SEO for Real People

The argument goes around… Do you optimize for people, or for Search Engines. And the answer is very simple, but rarely understood:

When proper optimization is done, it is more effective with BOTH people, and search engines.

The key to good SEO isn’t in manipulating search engines. It is in helping search engines ACCURATELY index your site - to index it in a way that help PEOPLE to find it.

When you do it right, it starts with understanding your target market. How they think, what they’ll put into a search engine, what they’ll want to see in a title or description, what they’ll expect to read in the first paragraph, and what they want you to deliver in the content.

If you get it right, then good SEO will increase the appeal for real people, as well as giving it higher search engine ranking.

Some experts say this a little differently, such as:

Write for people first, then optimize for search engines.

or

Use Keywords naturally.

The good SEO experts understand that it isn’t about whether Search Engines or People are the most important factor. It is ALL about people. It starts with figuring out how people think, progresses to appealing to those people to get them to click, then ends with giving them what you promised so that the click means something to them, and to you.

Less than that, and you are pretty much wasting your time.