What is SEO?
SEO is an initialism for Search Engine Optimization. For the past 15 years, it has been mostly focused on how to get a website to rank well in Google. More recently, the industry has expanded to focus on how to rank well across platforms such as AI and other search engines as they increase their share of the search world.
The element in common across all search types is this: people are searching for the answers to their problems. Search platforms want to solve those problems, and do so by connecting them with sites or people who can solve those problems. They know that the better they can answer questions and solve problems, the more people will use their platform.
Initially, search was fairly basic. Google simply performed a database search to bring up the information it considered relevant. It wasn’t long, though, before the wealth of information available online made things much more complicated. People realized the value of ranking well, and started to figure out ways to cheat the system. If Google simply went by the number of times the search term was used, then spamming a page full of that term would make it rank at the top. People would even hide the text off-page or in the same color as the background to make this happen.
Google soon responded by changing the way its algorithm worked, even penalizing people who tried to cheat the system. The search algorithm quickly became a secret. Google’s statements made it clear that it was going to focus on providing the best user experience possible. Websites that prioritized providing value to the customer would be ranked best.
This made two basic ways to try to rank well. The first is to try to outsmart Google. If you managed to “hack” Google by outsmarting the algorithm, you could bypass making quality content by providing the right triggers to the algorithm to trick it into ranking it well. This “black hat SEO” could be highly effective, but was also dangerous, as Google was constantly looking for these loopholes and shutting them down. The second way was to try to provide value first, then look to optimize the signals so the search engine could understand the website.
Today’s onset of AI platforms, alternative locations of search like YouTube and social media, and much more are quickly changing SEO, but the basic concept stays the same. First and foremost, provide value to the customer. Then, seek to provide the right information to the search engines so they know how to rank it well.
How Does Google Rank Websites
Google’s algorithms are kept secret, but they seem to primarily rank websites according to a combination of relevance to the search term and site authority.
Relevance is fairly straightforward. Is the result about what the user is looking for? The search term used is obviously the main indicator, but Google goes well beyond just what keyword is used. Machine learning techniques let the algorithm pay attention to what similar searchers were looking for by what websites they clicked on and stayed on. This allows the algorithm to gauge search intent, not just the term used. Google is steadily updating its algorithm to help it learn these things more and more efficiently.
Authority is a “score” that Google gives to websites based on how helpful it sees those websites to be. For example, if people go to a website, leave, and click on the next result, the website obviously wasn’t helpful. The algorithm uses a combination of cues to rank the website. Bounce rate, engagement, time on site, and others tell Google how people use the site. Age of site, number of quality links to the site from other domains, and the general amount and quality of content on the site tell the algorithm about the caliber of the site itself. Google will use a combination of these two factors to try to make sure the best websites show up first.
Google explains the type of content it wants to rank well through the acronym E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Google wants to bring people to content created by experts and professionals who know what they are talking about. They want someone who presents in an authoritative way and is honest about who they are and what their motives might be. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Unless we’re talking about an advanced or critical field like medicine or financial advice, Google just wants to be able to tell that the article on wiring a house is actually written by an electrician, or that the recipe posted was actually made by someone who cooks, and so on.
How does AI work with SEO?
As I’ve mentioned, SEO is changing in unpredictable ways. The formula laid out above is not necessarily how AI works. Artificial Intelligence has a much greater ability to analyze the content and intent of a website, and what that means for the future of search is unknown.
But the core concepts still remain, and E-E-A-T still seems to be the winning criteria. AI no longer sends people directly to your article, instead reading various articles and combining them to try to answer people’s questions, but they need to have quality, authoritative sources to pull from. For a time, you could create a quality post by pulling information from other sources across the web and creating new content, but now AI can do that better than a human can.
This might be bad news for copywriters, but it’s good news for actual creators. If you can create original value that people want to know and can’t easily find elsewhere, you will get attention from search. Don’t write generic “industry standard” content; write content tailored for a specific audience, content based on original research, or other content that answers specific questions.
The obstacle is the way. The very difficulty created by the changes of AI creates an opportunity. Use your expertise to create authoritative answers that provide solutions to genuine problems. This is what search engines of any type want to provide.
SEO Strategies
So, how do you actually make this happen? I’ll outline the basic process we usually use.
If a client wants us to do SEO on their site, we start by analyzing the website. Are there problems with the site? Slow loading speeds, confusing navigation or layout, and site bugs will lead to high bounce rates and low site authority. These sorts of problems should be fixed first. We also look at the content. If there simply aren’t many words on the site, we know that we will need to flesh that out.
Along with this, we start looking into keywords for the site. What terms do we want to rank for? Which of these terms are of low enough competition to be achievable? We keep researching until we are satisfied we have a quality list to try to rank for.
Armed with this list, we’re ready to start making changes to the site. Which pages should rank for which terms? Do those pages have the terms on the site? We make sure they are used in key headings and we work them into URLs, alt text, and meta text as much as possible. The page still needs to work best for the end user, but including these terms makes sure that computers and algorithms can read the site as well.
Once we’ve worked over those pages, strategies can vary. If the business is locally focused, we might build out local services pages that aim to rank for specific, nearby cities. This tells the engines and the users clearly where the business operates. If we aren’t location-based, we’ll move on to blogs more quickly, looking to write quality, informational posts that answer questions that potential customers might have. Questions like: How do I estimate the price range for new windows? What are the advantages of different woods in kitchen cabinets? And much more. If you can offer unique value that people are looking for, search engines will want to present your content.
As a final note, one way to cut through the clutter of AI answers, changing SEO techniques, and all of that is brand growth. If people just want a running shoe, for example, they’ll just Google “running shoes” and browse through what comes up. What they get will depend on what they come across. If you are Nike, the best way to make them buy your shoe instead of a competitors, is to cut through all that clutter and make sure they don’t Google “running shoe.” Get them to Google “Nike running shoe,” because then you will definitely show up. And even if someone else somehow gets higher than you, they will quickly realize this isn’t what they want and go back until they find your website. Brand awareness is the best tool for cutting through SEO clutter.
Needing an SEO Partner?
At Craft & Cloud Marketing, we help businesses boost their online visibility through strategic SEO services that go beyond keywords. We focus on creating valuable, authoritative content and optimizing websites for speed, structure, and user experience so search engines and customers can easily connect with you. Our approach combines best practices with in-depth keyword research, technical site fixes, and original content development that stands out. By intentionally focusing on your brand presence and ensuring your site is both user- and search-friendly, we can help you cut through digital clutter and drive real, measurable traffic to your website.