have to be like this. We live in a fast-paced world where adaptability is key to surviving and thriving. Darwin's survival theory is ever relevant today. We, humans, were born to survive turbulent  and uncertain times like these through adaptability and reconditioning. And from experience, the human species has always known how to do that. We have survived barely survivable times like the two modern World Wars in the past century, for example. Sure enough, we will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not even up to us, it is up to our very nature as human beings. And, surviving the inevitable future of work is all up to us even though it does not sound so natural. Still, we can set out to achieve that. We can draw from the same general internal survival capabilities and willingness to change and adapt them to the specific, unprecedented case of changing workplace nature that is empowered by COVID-19. Attitude is such an important determining factor in our enterprises that our success or failure in those enterprises deepened an attitude change toward telecommuting.

If we change our attitude toward this imminent virtual settlement of the workplace, the battle is half-won. If we are willing to, and actually, put in the effort to get comfortable with telecommuting, we end up being clear winners of the battle instigated by COVID-19.

Of course, some industrial works, by their very nature (e.g., still, oil, etc.) will still need to be performed on-sites. But, for the most part, since we're living in an information and technology age, the bulk of the work will be done online. That's what this age is all about. We have adapted to and survived all ages past with regard to the distinct natures and requirements of their workplaces. Capitalism's  key concerns is profit maximization or exponential returns on investment. This is mostly done through cost-cutting strategies. It turns out that telecommuting is one major, and preferred, cost-cutting strategy, with obvious benefits for both parties of employers and employees.

My prediction, or more precisely my realization (since it is already happening), is that the traditional workplace will be displaced and hosted on the World Wide Web by and beyond COVID-19. Unlike the traditional workplace with limited room, the online space is infinite. This means that opportunities for people who've been displaced by the traditional workplace are endless.

 Opportunities are there to grab, and only those who change their attitude to  adapt to telecommuting are certain to thrive as workers in this changed world. COVID-19 has brought about such opportunities by forcing change on the nature of the workplace as we knew it. So, make sure to immune yourself from the disruption and make yourself a new work space by seizing these virtual opportunities. Telecommuting is the new normal.