Wakefly BlogUsing SEO to Optimize Your Website for Humans, Not Just Google

When it comes to SEO, there is so much focus on Google’s Robots. What can we do to improve our rankings in the eyes of the robots? Are the robots crawling the right pages? What keyword should we add to the title so the robot knows what the post is about? We pay so much attention to the technical aspects of SEO that we tend to forget there are real humans behind the searches we optimize for.

Clients and customers after all are people and your website, social media and overall marketing strategy should be organized as such. Yes keywords and title tags play an important part in driving traffic to your site however they do not get people talking or create a buzz. They probably aren’t shared with your family and friends or reposted.

Below are a few tips to help you remember the human behind the computer and provide them with meaningful and useful information:

Get to Know Your Customers

Get them on the phone and interview them. Heck, even take them out to dinner or to a ball game if you have to. Once you have their attention, it’s time to ask a lot of questions and learn as much as you can.

For instance ask them where they shop, where they eat, what social media accounts they use, who they follow on social media, how they found you, where they work, what position they hold, what keywords did they use to find you, why they chose you over the competition, etc.

Look for repeating patterns in their answers, and turn those into opportunities to attract new customers. For instance, if you learn from several customers that they found you on the sidebar of their favorite blog, try guest posting or having a larger presence on that blog. You already know that your customers are looking there, you might just need a little more retail space to seal the deal with more visitors.

You can also take the information you receive from these interviews to tailor the content on your website and blog. Tailoring your content is a great way to present information your customers care about and increase organic traffic. A small amount of effort could lead to multiple additional customers.

Keep your Site Neat and Simple

If visitors have difficulty getting around your site there is a very good likelihood they will become frustrated and leave. If your goal is to have visitors fill out a form or download an ebook, place the form or link directly where they can see it. Don’t make visitors search for something. If it’s not directly in eye sight, there is a good chance it will not be seen, clicked on, or filled out.

Include Pictures

From my experience this is commonly overlooked. Pictures give people a visual sense of your product or service, providing them with a positive mental image. You want the image to be visually appealing. Showing happy people using your product in a productive way is much more compelling than a stock photo of the product. If you are trying to marketing a service, create a short video that will showcase your expertise and capture the viewers attention.

Make Sure Your Site is Mobile Friendly

Today more and more people are using their phones to search and make purchases.  It is imperative that you have a mobile friendly version of your website, or a responsive website so your customer has the same experience on a tablet that they do on their computer. When building a mobile friendly site, make sure it includes one click call or purchasing capabilities, making the conversion process as simple and direct as possible. Google has noticed this trend and is now rewarding sites that provide a better mobile experience with a rankings boost. Don’t lose out on business because your site is not mobile friendly.

Focusing your website on the human elements of SEO will not only provide your visitors with a positive user experience but also increase sales.