‘SEO is not tough…it’s just poorly taught!’

Explaining SEO in nine simple tweets...

SEO explained...

There’s a real art to taking potentially complex ideas and communicating them in a way that doesn’t turn the intended target’s brain into a gooey mush.

SEO is a good example. On the surface it might seem like scary internet witchcraft that should be burned with fire. And, yes, there’s plenty of nuance and strategy behind good SEO that should certainly be left to the professionals—*cough* Sonder *cough*—but the concept itself can be relatively straightforward.

It’s all about finding the right analogy to tell the story; a safe entry point that helps startup businesses understand the importance of SEO for achieving online success.

Thanks heavens, then, for Karthik Sridharan, who took to Twitter last week to offer up this rather delightful thread explaining the very basics of SEO—that even a 5-year old could grasp—using a library as the analogous crux.

Here’s a video, if you don’t like your media consumption in 280-character doses:

Finding the right book!

Right, let’s do our best to untangle the thread. The first job is to establish which characters are involved in the analogy. Think of Google as the librarian and all the books contained within the library are the billions of websites that find a home on the internet. The person searching for the book is your potential customer. 

So far, so good. 

Just like the person visiting the library and asking the librarian to suggest a relevant book on a specific subject—Sridharan uses the example of photosynthesis—a potential customer searches Google looking for a relevant website.

Ranking your results

Just like Google, the librarian then assigns certain weights to these parameters and shares a list of 10 books that they believe the person should consider, each of which is ranked in order of relevance. 

The librarian might have more books that could fit the bill, but the person isn’t going to search past the 10 best results. 

And why would they?

Applying the data

And so we arrive at the fundamental question:

What do we do with all this information and how can the effective use of SEO help a website appear in Google's search results?

We consider those set parameters and apply them using the following steps: 

• Choose a keyword that your customer is likely to search for

• Write an article and infuse that keyword in accordance with the on-page factors

• Circulate the article so that websites link back to it

• Those websites that do offer a do-follow link—ensure they are credible!

How can we help?

Despite the simplicity of the thread, there’s no denying that the world of SEO can be tricky, and deciding precisely where to focus your attention isn’t always easy.

Fortunately for you, here at Sonder Digital, our team of strategists can always lend a helping hand with all your SEO needs. So feel free to drop us a line and see what we can do for you!

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