[Hot] What is Natural Website Optimization?
Last week we wrote about how search engines evolve to match technology and user behavior by changing ranking factors. With these ranking factors in mind, SEOs attempt to design and develop websites that match search engine preferences.
Natural website optimization emphasizes honest techniques that lead to unbiased attention. Keeping this goal in mind, organic SEO only applies natural techniques to attract attention. Each design element, each development element, and every piece of content should "work" on its own merit. You must earn customers (or five-star reviews) with honesty and integrity. This is natural website optimization.
This is what Yelp wants. This is what Google wants. Most importantly, this is what users want.
So before you apply any optimization technique to your website, ask yourself this simple question: "Is this natural?"
The Organic SEO Blog is sponsored by an SEO firm that practices only natural website optimization: Stepman's SEO. Alex Stepman, of Stepman's SEO is the epitome of the white knight SEO.
We believe this blog is a testament to Alex's integrity. After all, our mission is to offer knowledge, with a studious attention to detail. This work, of course, takes time, but we believe we're fighting a good fight.
If you're serious about website performance, we suggest calling Alex: 215-900-9398. We list this number, of course, to promote Alex, but also to offer a resource for any questions you might have about SEO.
Beyond design and development, content decides the fate of any website. Google's top three ranking factors, Content, Links, and RankBrain, all refer (directly or indirectly) to a website's content.
In several important ways, then, SEO is content. Most website owners understand this simple point. However, content is not necessarily the foundation of SEO.
Before design and development, before even content, great SEO begins with the simplest of premises: natural website optimization.
To understand natural website optimization, one must first understand what "organic" SEO means.
Organic SEO vs. Paid Advertising
Organic SEO can be described in many ways, yet most SEO websites attempt to articulate it with reference to paid vs. unpaid (or "free") online marketing.
To understand natural website optimization, one must first understand what "organic" SEO means.
Organic SEO vs. Paid Advertising
Organic SEO can be described in many ways, yet most SEO websites attempt to articulate it with reference to paid vs. unpaid (or "free") online marketing.
Paid online marketing, which is often referred to as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM), is a viable way to attract customers to a website.
Of course, paid advertising helps a search engine like Google make money. But Google's reputation depends on the quality of its "organic" results. So unpaid marketing, or organic SEO, satisfies the true goal of search engines: to offer the most relevant, unbiased results for any given search.
Of course, paid advertising helps a search engine like Google make money. But Google's reputation depends on the quality of its "organic" results. So unpaid marketing, or organic SEO, satisfies the true goal of search engines: to offer the most relevant, unbiased results for any given search.
Read: "What is 'Organic' SEO?"
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| Organic SEO is governed by a simple philosophy: natural website optimzation [Photo Source] |
What is Natural Website Optimization?
If organic SEO is defined, simply, as any technique that helps a website appear in "free" search results, natural website optimization is the philosophy that governs these techniques.
This philosophy is important because it applies to any marketing decision. The question, "Is this natural?" is the starting point for organic marketing.
This philosophy is important because it applies to any marketing decision. The question, "Is this natural?" is the starting point for organic marketing.
What is this question really asking? The answer, we've learned, is not necessarily intuitive. In fact, one of the best ways to view the question is to first recognize the opposite of natural.
The opposite of natural website optimization implies coercion or manipulation. Most website owners scoff at coercive or manipulative tactics, but many use these tactics every day. Whether intentional or not, so much of digital marketing, even so-called organic SEO, is unnatural.
Online Reputation Management is rife with unnatural tactics. Search Engine Land recently reported on Yelp's "crack-down" on solicited reviews. On the surface, soliciting reviews from customers (who may, indeed, love your product) seems like an innocuous practice. But many companies offer incentives for customers to give positive reviews.
Our favorite local yoga studio, for example, offers a 20% discount on any purchase with proof of a five-star Yelp review. Many customers would undoubtedly give the studio a five-star review without this incentive. By offering the 20% discount the studio offers cost-savings in exchange for good reviews The reviews, then, are biased, and can only be defined as "unnatural."
Google's policy on reviews (quoted in the Search Engine Land article) clarifies what makes a review "natural":
"Reviews are most valuable when they are honest and unbiased."
Simple, right?
But even our local yoga studio, a space of peace and health, is guilty of unnatural online practices. After all, Yelp's policy, which is essentially "don't ask for reviews at all," would certainly forbid the type of solicitation practiced by our local yoga studio.
Read: SEO Hallmarks: Quality Links, Honesty, and Unique Content
Our favorite local yoga studio, for example, offers a 20% discount on any purchase with proof of a five-star Yelp review. Many customers would undoubtedly give the studio a five-star review without this incentive. By offering the 20% discount the studio offers cost-savings in exchange for good reviews The reviews, then, are biased, and can only be defined as "unnatural."
Google's policy on reviews (quoted in the Search Engine Land article) clarifies what makes a review "natural":
"Reviews are most valuable when they are honest and unbiased."
Simple, right?
But even our local yoga studio, a space of peace and health, is guilty of unnatural online practices. After all, Yelp's policy, which is essentially "don't ask for reviews at all," would certainly forbid the type of solicitation practiced by our local yoga studio.
Read: SEO Hallmarks: Quality Links, Honesty, and Unique Content
Natural website optimization emphasizes honest techniques that lead to unbiased attention. Keeping this goal in mind, organic SEO only applies natural techniques to attract attention. Each design element, each development element, and every piece of content should "work" on its own merit. You must earn customers (or five-star reviews) with honesty and integrity. This is natural website optimization.
This is what Yelp wants. This is what Google wants. Most importantly, this is what users want.
So before you apply any optimization technique to your website, ask yourself this simple question: "Is this natural?"
Organic SEO with Stepman's SEO
We believe this blog is a testament to Alex's integrity. After all, our mission is to offer knowledge, with a studious attention to detail. This work, of course, takes time, but we believe we're fighting a good fight.
If you're serious about website performance, we suggest calling Alex: 215-900-9398. We list this number, of course, to promote Alex, but also to offer a resource for any questions you might have about SEO.