Marco! Polo! SEO! The Game of Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine Optimisation can be tough to work out – I like to think of SEO as a game.
Ever played Marco Polo when you were kid?
For the unacquainted: One player (the seeker) closes their eyes while the others spread out across the pool and “hide”. The seeker yells out “Marco” and listens for the other players, who must yell back “Polo”, while trying to dodge being found and tagged by the seeker.
(In our family’s version, the seeker came armed with a pool noodle to whack the unlucky hiders, and the game didn’t end until all parties were grounded after someone was inevitably Marco-KO’d in the face. But I digress.)
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is kind of like Marco Polo. But instead of players trying to hide from the seeker, everyone’s clambering over each other splashing and screaming “POLO” to be found.
For anyone starting out – one look at the rabid competition and those choppy, murky waters of SEO and you’re probably tempted to quit the game altogether.
But still waters are bad for business. And your customers are looking for you.
How can your business be seen, heard and found online?
How to play the game of Search Engine Optimisation and be found by customers online?
Getting SEO right is a tricky game and the rules are always changing. But if I had one tip it would be this: Don’t just be an echo drowned out in a sea of Polos. Be the seeker – Listen, position and tag.
Here’s what I mean by that.
It may feel like a no brainer to go after search terms / keywords with the highest search volume. But when everyone’s in the pool screaming “Polo” (some paying for the privilege of Polo top-of-page), your voice is going to get drowned out unless you have a lot of resources to invest.
A more strategic approach is to play the seeker:
LISTEN – Who is your customer and what keywords are they calling out?
Are your customers even calling out “Marco”? Maybe they’re in quieter waters muttering ‘Bob”.
Don’t just assume you know. There are plenty of great SEO tools you can use to find out.
POSITION – How are best positioned to optimise for search?
Don’t just echo the most popular search terms. What are some search terms that are less obvious, with less competition? Are some keywords perhaps even more related to your specific business offer?
Pick some low hanging fruit that you can position for quickly, or better than others. Uber Suggest has one of our favourite free SEO tools – simply enter your website and get a list of achievable keyword opportunities for which you’re well positioned to rank higher, faster.
TAG – So your business has been found online, now what?
When you finally creep into your customers search results, what happens next?
Unless you’ve got an offer that invites or a website that connects, they’re going to keep on seeking.
Ranking high on page 1 is akin to showing people your front door. An inviting headline and page description make up the window display. And the landing page is the welcome room, where you turn visitors into leads and customers. Ask yourself: what will invite my customers to click? And what’s on the other side of that click that will make sure they stick around?
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