Think beyond keywords with SEO

What does it take for someone to recommend your business to a friend?

To lend their credibility to your products?

It’s not just that you have something relevant to offer. It’s that your company is reliable and trustworthy. It’s confidence that you’ll provide a positive customer experience.

The same is true for websites that Google places at the top of search results. Each day, the company makes billions of recommendations to searchers. And each time, it wants to provide results that aren’t just relevant, but also trustworthy and likely to provide a good user experience.

This is what keeps Google users coming back. And it ensures Google will play a major role in developing web standards moving forward.

Build Your Website’s Credibility

So what are the implications for your SEO strategy? Using the right keywords is a good start. But there are many other features – from security to design to accessibility – that determine the experience a user will have on your site.

Consider two competing websites with similar keyword content. One has optimized images, a clear structure, and engaging layouts. The other has images that load slowly. Or a confusing navigation. Or poor readability. Or a security issue.

Keywords might help Google identify both sites as relevant, but the one that provides the better experience is going to garner more credibility over time.

Our Conclusion

Google will continue to refine the metrics it uses to generate search results. So rather than trying to game the algorithm, keep the company’s mission in mind: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

When you invest in a website design that is engaging, well-structured, clear, relevant, and useful, you not only engage your customers, you help Google meet the needs of its users. And for that, you’ll be rewarded in the search results over the long term.