Search Everywhere Optimization: How to use SEO effectively and stay ahead of the 'trends'

SEO is not dead!

SEO has always been seen as a powerhouse for websites, but I have always felt that it's so much more than that. In fact, what you read here is the same thing I've been teaching and coaching on for years!

And now, with the integration of AI tools being used on both ends (users and platforms alike) search power can be found truly EVERYWHERE.

What does that mean for you?

It means that the platforms you use everyday to reach your audience are becoming more advanced. They can read and understand the content that you're putting out there to the world, and will do it's best to judge if that content will be seen

It also means that every new search will always be looking for the best content available to satisfy the search.

Just having content isn't enough.

Instead, having purposeful, valuable, accurate, engaging, and delightful content will support you in showing up in those results. (This is what we call showing up at the right time, to the right people.)

Consider everywhere that your people find you: Google search, voice-search, Maps, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Threads, etc. As every platform grows and advances we often loosely say something like 'the algorithm is changing' but what's happening is the tech is sifting through the millions of options to show users online browsing or searching for something in particular.

Here's a graph visualizing the percentage of searches by platform, keeping in mind that social search power is likely underrated due to lack of search tracking from apps.

The magic? These shifts are actually super tools to enable you to reach your audience... if you know how to use it.

If you create content with intention —a.k.a. create things that actually support you and your business by answering questions in a valuable way, gives insight, entertains, connects with community, etc.— and enough context copy for the search engine intelligence to pickup, you will be more likely to show up in those searches.

Here's the kicker, all of these search engines prefer human-made content. Yet, so many people are falling back on AI written content that is sub-par at best.

Yes, I said it. Sorry, but it's true! Unless you know how to use the AI, train it, teach it about you and your business, and integrate actual strategy, whatever it spits back out at you just... isn't that good. At best you'll be melding it quite a bit before launch, but it is possible to use these advancing techs to your advantage!

I attended a webinar from Ryan Diess recently where he was sharing the big changes at his company, Digital Marketer, which I've been engaged with and following since I began in Marketing 12+ years ago. He shared how his company has 100% shifted to focus on AI and providing a done for you AI product that actually acts as trained agents in the processes that his company has historically taught and certified others in (I myself have taken these courses and certifications, the value is immense when you apply the knowledge!). "Brilliant! I love it!" I thought, people who want instant done for you stuff will especially love it. But... on the flip side, how unique will it really be? The more agencies use major tools like this to curate content for clients, or individual businesses use it as the 'end all'? I hope that people can maintain their individuality and maximize their brand voice with purposeful tech engagement.

These types of advanced systems are great for someone who understands marketing and how to actually build things out. For the everyday business owner, the high-level knowledge and understanding of the complexity behind full marketing stacks and/or accessing that type of product budget-wise is out of range.

Curious how much that type of technology is going to run? Smaller interim models have started popping up, costing a few thousand to invest and hundreds a month to maintain, and larger full custom-built models are projected to start at $10k and still hundreds a month to maintain.

On the other side, we see people using things like ChatGPT to generate 'strategies' that sound good, but they have no idea how to execute. I've actually had people come to me with print outs from their ChatGPTs wanting us to do these things, which are often already being done, or don't have a place in their current format, but the 'shiny thing syndrome' is too tempting to ignore.

So, how can the everyday side hustler, entrepreneur, or business owner maximize this tech for themselves without spending thousands up front?

Be willing to learn tools to support your growth, then take action, put in the work, and most importantly uphold the ultimate vision you have for your business (and life!).

If you're reading this feeling like, gosh I know this is me, well you're in the right place! Feel free to snag a free discovery marketing session on my calendar here.

More importantly, as you're stepping forward into the world of technology, growth, and AI — be conscious of your impact on the world.

Don't let anyone fool you into believing that your personal actions are too small to make an impact.

You have immense power to create change in others lives, but without the right information how can you make thoughtful change —you can't. We all do the best we can with the information we have available to us.

If you aren't aware, AI has a big impact on our environment. I won't go too deep into this here because that has a place and time, but it takes a lot to run the tech and the more you 'play' with these systems without purpose, the more impact you are having.

A powerful Instagram content piece from @commonsearth on this subject.

Stats like I've shared above are just one reason I suggest thoughtful and purposeful use of your AI tools. You may shrug that off, but I encourage you to let it sit. You have power.

Your actions, no matter how small, snowball and grow.

When there is growth, roots take place, making those actions even easier to do, and before you know it there's change.

Suddenly, before you realize it, you're there; you're moving through the moments you felt were so far away. And now, you're setting your sites on the next goal and the next, growing your vision for life and strengthening your impact on the world in the most positive of ways.

No matter where you're journey takes you, if you continuously take purposeful action to grow your content, you will naturally attract your people.

You know your business more than anyone else, but there are others along the way who have knowledge and something to share. Sometimes the amount of information coming in and piling up in your 'notes' or 'master task list' can cause you to second guess yourself... instead tune back inwards. You've got an ocean of information available to you, take what's valuable and applicable to you, soak it up, then ring out the excess and let it go.

The biggest game changer for those who are ready and willing to dig in —do the work alongside an expert guide to support your overall strategy and integration.

I've done strategy and coaching / consulting for businesses who are blowing it out of the water! And they got there without a massive team, or paying someone to do the dirty detailed stuff on their behalf —especially when they're still getting started.

Instead what made these businesses different is that these owners are INTO it.

I mean, seriously dedicated. Inspiringly so.

I remember setting strategies when I had just started in marketing under the guidance of marketing expert Ian Garlic, host at his company authenticWEB, and I got to sit in on his strategy sessions and WOW. I remember my mind being blown, I was still a newbie at the time and it was so simple, yet complex and more powerful than I ever realized. I was hooked to the world of strategy and planning from that moment on. The client? Factor75. These guys came in with a hunger and took the little guidance they received in each strategy call with Ian and would run with it.

This was a game changer in my mind, the power of small steps yielding big results was embedded clearly and I knew I wanted to spread this knowledge further.

Similarly to my work today, owners working in a supportive environment come to sessions ready to share everything they've been doing so we could make strategic shifts, brain dump new ideas, set new game plans, and celebrate every small win along the way.

Just a few years ago I started coaching Boomer, owner of Boomer's Kitchen, and at the time she hadn't even dove into digital marketing yet. She had success in her food truck, but she was stuck trying to expand and push herself... but I saw that same hunger. We met a handful of times, 4 or 5 over a year, and she worked through tons of resources that were available to her through the Verizon Small Business Ready Program, and now I see her in ads and catering for major music festivals and corporate events. I mean HELLO!!! That is power!

If you could see success at the end of a tunnel, what would you do to get to it? You'd probably be more than happy to put more time, energy, and effort into your foundation now.

No matter where you are at in your digital marketing strategy, growth is possible! Let's talk about it!

Since the beginning of my career, I've seen the power of SEO and purposeful content. This power is not going anywhere! If anything it's changing and growing in new ways, enabling you to take advantage of so much more than ever before.

While you may not be able to do it all, you can do some things to start making a big change in your business. In the next section I've got 4 things that you can do to make the most of your tech in support of your SEO.

The magic of shifting to Search Everywhere Optimization.

The middle ground between going at it yourself and the dream of having it done for you, for those doing the work with their boots on the ground I believe it's somewhere between accessibility to the tech and knowledge to what it takes to get information that's helpful out of it.

If you take a look at everything you pay for you, you might be surprised how many tools there are in your belt now! Canva has AI editing tools for graphics, Later has AI copy suggestions, hashtag generators and scheduling optimization suggestions, and (my personal favorite tool in my toolbelt) Kit provide subject line inspiration for you based on your sending history or email context; these and so many others all have integrated tech of one kind or another to maximize your abilities on their platforms for example.

Here are a few things that I suggest every business owner using any type AI to amplify their content do:

1. Whenever possible, give the AI some insight to your business and expertise: my clients who integrate their own branding, voice, and processes into their ChatGPTs get the most helpful results. The more specific you can be, the better. Personally, I upload PDF documents and finalized content as I work to keep it updated with MY voice and insights. This makes the information coming back to you much more aligned than an untrained model.

2. If you're using external AI tools, remember they are not always smarter than you: if a tool for subject line effectiveness is telling you to improve the headline you should swap out some words for other words, but the words it 'thinks' will work have nothing to do with your business, don't blindly trust the AI. Use these tools as just that, tools. It's not the end all be all of what's 'right', it's the collective reasoning of the internet, and there's a lot of not so brilliant marketers and other 'experts' out there. These tools do the best they can with the information they have available to them, it's up to you to use them wisely.

3. Don't fall victim to the shiny new things and erase your other work in the process: just because something new is out there doesn't mean you should scrap what you have. SEO is a long-term effort and the more you put into it, the more opportunities you have to show up. Tip: Instead of removing old things, try updating them instead.

4. Create bridges between your content whenever possible: quality link-building is helpful for SEO. The engines follow your links and confirm everything works together and is what you say it is, and boom they are able to show the best result to the searcher. Having quality content with optimized internal links are fantastic for both SEO and, just as importantly, your users. When you're building bridges between content, it gives those most interested in you more opportunities to stay engaged.

Now, if you're reading this feeling like 'wow, there's just so much!' —you're right, there is a lot, and you're not alone in experiencing that feeling.

Take a deep breathe, and stick with me!

I want to share a little, super quick history of SEO to help you understand where things started vs. where things are today.

A basic history of SEO

When the internet started there was not as much saturation, making it easier to be found, but as the web grew people tried to find a workaround to show up above their competition.

The first major trend you may remember was on websites when a big list of keywords would be stuffed without context, usually near the footer; back in that time because of the technology level, that did 'help' them be searchable, but it wasn't valuable. It worked for a while, but eventually technology saw it for what it was, fluff that was often misleading and had no additional context to match what was being searched.

People have tried to keep this old 'easy' way of SEO alive and somehow think they might 'out smart' the technology by stuffing alt-text with meaningless keyword dumps for example, which is not an effective tactic.

In fact, long term, anyone practicing bad SEO tactics will only hurt themselves as technology continues to push down these types of bad, repetitive, plagiarized, or inaccurate misplaced content in search results.

Fast forward just a few years as tech grew and changed, Google and other search engines began to prioritize value-based content. This was a big update as it came just two years after the initial AI disruption in 2022, which allowed those businesses who continuously show up with purpose, shine.

As next iterations of these technologies continue to come forward, we're finding that it's smarter than ever, seeking out the most unique, accurate, and valuable content that answers the search query.

The one constant that withstands all trends is showing up authentically as yourself and sharing actual valuable content that connects your business to your people.

Start building your business's digital presence, one step at a time.

Think of your digital presence like a web of content.

When you grow that web, strengthen it, fix any holes along the way, you will have built something that can capture your audience naturally.

At the center of your digital presence is your website, I like to call this your home base. This is a powerful thing because remember, your website is an asset; every single page is searchable, including blogs.

You own your website, so treat it as valuable as it truly is. It will change and grow over time, along with your strategy and even your business itself.

Surrounding your home base is the rest of your digital strategy. This includes email marketing (everything from regular list outreach to lead follow-up sequences), downloadable assets, product guides, galleries, blogs, social media content, video content like YouTube, third-party feature articles, podcast features, publications, etc.

Everything you create should strengthen and/or extend upon your foundation.

When you think from a technical aspect it's important to consider that just having content isn't enough and just having a pretty website is not enough. What you share with the world needs to have purpose to show up in search engines and capture the attention of your viewer once they reach you.

Bonus Tip: As you develop your assets, content, and copy, always turn back inward and ask yourself, 'How is what I'm sharing now serving me and my people? How does it connect us?'

When it comes to your home base, your website, which would you prefer? 1k monthly visitors with an average view time of 1 minute —or 300 monthly visitors with an average view time of 6 minutes? If your audience requires time to make a decision, having high-quality content that keeps your visitors engaged is more valuable than so-so content that attracts a bunch of visitors who don't stick around to see what you're about.

These numbers are an example of two different businesses, at two different stages of their life growth. Both are actively taking action and seeing improvements in their view time and visitors respectively; the main difference is that the business with less visitors and longer view times has a stronger, more robust content library.

What's more inspiring when you consider this example, is that both are finding success in their niches as their strategies involve multiple digital channels that support and feed their lead funnels.

Instead of focusing on just the outcome, turn towards the root —how are you strengthening that core to support all the branches that are growing outward towards your goals, and building bridges between you and your people.

No matter where you are in your business journey, finding your personal content flow that works for the time and energy you have available to put into production for your business is key.

Here are a few things to check on as you grow your digital presence:

• Set yourself up for success! and take the time to set up systems now that will support you later.

• Plant your digital flag and give your people a place to land.

• Develop your voice and have confidence in yourself.

• Stay aligned with your ultimate vision for your business and life, feed yourself with inspiration for continuous growth.

Here are 3 major components to a healthy digital presence that I recommend all businesses address:

1. Your Website

2. Content Strategy (including Email Marketing, Blogs, and Social Media)

3. Discoverability and Social Proof Opportunities

You'll find something truly amazing starts to happen as you dig into the work. It doesn't matter how saturated the web is —your people will find you.

Business baby K finds his favorite camouflage artist in Disney's Animal Kingdom.

It doesn't have to be overwhelming either! When you've got a plan in place, you'll find that it's much easier to navigate the ever changing landscape of SEO. And if you ever need it, reach out to a trusted expert for more support.

Now, having the work done for you is the ultimate goal for many business owners, but that is an investment on it's own; and remember, you get what you pay for!

An analogy for this is kind of like a good tattoo; You can 100% tell when you see a tattoo that's done well vs. done really badly. Let that visual sit in a bit, you've probably seen a bad tattoo out there in the wild world, I know I have! (Heck I've got one I'm not a huge fan of myself 😅😂)

So, remember that —if you're searching for a cheap solution, you'll probably end up with some pretty bad stuff that will leave you feeling lackluster.

I've got a little funny example of this very thing in action if you're still with me here.

Once, many years ago, someone came to me asking how they could use a big content pack they purchased from someone online; pre-themed, designed, 'ready to use', with a pre-built strategy designed for a different industry. (It already doesn't sound great, right? I know.) Do you want to know what it was themed? Fish. Every single template, images of fish with random text space on top. "Does your audience like fish?" I asked, "No, I like them."

The business owner in this example just assumed having the content out there would work. Long story short, it didn't work, and despite being able to invest in their business they valued saving a dime and skimping on their own investments.

I don't know what happened to this business owner but I hope the little advice I provided might have helped them align their efforts and see success in the future.

This is a serious pain point for a lot of people. Maybe not with pre-built fishy content, but in general buying into a prepackaged solution and without any plan in the owners mind or guidance along the way, leaving them with wasted money and time. It's frustrating.

So many people have been there and sometimes in far larger scale like buying websites from people who ghost them, paying big agencies for guaranteed results where there isn't a guarantee to be made, etc.

It happens! And if it's happened to you, you're not alone. (In fact this is one of the driving factors that lead me to create my business Bare Marketing, and serve people in the way I do.)

Now, if you can afford to pay an expert to do the work and insert their knowledge directly into that final product that's fabulous! But please, if you only take one thing away from this message today, having your vision and personal knowledge integrated into the work is key for your ultimate success.

Anyone promising a cookie cutter solution or specific instant results, are likely blowing you a bit of steam. Any good marketer will tell you that the majority of marketing doesn't change, what changes is the tech behind it and the humans consuming it; understanding how to bridge that gap is the secret sauce.

As the captain of your ship, you have a duty to know about your people and make an effort to understand them.

The more you tune into your people and work to put out content that supports them in their everyday life, the more connection you'll make through searches and you'll see the data reflected in your analytics.

Finally, the more you continuously strive to do this —give value, support you people— the more long term success you will find.

You're building bridges, you're closing the gaps.

And you're doing with the help of SEO.

If you found this extended info packed blog, please let me know by sharing a comment below.

And if you ever decide you want to jump in with some support of your own along the way, I'm always here; book a free discovery session with me here!

With joy, Christie

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