Over the past decade, no other marketing channel has undergone as many changes as SEO. It has continuously evolved through algorithmic advancements and has proven to be essential for a successful digital strategy. In fact, more than half of online traffic, about 51%, comes from organic search.
SEO has now become a mainstream practice, recognized by businesses across various industries. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that succeeding in SEO requires adopting new skills and approaches, especially in an increasingly competitive environment.
The landscape of search has experienced a significant shift. With the integration of Google Assistant into over 5,000 devices and the growing prominence of voice search, the focus of search has become decentralized. The traditional search engine results page (SERP) that we were familiar with is no longer the same. Search has become dynamic, visual, and omnipresent.
This transformation has had a profound impact on organizations. SEO is no longer a solitary discipline but a collaborative effort that demands the synthesis of multiple specializations to achieve optimal results. At the core of this collaborative approach lies the domain of technical SEO, which remains the fundamental building block for any successful strategy.
History of Technical SEO
Technical SEO has always played a crucial role in driving high-quality organic search traffic. However, the way in which these skills are utilized has undergone significant changes.
In the early days of SEO, technical skills were paramount. Ensuring crawlability of websites was a primary consideration in developing an SEO strategy. Content, on the other hand, took a backseat and was primarily used as a vessel to incorporate keywords and improve rankings. As time passed, link building became an important aspect. Thanks to Google’s innovation of using links to evaluate and rank content.
Marketers’ ultimate goal remained consistent—to attract organic search traffic that would convert on their websites. This led to a constant cat-and-mouse game, with some marketers resorting to any means necessary to achieve high search rankings. Keyword cloaking was countered by Google, only to be replaced by link buying as a manipulation tactic. However, with the introduction of algorithm updates like Panda and Penguin. Many of these unethical practices were thwarted, raising discussions about the potential death of SEO (albeit briefly).
These discussions overlooked a crucial point—as long as people continue to use search engines to discover information, SEO will thrive. The industry has evolved and embraced modern SEO practices, particularly its integration with content marketing. Successful strategies now receive deserved recognition through increased search visibility.
As a result, SEO has transformed from a purely technical discipline into a more comprehensive field, encompassing creative content that appeals to the typically “right-brained” individuals. This shift has reshaped SEO departments, necessitating collaboration with other digital marketing teams.
Technical SEO, in particular, now encompasses all search engine best practices and leaves no room for manipulation. While this specialization has always been relevant. It has experienced a recent resurgence as senior marketers recognize its ability to drive performance alongside compliance with search engine crawlers.
There are four main aspects to consider within this context:
Site Content:
It is essential to ensure that the content on your site can be easily crawled and indexed by major search engines. This involves utilizing log file analysis to understand access patterns and implementing structured data to facilitate efficient access to content elements.
Structure:
Creating a logical site hierarchy and URL structure is crucial for both search engines and users to navigate to the most relevant content. Additionally, it should facilitate the flow of internal link equity throughout the site, enhancing overall accessibility.
Conversion:
Identifying and addressing any obstacles that hinder users’ ability to navigate through your site is vital. By resolving these issues, you can improve user experience and increase the chances of converting visitors into customers.
Performance:
Technical SEO has evolved into a specialized field focused on improving site performance. While this has always been important, marketers from various backgrounds now recognize that technical SEO goes beyond mere “housekeeping.” By optimizing the above areas, you can enhance site performance not only in search but also across other marketing channels.
Given the evolving nature of technical SEO and its broader scope. It is worth questioning whether the term “SEO” adequately captures the full extent of what we do in this field.
Redefining our Scope on Site, Search, and Content Optimization
The term “search engine optimization” no longer adequately captures the breadth of our work as digital marketers. As our responsibilities extend to include content marketing, conversion rate optimization, and user experience. It is time to reevaluate our terminology.
Our work encompasses several key areas:
Optimizing the Site for Users:
Our focus is on creating a website that caters to the needs and preferences of users. This involves designing a user-friendly interface, ensuring smooth navigation, and enhancing the overall accessibility of content for major search engines and social networks.
Ensuring Content Engagement Across Channels:
We aim to create compelling content that resonates with the right audience across multiple marketing channels. By understanding user behavior and preferences, we can deliver content that engages and drives results.
Embracing the Convergence of SEO and Content:
Research indicates that the majority of marketers view SEO and content as interconnected disciplines. As such, we should view our skills as an amalgamation of site, search, and content optimization. The role of search engines has evolved beyond traditional blue links, and we must adapt accordingly.
Our responsibility is to reach consumers wherever they are searching, acknowledging the ever-changing contexts in which they engage with content. This expanded perspective better aligns with the pivotal role SEO plays in digital and business strategies.
As technological advancements like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) take center stage. Brands must ensure their web presence meets the highest standards to cater to modern consumers. The “mobile-first” approach has significant implications for audience engagement, but it is also a technological consideration. The emergence of PWAs on desktops further emphasizes the need for cohesive site experiences that prioritize the mobile user experience.
Tips to Help Streamline Your Business Through Increased Use of Tech
It is evident that these advancements extend beyond the traditional scope of ‘Search Engine Optimization’. Nevertheless, it is likely that SEO professionals will be at the forefront of driving change within their organizations.
Brands must think beyond search engines and envision new ways for their content to be discovered by customers. To tap into the full potential of emerging consumer trends, a different approach to SEO is necessary. This approach should encompass site experience optimization alongside traditional SEO techniques.
By embracing collaboration and fostering a cooperative work environment. We can accelerate the adaptation process and seize the abundant opportunities that lie ahead.
The Hats and SEO
Regardless of the terminology used, it is essential to recognize that SEO has always been intertwined with other disciplines. From its early partnership with web development to its present-day integration with content, collaboration has been at the core of SEO.
To bring this collaborative concept to life and effectively combine the specialized skills necessary for a modern organic search campaign. It is beneficial to explore frameworks that foster collaboration.
While discussions in SEO often revolve around the black hat and white hat practices (sometimes acknowledging gray hat). We can introduce Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats approach to add structure to collaboration.
Each “hat” represents a different mode of thinking, delineating the various functions required to achieve successful outcomes. These may involve separate departments, individuals, or even different mindsets within a single person.
The objective is to enhance the collaborative process and minimize the impact of subjectivity by thoroughly examining every challenge from multiple perspectives before moving forward. This comprehensive approach allows for a more holistic understanding of the problem at hand and encourages well-rounded decision-making.
By embracing collaboration and employing frameworks like the Six Thinking Hats, we can harness the collective intelligence and diverse expertise within our teams to achieve more effective and well-informed outcomes in the field of SEO.
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White Hat
White Hat thinking, a widely recognized concept among SEO professionals, revolves around relying solely on facts, statistics, and data points. It represents the most objective approach when addressing a given situation.
Who needs a White Hat SEO?
Data analysts and analytics specialists are naturally inclined to embrace this approach.
Why do you need White Hat for SEO?
Examining the data alone provides an ideal foundation for initiating discussions. It helps maintain focus on the objective realities of cross-channel performance. However, it’s important to note that data without context lacks meaningful insights and understanding of consumer behavior. Therefore, this approach, when used in isolation, may lack the depth required to fully comprehend and engage with consumers.
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Yellow Hat
The Yellow Hat approach introduces optimism to the discussion, emphasizing the potential benefits that a strategy can offer to both brands and consumers.
Who needs a Yellow Hat SEO?
The optimistic mindset of the Yellow Hat approach can be adopted by anyone involved, allowing all parties to embrace it for a designated period. Alternatively, it can be assigned to a specific individual as a responsibility. The important aspect is to maintain a structured approach throughout the process.
Why do you need Yello Hat for SEO?
Due to the abundance of ideas, it’s common to discard some prematurely without fully exploring their potential. Adopting an alternative view enables a comprehensive exploration of an idea, even if it’s just to retain certain components of it. This approach encourages thorough consideration and avoids prematurely dismissing valuable aspects of an idea.
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Black Hat
Although the Black Hat concept may be seen as contrary to the principles of advanced SEO professionals, it holds value in this specific context. It can be interchangeably used with the “devil’s advocate” approach, where someone deliberately highlights obstacles and potential risks for the project. This critical viewpoint helps identify challenges and encourages a comprehensive evaluation of the strategy.
Who needs a Black Hat SEO?
While it’s difficult to pinpoint a specific role or individual, it’s important to be cautious of those who offer SEO solutions without providing transparency about their methods. Beware of the potential dangers associated with such practices. Additionally, it’s crucial to stay vigilant and be on the lookout for negative SEO attacks that could harm your website’s visibility and rankings.
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Red Hat
The Red Hat approach revolves around feelings and emotions, often stemming from our instinctive reactions to an idea. This aspect can be highly beneficial for a digital project, as it helps counterbalance an overly rational and data-driven approach. By incorporating emotional insights, we can bring a human element to the decision-making process and consider factors that go beyond pure data analysis.
Who needs a Red Hat SEO?
To effectively adopt the Red Hat approach, it can be advantageous to assign this role to an individual who has close involvement with the target audience or possesses expertise in analyzing and interpreting audience data. This person’s insights and understanding of the audience’s emotions and preferences can contribute significantly to the decision-making process from a human-centric perspective.
Why do you need Red Hat for SEO?
In the battle for valuable consumer attention, first impressions hold great significance, especially in a landscape where attention spans are diminishing. Content marketing campaigns heavily rely on making a strong initial impact, making it worthwhile to trust and listen to our gut instincts at times. Our intuition can play a vital role in shaping effective strategies that resonate with the audience and capture their attention from the very beginning.
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Green Hat
The Green Hat approach injects creativity and spontaneity into the process, allowing for a fresh perspective when encountering challenges. Instead of perceiving obstacles, this approach seeks out new opportunities and innovative solutions. It encourages thinking outside the box and exploring uncharted territories to uncover novel approaches and unleash untapped potential.
Who needs a Green Hat SEO?
While creativity is a trait that anyone can possess, it can be beneficial to assign the role of the Green Hat to someone who feels comfortable sharing their ideas with a group. This person should be resilient and not easily discouraged if their ideas are not immediately embraced. Their openness to sharing and their ability to persevere will contribute to a collaborative environment that encourages creative thinking and exploration of new concepts.
Why do you need Green Hat for SEO?
While best practices can provide a solid foundation, they have their limitations. They act as a levelling force, but it is the introduction of new ideas that truly sets us apart. In our relatively young industry, there are numerous unexplored paths waiting to be discovered. The Green Hat approach introduces the essential elements of innovation into discussions, allowing us to explore new territories and push the boundaries of what is possible. It encourages us to think beyond the established norms and embrace a spirit of creativity and exploration.
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Blue Hat
The Blue Hat plays a crucial role in organizing the thinking process and assumes ultimate responsibility for integrating the various elements into a coherent and unified whole. This role ensures that all perspectives and ideas are considered, facilitates effective communication and collaboration among team members, and guides the overall direction of the project. The Blue Hat brings structure and clarity to the discussions, ensuring that the collective efforts align towards achieving the desired outcomes.
Who needs a Blue Hat SEO?
The role of Blue Hat is ideally suited for the project lead or an individual who closely aligns with the brand’s objectives. Their deep understanding of the project and its goals enables them to maintain focus and provide guidance. Project managers, in particular, possess a natural aptitude for this role, as they are skilled at overseeing and coordinating various aspects of a project to ensure its successful completion. Their organizational abilities and attention to detail contribute to keeping the team on track and driving the project forward.
Why do you need Blue Hat for SEO?
In the realm of SEO, which encompasses an increasingly diverse range of disciplines, the role of Blue Hat becomes indispensable. To fully leverage the potential of organic search, it is crucial for various departments to work together in a synchronized manner on an ongoing basis. The Blue Hat acts as the facilitator of this collaboration.
While the use of actual hats is optional, they may aid in embracing and adopting this collaborative approach.
Irrespective of the presence of hats, these different ways of thinking offer a multitude of benefits across any organization:
- Opportunities to integrate additional digital functions into the SEO process.
- Ways to acquire new skills through practical application and observation.
- Integration of SEO best practices across multiple digital channels.
- A central role for SEO without diminishing the significance of other specialists.
Technical SEO has become increasingly vital in today’s digital landscape.
SEO has undergone significant changes and now forms a crucial part of a broader digital landscape, requiring a different approach to technical skills. In fact, it has evolved into a highly sophisticated and intricate digital channel that surpasses the traditional boundaries of “Search Engine Optimization.”
The fundamental principles of organic search still hold true, but technical SEO has gained overdue recognition as a catalyst for enhancing web, mobile, and device performance. SEO professionals are continuously at the forefront of technological advancements, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down with the rise of voice search, digital assistants, and Progressive Web Apps.
However, to fully capitalize on this opportunity, new methodologies are necessary. This begins with redefining the scope of SEO and extends to fostering collaboration within our organizations. The level of technical expertise required for success has returned to its former significance.
Yet, the key lies in understanding where and how to apply this knowledge to achieve technical success. Concentrate your skills on optimizing:
– Your website
– Mobile and desktop devices
– Mobile applications
– Voice search
– Virtual reality
– Intelligent agents
– Vertical search engines (consider platforms like Amazon, not just Google)
The AI revolution is in dire need of further assistance from technical SEO professionals and data scientists to propel it forward.
By embracing a slightly different perspective on your role and taking action now. Organic search can assume a central position in both business strategy and cross-channel digital marketing. Hire an Enterprise SEO agencies that understand the key elements of technical SEO to boost your website ranking on the SERP which will in turn increase your business revenue.
Would you like to read more about the importance of Technical SEO on your business website-related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
