Hello, entrepreneurs!
In this article, I’m sharing some valuable tips to help you get your website to the top of search results. This article is especially for you if you can't afford to hire a professional or marketing agency for your business just yet.
As a small business owner, you're probably used to wearing many hats in your company. Or at least trying to, because in reality, between tackling one problem after another, you end up finishing the day, month, and year with many ideas left unfulfilled, right? It's time to change that.
The "new tactics"
Change starts with knowledge. The problem is, if you're not in the field, you try to search the web and get overwhelmed by so much information and opinion that you don't know where to start or who to trust. You end up more confused than before. Not to mention all the time it takes, which you usually don't have, right?
This article is here to free you from that wild goose chase. See, information and knowledge are different things. Information alone doesn't solve problems; you need guidance. After all, the difference between people isn't the information they have but in what they can do with it. That's where knowledge comes in. Built from our experiences, it helps us absorb and uniquely connect new information. That's why one person's knowledge will never be the same as another's.
(...) the difference between people isn't in the information they have but in what they can do with it.
So, I'm humbly sharing my knowledge built over more than three decades of learning — having seen it all on the web and before it — selecting the best for you to start on the right foot until you have your own “marketing guru” on board.
We, the "old-school marketing" professionals (laughs), often see these "new tactics" come around like new leaves every spring. They're essential for breathing and growing, but we see business owners pouring everything into them, despite our suggestions, only for autumn to reveal that the roots are still the part that nourishes the plant. The new stuff is great, but it's not everything.
Start with the roots
The ranking of a website in search results depends on several factors. One of them is indeed, what we call keywords, and there's a whole technique that will be demystified for you in the recommendations at the end of this article.
Considering that the user is like a plant, which seeks nourishment before seeking light, start with the roots. Keywords are just “light indicators.” They serve as a direction for photosynthesis and growth, never for sustenance.
I remember that four years ago, I (and certainly many in my “tribe”) argued that the quality and authenticity of content (nourishment) are much more important than keywords in any corporate site or blog. After all, the root is guided by the plant's needs. If the nourishment (site or blog) is weak or nonexistent, it becomes irrelevant to the plant's sustenance, leading the root elsewhere.
The False Algorithm
The keywords people use most frequently in searches are obvious because they reflect current trends, specific segments, and the most common ways of speaking and writing. Therefore, they are also the most competitive and, thus, the most expensive. Unless your business is very “niche,” even if you pay, your company will NEVER be able to compete with those that spend millions (literally) on these same keywords. And believe me, the best ones are all bought. Your best chance is to convince search engines that your content is better than that of the companies that invest in keywords.
Your best chance is to convince search engines that your content is better (...)
The root of the matter: Search engine algorithms change constantly, but the user's algorithm does not. No matter how many “leaves” fall and grow back, the essence of human beings remains the same and is directly related to their most basic needs.
The main reasons search engines change their algorithms are privacy and security issues, and the problems caused by some of the "new marketers" trying to manipulate the algorithm.
Search engines like Google are tired of these "SEO tactics." These tactics focus on specific or long-tail keywords within a structure, creating superficial content around them that says a lot but means nothing trying to trick search bots into thinking that your site has the best content related to what people are searching for. In other words, the infamous "filler content."
Even though the content may technically discuss the intended topic and be lengthy, if done this way, it doesn't add anything valuable to the reader. And that's a problem. Not too long ago, some argued that length is the enemy of attention in articles, videos, and podcasts. Time has proven that quality keeps people engaged with large amounts of content. Just look at today's full-day podcasts, confirming something that, in reality, has never changed: In my childhood, it was common to go to matinées (a whole morning at the cinema) to watch what wasn't yet on TV. Five-hundred-page books are still being voraciously read. It's simple: If it adds value or entertains, it captivates. Agatha Christie, Sidney Sheldon, and J.K. Rowling are prime examples! Therefore, it's useless to get the search engine to find your site before others if, when the user visits, they reject the content and leave the page quickly because it lacks the depth to solve their problem or the authenticity to show them something new or a perspective they haven't considered. It's a self-sabotage.
For search engines, this is very damaging because delivering low-quality results makes users look elsewhere. This is one of the reasons why YouTube has become the primary search engine for many topics, surpassing Google Search and causing it to lose advertisers.
Moreover, even if you develop good content relating to highly competitive keywords, it will likely compete with other content on an already saturated topic.
Without interesting content, there are no users, and without users, there are no ad sales.
Uncover the "Secret" Algorithm
What Has Changed
Google's response has changed:
Among other changes, the algorithm has started valuing the quality and authenticity of content more than ever because it is now fully focused on user response. The same has happened with all other platforms, including social media, which increasingly praise those who offer content that users "love." Those who focused on quality (beyond keywords) back then are now leading the pack. On the other hand, those who prioritized keywords and neglected quality ended up spending a lot, riding a short wave, and ultimately failing.
Of course, the platform isn't truly interested in your content. What they care about is the result it delivers for the platform. That's why they increasingly want relevant content producers, not relevant keywords and hashtags abusers with irrelevant content.
What Won't Change
This is where basic needs and human essence come in: People don't want to buy food; their goal is not to go to the market, and certainly not to spend money. What they want, indeed, is to satisfy their hunger and taste, preferably most conveniently and pleasantly possible. Going to the market or restaurant is just a means to that end.
Therefore, your store or restaurant is irrelevant. What matters is showing that it offers the solution the consumer is looking for, making them see your brand as a source of solutions. What defines your business as a solution is how well it can deliver what the consumer seeks while eliminating all possible barriers and shortening the path between problem and solution. Humans are always looking to free themselves from what limits and prevents them from fully living their lives. What results from this quest is technology. The main motivation for adopting technology, for young people, is to live every day as if it were the first; for the elderly, it's to live each day as if it were the last. Therefore, regardless of the keywords and hashtags users employ in their search, they are looking for an answer that points to something that solves their problem (satisfaction, health...). Of course, you must use what they use to search for what they seek but make sure you deliver that. If possible, surprise them. Don't forget this.
Today, not only the master Neil Patel, but all the big names in Digital Marketing that I follow, support what I argued among people who often didn't want to listen. Then, terms like "human hack" and "human algorithm" popped up.
For every "marketer" who was around long before online, this has been basic knowledge since the dawn of sales in human history. Humans are the beginning and end of any sale. It is them that ANY platform, online or offline, will always need to "please" if they want to sell anything or any idea.
Online is a projection of offline. The problem with "waves" and wanting to "hack" technologies — thus relegating humans to a secondary role as if they had changed their essence just because they're in digital mode — is that it's like reinventing the wheel and recreating the creature. The leaves change; the plant remains the same. The term "hack," so trendy at the moment, is another linguistic fad that, in the end, is nothing more than a "new look" at old fundamentals.
Adding Value to the Business Is Adding Value to the Human Being
That said, I insist: We don't need to get caught up in this "schizophrenic rat race" of trying to "hack" platform algorithms; especially if you're starting on this. Focus on winning over the people the platform wants to attract. If you "hack" the user, you "hack" the algorithm. Yesterday, today, and in the year 3000. In other words, give the platform what it needs to help it make its bread, and the algorithm will be on your side. Ultimately, both your company and the platform are after the same thing: attracting human interest. And as well-intentioned and socially contributing as both may be, the ultimate goal is also the same: profit.
After all, let's remember: Companies are fictional entities. They are groups of human beings working together to maintain an activity that provides them with livelihood and, preferably, fulfillment and quality of life. Consequently, they operate to keep the cycle of exchanging goods and services within a self-sustaining chain of activities. And companies don't live off sales; they live off profit and cash flow. Without these, there's no growth and, therefore, no innovation or sustainability... We often forget this little detail, don't we?
The False Partnerships
Those who don't have the budget to compete with the big players in keywords need to compete with quality content and strategic partnerships that make that content discoverable. The problem is that mistakes are made here too. The tendency of many "marketers," especially in the SEO field, is to focus on "link-building" partnerships in a superficial way, which functions like a "house of cards."
In "link building," the idea is to use your content to complement the content of more relevant sites than yours. When they include links to your content within theirs, it helps increase your site's relevance because the search engine will understand that if a site with authority recommends yours, then yours must also be relevant on that same topic. However, it only works if this partner's site is at least 40 points on a 0-100 authority scale. You’ll learn more about this in the recommendations.
"Link building" is indeed important. The usual model of "link-building" partnerships is where the problem lies. Let me explain: The score assigned to sites can fluctuate daily like a true seesaw, and in addition, with the frequent algorithm changes on platforms, the criteria also change. This means that professionals must continuously track and update partnerships — as if they didn't already have enough to do in a site's maintenance (although today most of this can be done through automation).
Another issue is that forming partnerships with authoritative sites when yours isn’t can be challenging. For many of these authoritative sites, it’s not profitable, which leads them to charge for it, and sometimes not even then. As a result, the effort to constantly pursue these kinds of partnerships creates high costs for your business with little or no benefit. If you’re the one doing this, it's even worse. While you're at it, who’s doing business? If it’s your team, who's performing the activities that add value to business?
Considering these issues, this strategy becomes shallow and ineffective if you are a cat among lions. Next, I suggest three more effective tactics for small businesses.
What Makes Your Site Take Off
Tactic 1
Contribute Directly to Other Sites
Look for relevant sites open to guest posts, allowing you to publish content. One of the best options is Wikipedia. Besides having very high relevance, it’s a go-to source for people from all "tribes" looking for information on various topics, especially definitions, history, and biographies. For example, if you're a lawyer, you can create relevant articles for consumers and include links to complementary content on your site. On Wikipedia, this is allowed, but it depends heavily on the quality of the content and it must go through moderators who need to approve both the content and the real necessity of directing it to your site. In this case, the destination on your site cannot be associated with offers, contact forms, lead capture forms, etc. It has to be something genuinely interesting to the reader. However, you can use this secondary content to work on mental triggers that lead the reader to take action. Wikipedia is a great project built by volunteers that, for many years, has helped people have free access to information. As a professional, you can help Wikipedia on some topics, and it can help you back, but please, don't forget to help support Wikipedia. With little monthly donations, yet consistent, you help sustain the project, which benefits everybody beyond borders. Travel blogs are also a great option. The possibilities are many. Use your creativity.
But remember: It doesn't matter if you have the best marketing in the world if your product or service doesn't match the promise. The best marketing is always the truth. First, add value to your business, then use it for marketing.
Tactic 2
Create Solid Partnerships
The most effective "link building" strategy is to seek partnerships based mainly on mutual benefits for the users of both sites. Direct these benefits first to existing customers already on each company's mailing list. This way, the content doesn't depend on being seen in search engines or capturing leads to be discovered initially.
The partnership should be designed so that it frequently drives spikes in traffic from one company's customers to the other’s site, always tied to a relevant current theme, with keywords in the respective content that needs to be accessed to obtain the offered benefit.
It's even better if it's a "pool" of companies that can be partners with each other, like a "cluster" (one sells shoes, another sells socks, etc.), because when several sites converge at one point, that point acts as a node in a spider web. With a "cluster," you have multiple points of convergence because all the companies in the "pool" lead to each other's sites, creating an ecosystem in the web concept. Web robots behave like spiders. Spiders walk on the threads that have more support. Add more threads (links) supporting your content, and the robots are more likely to crawl it first.
Since in this type of partnership, the content is entirely based on the customer's most immediate interests, if all companies maintain consistency, the constant frequency of traffic spikes will elevate the sites more quickly (and organically) than paying to compete with the big players. The investment in offering discounts, giveaways, cashback, and other benefits is much lower than investing in keywords, and the benefit is much greater, with much more solid results.
The secret to success in this type of partnership is:
- How you negotiate what each party gains will vary depending on the partners involved. When the partner has a mailing list much larger than yours or a much bigger market share, you need to offer their customers a benefit that outweighs the fact that your market share and mailing list are much smaller. However, also consider the fact that even though they are smaller, they are a segment that is VERY interesting to this partner, which leads us to point 2.
- Look for partners whose services or products complement yours and vice versa. This makes negotiations easier because each other's segment and clientele are of mutual interest, allowing cross-selling to make sense. Of course, the strategy works best if the companies in the "pool" don't share the same customers at the beginning of the partnership.
- All partners involved must maintain consistency in the offers and the quality of the benefits. Likewise, the quality and authenticity of the content. This will help keep the points of convergence stable, teach the bots faster, and build their trust that they can always rely on this source to deliver content to search engine users.
- Just as you educate the web bots, you must "train" the customers of each company involved in the "cluster." For this, it's important to use mental triggers intelligently and alternately to prevent them from being banalized and, thus, less effective. The main triggers are authority, anticipation, commitment, community, curiosity, pain versus pleasure, scarcity, fear, novelty, social proof, reciprocity, and urgency. The triggers that need the most alternation are anticipation, curiosity, scarcity, and urgency. These four triggers should be used sparingly and honestly.
Tactic 3
Consider YouTube
Remember that YouTube, besides being widely used as a search engine, also appears among the top search results in search engines. Having a YouTube channel can make a big difference. There are several ways to use it to drive traffic to your site. Today, there's no need to record videos or podcasts. There are many ways to produce video and podcast content and artificial intelligence makes it light and quick. Here, exclusive AI command models, tailored to your business needs, are all you need.
Once again, it's not enough to be seen first; you must genuinely offer what the searcher is trying to deliver to those searching; otherwise, they will stop considering your site or channel as a source. The best content is like the best pizza — the customer always returns for more and brings others. That's what makes your site take off.
The best content is like the best pizza — the customer always returns for more and brings others.
Understanding the Strategy
When you adopt a true partnership system and set up triggers that initiate sequences of emails, posts, or ads that deliver increasingly relevant content to the recipient based on their reactions, not only do you consistently increase the relevance of the site, but you also increase the chance of conversion into sales. And, as a bonus, you profit from building a relationship between the recipient and your brand. This is called marketing automation.
In the "clusters" system, partner companies don't divide the market, instead, they multiply it among themselves. The final result of this effort, which becomes a persistent sales funnel, is the consequent increase in the customer’s lifetime value within your company and the others, as they tend to buy again and again, with multiple cross-selling (if they're buying shoes, they might also want socks) and upselling (if they would buy one, why not get three for the price of two) opportunities. You get the point.
The results don't come overnight, but they are certainly MUCH faster and cheaper than the tedious "new tactics" while also more effective. Stick to the old ones. They've worked since immemorial times.
In other words, build some web presence consistency first, so that your investments later on be fruitful. When you get to this point, then yes, you should have a digital marketing investment plan that builds on its very results. If you invest 10 and get 30 in return, you can then invest 15 and get 50, then invest 25 and get 100, and so forth. But be smart. Instead of paying for placement based on keywords, you should invest in boosting your quality content to elevate your presence within those keywords. Make your ad appealing enough to make people click on it, and your content good enough to keep them reading and make them respond to your call to action. This will give you three different kinds of results: immediate revenue from your call to action, positioning improvement from the number of people accessing your page and the time they spend reading, and ultimately, brand awareness.
It is not in the best interest of any platform, to have you invest and not have satisfactory results. It would only lead you to stop investing. That is why building a consistent presence based on a strategic and solid plan is key before you start paying the platform to do its best.
Conclusion
Computers, the internet, and artificial intelligence were invented between 1930 and 1970. Agile methods, the first Data Processing Centers, and editing software were created in the 1980s. "Startups," "squads"... all old concepts, just without these names. Experience allows us to distinguish the genuinely new from the old in new clothes.
So, take care of the roots. The best solution, for anything in life, lies in the basics, and the best support comes from the foundations. With well-done basics, everything that follows is growth. With a good foundation, the waves will pass while the castle remains.
Recommendations on Keywords
As a recommendation for you, I’ve selected five articles among thousands by Neil Patel and
zillions on the web that will serve as a true guide. These articles will teach you the basics, with depth, of what you need to know about keyword techniques. Although they are not the most important factor in achieving concrete results, they are the initial and fundamental step in digital marketing.
In addition to his vast knowledge, Neil Patel is greatly generous in sharing it and does so in a simple and easy-to-understand way.
The article Keyword Research Guide is a valuable resource that offers a comprehensive overview of how to conduct effective keyword research. It covers everything from setting goals to analyzing the competition, providing a solid roadmap for beginners.
This article starts by explaining what keywords are and why they are essential. It details how to choose the right keywords for your niche and use them strategically in your content.
An important point I want to emphasize is that keyword research is not just about finding the most popular words but understanding what your target audience is looking for. The article highlights the importance of delving into user intent.
However, keyword research is not effective without the right tools. The article 7 Tools for Finding the Best Keywords is a valuable guide to help you choose the tools that meet your needs, find the right keywords, analyze the competition, and monitor your site’s performance.
As someone who has gone through this process countless times, I can say that choosing the right tools can save time and money in the long run. Here, I want to emphasize, once again, that the Google algorithm and other search engines are increasingly focused on delivering valuable content to users, and these tools help you achieve that goal. But beware, the content quality and authenticity you produce are essential.
If you want to deepen your knowledge, the article Keyword Research: The Definitive Guide is a must-read in this marathon. Neil Patel delves deep into the concepts and strategies of keyword research, especially long-tail keywords, which are less competitive and more targeted to your audience. They are well worth it if you are in a niche within the niche.
Neil Patel emphasizes the importance of thinking like the user and understanding their
needs. He argues that keyword research is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. This means you should always be aware of changes in user behavior and adjust your strategy accordingly. Now that artificial intelligence is accessible to anybody, keeping up with user behavior is more important, easier, faster, and complete than ever before.
Maintaining relevance is vital in an ever-evolving world. Therefore, I suggest not overlooking the article Keyword Research Tools: How to Stay Up to Date. In this article, Neil Patel mentions some popular tools that can help you simplify the research process.
However, remember that while these tools are valuable, they do not replace understanding your audience and creating quality content. If keyword research is one part of the equation, delivering value to your customers is the matter that truly matters to them.
Finally, in the article How to Master Keyword Research, Neil Patel also discusses the importance of monitoring and adjusting your strategy over time, showing how to manage this in 30 minutes a day. He also emphasizes the importance of creating useful and valuable content for users. This reinforces what I have been saying for years: quality and authenticity are keys to success; in everything.
In summary, these articles by Neil Patel offer valuable insights into keyword research and useful tools for small business owners just starting in the digital marketing world. Remember that as important as hiring a professional or marketing agency when possible might be, following these tips is already a good start.
For now, that's it. I hope I've shed some light on your path.
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