It's a question that is so often typed into the Google search bar: 

“Is SEO dead?”

But, is it? 

The short answer: no, SEO is not dead. 

The longer answer: well…it’s actually just evolved.

What is SEO?

Though it is often typed into the search engines across the interwebs, and the answer is sought after, it seems as though so many people have an idea of what SEO is. They have their answers and their opinions.

So, seriously, what is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the incorporation of practices that builds visibility for your website across search engines and in associated searches. These practices, when used, assist in the programs and tools used by search engines to fetch answers, finding your website as the answer for relevant queries typed into the search bar. 

Google, and the practice of utilizing search engines in the quest of answers, curiosities, and information is so prevalent that, as recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “google” itself actually became a verb in 2006. It was even used as a verb two months before the company even launched in 1998.

(And, don't worry about that fact check– I googled it)

At this point, it's worth noting Google isn't the only search engine, though being the most used search engine globally, it's often used as a placeholder for reference to any search engine. 

It's used so widely that its estimated to process 40,000 queries 

Every

Single

Second. 

Why is all of this important in understanding what SEO is and why it is very, very much alive?

The point of SEO is in its name— its to optimize your website’s appearance in search engines. To do that, you kinda gotta understand how the search engines work in order to work within their system, be recognized as a go-to for answers, and thus see your website’s retrieval in the process. 

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SEO Best Practices: Why Google Cares So Much About Them

Look, Google is smart. 

And Google is a business. 

They want their customers (that's all of us) to constantly come back to their business to keep tapping into the services they provide. 

What does that mean for a search engine? 

They offer the ability to get the right and relevant answer in front of you when you ask your question, every time. If they are successful, you will keep defaulting back to their search engine with any questions that pop up– and with the average of 25 - 30 questions popping into an adult's head everyday…that's a lot of queries.

In order to supply that demand with their promise, they built the right tools to crawl the over 1 billion websites that are on the internet today. These tools scan websites searching for indicators that present the right and relevant website in front of the person typing their question into Google.

This is where Google starts to really care about SEO practices.

These practices in question act as the intermediary to help the website using them stand out in the bank of a billion websites, and flag down the bots sent to find the answer. 

SEO Best Practices: Why Are There Bots Involved?

Wait…Google has bots?!?

Unsurprisingly, yes– but these aren't bots that are here to take over the world (sorry, Neo won't be at your door to unveil the matrix to you). 

And these bots definitely aren’t just ChatGPT trying to steal my job.

Let me put it to you like this:

You type a question into Google. 

Google scans millions of websites in a fraction of a second looking for that right and relevant answer.

You are given a search engine results page (SERP) filled with links to the web pages and websites that hold exactly what you were looking for.

How do you think Google does that?

To do this, Google developed programs, or crawler bots, to scan those millions of websites looking for the flags that signal which websites to present to the searcher. 

There is a lot of technical information that goes into how they were created, and how they work, but that's not necessary information to know how to talk to them. I mean, I’m an SEO specialist that optimizes the language of websites to communicate with these crawlers and I don't even know how they were brought to be. 

What is important to know, though, is that language they speak, and how to speak it to them. 

SEO Best Practices: What Are the Google Crawler Bots Looking For? 

These little crawler bots are hunter gatherers. They are sent out to find something they can capture and bring back home to feed those around the table– or, with a less analogy heavy explanation, they are sent out to find the answer to the question searched to then present it to the curious searcher. 

In order to find the right and relevant website providing right and relevant answers, they have t make sure that, not only are the websites to be presented on the same topic of the query and coming from functional, active websites, but that these websites are coming from credible sources as well. 

If you’re searching for specific information on a medical ailment that’s been bugging you, would you want to receive information from an expert, who is seen in their own industry, by other credible representatives, as an authority on the information, to a point of commanding a level of ubiquitous trustworthiness? 

I hope the answer is yes, but that's just my hope. 

That identity– those credentials of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness– that’s E-A-T in the world of SEO and that is exactly what crawler bots are looking for when they have discovered the relevant content that they need to vet. 

Operate within the E-A-T principles and bring in the very crawler bots that want to present your site as the answer to those hungry questions typed into the Google search bar.

So, in order to E-A-T, you gotta make yourself (your site) edible for those crawlers to to bring you to that first search engine results page . 

SEO Best Practices: Why Do I Need to Make Myself Edible?

How do you make your site the most appetizing to start being presented on that infamous search results page-one ? 

To build the edible credentials, you kinda have to just start. 

Building a content base is important. It creates the very place that is pointed back to, displaying your expertise and inviting in the recognition to then be seen as authoritative and trustworthy. The content base is often a website or a blog showcasing you and what you're offering the world around you. 

A key to the usefulness of that content base is how it gets found; the more you are discovered, the more you will be recognized, celebrated, and shared. This is where those SEO best practices come in hand to expedite that discovery process. 

These practices include everything from internal linkage, page load time, text-to-HTML ratio, hreflang and lang attributes, all the way to compressing, caching, and minifying of Javascript and CSS files. 

The application of SEO best practices within the technical operation of a site is key, but can sometimes seem overwhelming.

A more approachable and impactful place to start putting those SEO best practices in place? 

Using the right keywords.  

Yes, the technical optimization is immensely important, but the crawler bots have to locate you first before they start taking into account the health of the gears on your website in motion. Speaking the right language ensures that you actually hold the answers to “how to change a tire” and that you're not actually sharing a recipe for some killer queso dip. 

This is where SEO has evolved. Over the decades of humans asking questions, Google has taken stock of our search engine habits and adjusted their algorithm– what are we asking, which answers do we then click on, and what are the qualities of those answers to refine their continued offering of the right and relevant answers at the right and relevant times. 

SEO Best Practices: What are Keywords?

Okay, I'll explain it in a bit of a different way– 

We all type questions into Google.

And, as much as I am trying to say this is a “different way”, there are only so many ways you can say the same thing– especially if the end goal is to be heard. 

So essentially, Google has found the same thing we have found as humans– there are trends in the words we use. 

That's not to say, say it the way everyone says it though. If everyone is using the same keywords for one thing, the potential bank of search results would be so vast, your site might drown in the masses. 

Knowing your demographic and how they talk about it helps you not just get found, but by the right people. Explaining what you offer in a way that the people you are offering it to speak means you are stocking your own site with the same words they would type into Google. Those are your keywords. 

The trends of that chain reaction I mentioned earlier– the initial search to the final click-thru– is full of data that Google has collected. You can use any phrase and call it a keyword, but how does it’s data stack in how the masses search for your specialty? 

Choosing the right and relevant keywords can be done by taking a peek into that data. 

When the keyword is used

What is the potential that, when found, someone will actually click on it?

What’s the intent of that click? Is it for information? Navigation? To make a purchase? To find a commercial supplier? 

How many other websites use that keyword, and how successful are they in using it? 

This is where picking the right keywords are impactful in making your site stand out in speaking about what you're offering to those that are looking for it. 

The beauty of keywords is that they give you the building blocks to efficiently express yourself, and in your own voice. It's not an AI generated website that sounds like a robot. Options of words and phrases are presented that you can embed in your own voice to not only make your website effective in being found, but also being found as genuinely You. 

SEO Best Practices: Why Do Keywords Matter to Your Website While it's Being Built?

Wait…is that an actual question? 

We all have built a piece of Ikea furniture at some point to only come to the end and find a crucial piece of hardware that was forgotten early on in the building process.

Having to deconstruct something you put so much effort into is a headache to say the least.

So, why would the crucial use of keywords in the building stages of your website be ignored?  

Developing a bank of keywords that come with the desired data and credentials act as building blocks for you to seed throughout the very creation you are building to be found. The technical use of optimized keywords actually accentuates your vision– it doesn't cut it down or sterilize it. 

This is why this process is implemented into all sites built by Lizzy Moffett Designs. Lizzy builds websites to be found. She meets her clients and rejoices in getting to help everyone experience the elation she did when she first discovered their passion. Lizzy knew there was an opportunity to partner with an SEO specialist. Lizzy builds websites to be found and there are tried and true ways to do just that.

And this is where Atlas comes in to make that happen (that's me!)

Who is Atlas and Re:Mapped Solutions? 

When you start your journey working with Lizzy Moffett Designs, you’ll be connected with me. 

I get to learn about you, your story, and your offerings in order for me to then to build a keyword bank that will get seeded throughout your website. The keywords used have a 70% or higher click potential and a click intention aligned with your offering. 

My passion in elevating voices means I work to ensure you are found and you are heard. I want the economic landscape to be as unique and diverse as we all are as individuals. I don't want to see success only achieved when we cut ourselves down to fit into boxes that can't hold our greatness. 

In becoming an SEO specialist, I learned that, more than anything, I'm a translator. I'm not here to teach you how to speak about your industry or to the people you seek to serve– I am teaching Google how to hear you. 

You can visit my bio (Coming Soon) to learn more about my story and passion in working with those who have a passion of their own.