It’s no secret that the game and business of SEO is changing fast. Those staying attached to the old SEO mindset that more links win and keyword volume is everything will fail.
You can no longer rely on Google or popular website blogs to tell us how to optimize a website well.
Thinking SEO is only about link building is the biggest myth of all, and an outdated strategy from 2009.
To win in SEO, marketers will need cross-collaboration, creativity, and new thinking to design sustainable SEO strategies that can:
- Enhance media operations.
- Drive organic traffic to websites.
Understanding the user will be key to success. Getting them to stay on the page and explore the website will be the challenge.
SEO is transforming. Anyone working in the online space needs to consider how they can be more creative with strategy and work collaboratively to optimize websites and increase long-term user engagement.
What’s Changing SEO
The interconnectivity of SEO, technology, human behavior, media, machine, and mindset will change the game of SEO and online marketing.
SEO professionals are now required to become storytellers and professional marketers that not only can develop a search strategy, but can also communicate and sell a brand online.
The digital message must meet the user’s mindset and intent, and deliver what the searcher is seeking while building brand awareness in the long term.
What This Means for SEO Pros
SEO pros must be intuitive in getting the right content to the right type of user, making it easily digestible, and inspiring.
Marketers need to:
- Question the user experience.
- Evaluate the target audience.
- Consider how websites are optimized.
- Consider the language and visuals used to connect with audiences.
All these elements are now factors of SEO.
How websites get the brand message across to users will help or hinder marketing efforts.
People want information fast because they are always on the go. They need websites and content that load fast and easily deliver what they seek.
The future of SEO is in understanding the user’s intent and the deeper layers of wants and desires that drive behaviors.
SEO professionals are now magicians that need to be able to empathize with humans and understand psychology to successfully deliver a full search strategy.
Considering what target audiences will actually search for and what compels them to interact with a brand and product will be necessary to fully engage audiences.
SEO pros may struggle in developing the consumer journey and being able to optimize for the different marketing goals.
Furthermore, understanding the generation differences, the values of different consumers, and the ultimate goal of consumers can help SEO partner with other marketing sectors to create a buyer’s journey and build brand awareness.
After all, once someone lands on a website, it takes great intelligence to get users to stay engaged, and remain loyal to the brand and product.
This gap is where SEO professionals will need to get creative and beyond thinking about search volume and targeting keywords. They will need to also integrate human behavior and look at the big business picture to execute a strategy that works.
Understanding that the searcher can only see what it believes and only find what it knows creates a new digital disconnect that only the searcher experiences and data can’t explain.
Brands must become cognizant of who they are speaking too and what they are trying to convey and attract.
The Future of SEO Must Consider Value-Driven Awareness
Brands will need to become value-driven and purposeful in order to appeal to people, especially younger generations.
Without having brand awareness and a strong message, people won’t be motivated to visit the site, engage on social channels, click through to the site, or learn more about the company.
Marketers will need to understand target audiences and the why behind the actions. Perspective will become everything in order to tap into the user’s mind, wants, and needs.
Psychology teaches us that we create our own reality through the lens of our mind. You need to understand:
- Consumers’ needs.
- What drives them.
- What causes them to search.
- Their subconscious.
- Their wants and values that govern their behaviors.
This is key for having long term followers and making an impact online.
Because without being able to communicate via a website, good content, and quality branding, you won’t win long term followers or create brand equity.
Innovation with Technology & AI Will Fuel Less Search & More Voice Activation
In a world where we can find whatever information we want, you will have to discover what will ultimately grow a brand and create long-term consumers who actually care.
Brands that can appear more human, less corporate, and that hold underlying values for humanity will win.
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People want to promote brands they align with. Naturally, they will share, buy, and engage with brands they stand for, beyond just having a product.
As technology evolves and new gadgets are created, the power of voice search is gaining new traction.
SEO pros will be challenged in adapting with technology and understanding how AI and more are actually driving a lot of what users see and connect with.
Because the machine already hears and knows what users talk about and mention, it will be imperative to have SEO pros help optimize creative campaigns and work with media teams to deliver successful messages and content.
Everything Now Is Driven by the User & Must Be Optimized to Meet Their Needs
Technological advancements and AI are impacting everything about digital marketing and SEO. Marketers will need to understand machine learning and learn how the machine thinks and interprets language.
Understanding AI and technology and the interconnectivity of all things will help craft sustainable marketing strategies that survive the rise of AI.
Utilizing tech tools and understanding neurolinguistics and quantum physics can help businesses excel online.
Our human mind and emotions create reality and what technology mirrors back to us. We create our reality through what we think and feel, and this also drives our behaviors.
Understanding that devices and online technologies are reflections of our internal state allows SEO professionals to become powerful persuaders that need to understand humans in order to optimize for their needs.
Knowing that the user is the driver of technology and what shows up makes it even more valuable to optimize content and websites with creative messaging and proper language that can appeal to target audiences and get them to engage with the website.
SEO pros will need to understand the mind and how we can unify and utilize marketing strategies to deliver the best messages that actually inspire people to interact with brands and products, as well as support bigger missions that money, links, and Google search results cannot buy.
Without developing the creative aspects well, having a team help design the strategy and optimize the content and site and working with media, there will be a disconnect when trying to promote brands and products.
Teamwork is key if you want to solve the bigger SEO puzzles.
We Will Need to Think Like a Machine & Understand the Human Mind
Because Google and all algorithms are developed by semantics and neural networks working together, it’s imperative we all not only understand how Google and technology are affecting us, but also how our own psyche creates our external reality, including:
- How we search.
- What we think.
- What we click on.
- How we act.
- What we see.
Google gives the user information, however, it is up to the user to choose what it clicks on and responds to. What users don’t know and don’t believe in, they cannot find and won’t be inspired to click.
Google operates like the human mind. It takes into consideration the relationship between search keywords, neural networks, websites, links, and more.
Thus, the future of SEO requires marketers to:
- Consider the brand as a whole.
- Understand how they can sell the message to the right audience.
- Fill in the gaps to educate users and get seen in the right channels.
Because no mind is alike, no user searches alike either. Everyone has different internal drives, perceives the world differently, and searches for different reasons.
SEO pros are now challenged to capitalize on deeper knowledge about:
- How Google works.
- How humans behave.
- How powerful semantics and language correlate with one another to create SEO results.
SEO Must Be Utilized with Reverence to Build Trust & Deliver the Best Brand & Web Experience for Users
The future of SEO will be brand integrity and utilizing partnerships and relationships to build credibility and popularity.
The importance of PR and gaining traction online through other websites and media hubs will be valuable for SEO success.
Real links from authorized sites and media outlets will help validate brands.
Creating links through credible media sources and showcasing companies online with PR efforts will help brands seem more appealing and credible through the lens of both machines and humans.
One thing is for sure, if SEO and marketing pros are unwilling to adapt, get curious, and live with an open mind, they won’t be able to keep up with technology.
The future of SEO is brand awareness – driving messages that can connect to audiences in bigger, long-term, ways.
In a world where we all are craving a global change, more unity, more equality, more freedom, and more happiness, we all can collaborate to build marketing initiatives and utilize tech and media to truly inspire people and the planet.
Brands and marketers have a huge responsibility to not only get ranked in Google, but also to:
- Convey a bigger story that can relate to humanity.
- Inspire new generations.
- Help companies be seen in more humanized ways rather than sounding like a sales pitch or product.
Without believing in the imagination and believing in our own ability to connect and captivate audiences through creativity, we will miss the bigger picture of what marketing is and how to really portray a meaningful story that doesn’t just sell but shows a bigger vision.
SEO and marketing pros will be challenged to shift perspectives and even produce sustainable content that can drive users to websites and truly build brand loyalty across different platforms and more.
