{"id":67,"date":"2008-11-30T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watt-media.com\/b\/?p=67"},"modified":"2025-01-24T04:53:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T09:53:31","slug":"your-seo-should-focus-on-humans-not-search-engines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/your-seo-should-focus-on-humans-not-search-engines\/","title":{"rendered":"Your SEO Should Focus on Humans, Not Search Engines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1630 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70-300x161.jpg\" alt=\"google\" width=\"300\" height=\"161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70-1024x549.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70-768x412.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/70.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Search Engine Optimization seems to always have been about tactics. Website owners are constantly asking, \u201cWhat tactics can I employ to get ranked higher on the major search engines?\u201d Some tactics include peppering web pages with key words, adding a long list of links on the bottom of each page, adding another long list of cities served on the bottom of a page, and similar \u201ctricks\u201d which focus mainly on search engines, not human visitors. While many of these tactics work, they are short-sighted and can often backfire. I\u2019ve seen so many websites rank well, only to wonder why they\u2019re not generating any sales.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The first step is understanding that high ranking is not the be-all, end-all, and does not guarantee sales. A fellow SEOer recently told me something that is so simple yet true \u2013 human visitors spend money, search engines do not. Sales are much more likely when your site is visitor-friendly, easy to navigate, well written, has lots of helpful pictures and articles, and looks professional and trustworthy.<\/p>\n<p>The second step, therefore, is making your site better from the human-visitor standpoint. Think about this \u2013 how do you feel when you visit a website and see what seems like spam at the very bottom of the page? It\u2019s a turn-off, isn\u2019t it? This should be your barometer: before adding or changing something on your website, ask yourself if it enhances the site from your human visitor perspective, or only from the search engine perspective.<\/p>\n<p>Almost without exception, anything that makes your site better for humans will also positively affect your search engine rankings. Adding helpful content, properly placed links, pictures, and articles will make your site better and help it rank higher. People enjoy this type of site and will be more likely to come back again and tell others about it.<\/p>\n<p>The same \u201cholistic\u201d approach also applies to link building \u2013 buying links in random places, or blasting out links to numerous meaningless directories will not help nearly as much as building a relationship with another site closely related to your industry and asking the site\u2019s owner to place a link on their website to your website. That one quality link will most likely do better than hundreds of garbage links and will also generate visits to your site from the other site.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to get caught up in \u201ctactics,\u201d but if your always keep in mind that humans are the ones you\u2019re targeting, your website will definitely be much better and also rank higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Search Engine Optimization seems to always have been about tactics. Website owners are constantly asking, \u201cWhat tactics can I employ to get ranked higher on the major search engines?\u201d Some tactics include peppering web pages with key words, adding a long list of links on the bottom of each page, adding another long list of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-search-engine-optimization"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Your SEO Should Focus on Humans, Not Search Engines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s easy to get caught up in SEO \u201ctactics,\u201d but if your always keep in mind that humans are the ones you\u2019re targeting, your website will definitely be much better and also rank higher.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/your-seo-should-focus-on-humans-not-search-engines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your SEO Should Focus on Humans, Not Search Engines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s easy to get caught up in SEO \u201ctactics,\u201d but if your always keep in mind that humans are the ones you\u2019re targeting, your website will definitely be much better and also rank higher.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wattmedia.com\/blog\/your-seo-should-focus-on-humans-not-search-engines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Watt Media Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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