In this blog post, I will continue with the librarian metaphor but to clarify, the library is the internet, search engines are the librarians and you are the author of your book, your website. Even though Social Media, promotions and more, can generate visitors to your site, nothing compares to search engines. Search Engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, is the primary way users navigate the internet. This is true no matter if you provide products, services or just information. So why do these librarians pick your book over a thousand books that answer the same need and/or question?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. It is the process of getting the librarians to like your book more than your competitor’s book.
The most powerful and influential librarian is Google with more than 90% of global organic search traffic. Therefore, most of its rules and suggestions are based on how to make Google happy but most things apply to both librarians as well.
A librarian cannot read all books so if many other books and people recommend a book the librarian will assume it is good. To be honest, the metaphor falls apart a little here since search engines do read all websites (that the owner index for search engines) but it doesn’t really understand it like a human would. For that reason, it assumes quality based on many rules and standards it sets. The good news is that we, as authors, can learn these rules and make our book loved by the librarian.
For example, writing blog posts. Librarians like a book more if it continuously updates because it assumes the information in the book is up to date and relevant. You can also make sure you mention what the website and/or blog is about many times on the blog. This makes the librarian more and more sure that your book is relevant to its visitors enquires/google search. Actually, using the librarian metaphor throughout this post is a bad idea since search engines are likely to think this post is about books and not SEO. So please, in this case, do as we say and not as we do.
Now that you know what SEO is you can start learning more about the rules and suggestions a librarian sets on you and your book. Our recommendation is to befriend the librarian.