I am an unabashed Football fan. I love football at all levels and am fortunate enough to have a son who plays and enjoys youth football. My true love is the NFL and my team is the Vikings.
In meetings with current and perspective clients I often use football as a metaphor for SEO. I call it Blind Side SEO. Most of you have seen the movie “The Blind Side.” It is a true story about Michael Oher who goes from being an abandoned, impoverished kid to playing Left Tackle in High School, College at Ole Miss, and currently professionally with the Baltimore Ravens. In the movie the adoptive mother explains that the Left Tackle is the most important position on the field as it is the key to protecting the quarterback from blind side hits.
In the world of Digital Marketing, SEO Is the Left Tackle and Social Media is currently the Quarterback. SEO is not glamorous and has been declared dead in many blog posts on the web. Social Media on the other hand is hot. It is akin to the Quarterback selected as a high draft pick. Yet, we are betting on a future commodity that most of us don’t know what it will become…like Ryan Leaf vs. Peyton Manning.
What we do know about SEO is that it evolves and is solid and important like the Left Tackle. Before you address the Quarterback with a high draft pick you better have a solid line and Left Tackle to protect him so he can play to his full potential. SEO starts with basic blocking and tackling:
- Content is King
- Create useful content that will address search queries
- Develop a quality user interface that displays content prominently
- Ensure that all content is accessible for the crawlers
- Keyword Research and Meta Data
- Find keywords that are searched and most importantly, relevant for your business
- Select 2-3 keywords per page and place in important areas on-page
- Ensure that these keywords are used in the code (Title, Description, H & ALT tags, links, etc.)
- Link Building and Local
- Create link references to other high quality, respected and related sites
- Utilize Local (if applicable) to build citations and reviews
I am not advocating that you ignore Social Authority (the Quarterback) and its importance to SEO. Only tackle that portion as part of a comprehensive Search Engine Optimization effort that addresses the basic needs first.
Learn how to rank higher in the engines this September at the Digital Marketing Strategy Summit. The flexible, online event includes sessions on The 8 Elements of Highly Effective Search Marketing, How to Rank Higher In Google (live critique), Selecting and Managing a Search Vendor, and more. See Full Agenda.