TMCnet Feature Free eNews Subscription
February 11, 2021

How Semantic SEO Should be Approached



When Internet search first started being functional, the very earliest form of search engine optimization (SEO) was based on just plugging words all over a page. That produced what many of us remembered as horrible, spammy pages with paragraph blobs of meaningless tagging. With enough of the ugly sections in the HTML coding, the results would predictably get a webpage identified as associated with a given topic. Then things changed. Search grew up, evolved, and matured. Google (News - Alert) dropped the hammer hard; simply loading tags everywhere didn’t work anymore.



Search Algorithms Aren't the Only Thing That Changed

Interestingly, the way people search for solutions and ideas online also grew up at the same time. An entire generation had been born and grew up to adulthood from when the Internet first became available to everyone through providers like America Online (AOL (News - Alert)) and today’s availability of the web just about everywhere and anywhere we walk now. And that change started to reflect far more how people naturally communicate and express. A lot of that shift began with the prevalence of mobile devices easily connecting to the Net as well as the introduction of search devices people can literally talk to now and have a pseudo-conversation with. The entire shift seems simple and mundane, but in practice, it is a dramatic step forward.  

To adjust and adapt to the changing ways that people search for information, marketing has been moving in alternative directions to stay ahead and anticipate the related triggers, thereby connecting products and services with those searches. Semantic SEO has become one of these plays in better understanding human want and need to be manifested in an online search.

The fundamental focus of semantics involves understanding and identifying motivation. If an online search is a form of output provided to an online interface, what is the input that creates that search query in the first place? Semantics SEO focuses on what drives the query, why are people searching in the first place for a particular need or information want. This is a shift from the question that people ask when searching to the "why" they are searching, to begin with.

Google Defines Your Search Universe

The Google algorithm for search continues to be the primary standard that Semantic SEO has to operate within, being the most powerful search vehicle used currently on the Internet. So, the approach doesn’t work in a vacuum. However, this works to an advantage for semantic strategy; if Google looks for websites that are authoritative sources of information to rank the highest, a semantic approach could easily build that bridge by crafting an Internet destination to be a comprehensive topic representing the "why" for a high-frequency search type. In other words, by understanding what drives a given search, one could easily create an encompassing topic resource that naturally becomes responsive to related searches because Google and its artificial intelligence deem it the best answer for a given topic of questions. This is far more powerful than being SEO-response to one specific query; it becomes SEO-responsive to an entire roomful of related queries!

Semantic SEO takes some modeling to get right. The first version is a bit of a prototype; it involves getting a feel for what the likely motivations of searchers might be narrowing down the field of highly valuable keywords used. It’s a bit like bracketing used in military artillery to find the specific location of a target. A few shells need to be lobbed to get the angle right. When refinement occurs, themes are starting to come into clarity, and finally, the third level of development reaches the fruition of what’s known as stem words, the root of a search topic that really represents why people are looking for something. The difference can be seen in how people search and the adjectives they use. Fast, cheap, affordable, high, strong, flexible, common, unique, and similar kinds of words added to the question flush out the motivation connection purpose.

Don't Forget How People Think Together

Remember, Semantic SEO is often influenced by culture and implicit behavior as well. Understanding how a particular demographic of searchers behave or function socially can go a long way in understanding motivations as well. Understanding the principle of cultural anthropology, which is far too much to cover in this short article, is worth taking time to understand. This consists of social rules that align the motivations of people who think similarly. Semantic SEO from Vazoola can help your company make the leap into the next level of search, focusing more on what drives people to connect versus just the produce description tags alone. Given that search is moving heavily into mobile and verbal environments these days, companies today can't afford to not adapt accordingly. Semantic SEO is highly responsive to both of these vehicles which enhances communication style search versus database-querying style that was used via desktop searching. Try it, and you'll realize how much deeper you connect with your target market as a result.



» More TMCnet Feature Articles
Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [Free eNews Subscription]
SHARE THIS ARTICLE

LATEST TMCNET ARTICLES

» More TMCnet Feature Articles