No more. Relevancy is overrated. Anybody can be relevant; just throw a keyword on the web page a few times and BAM! You’re relevant.

You want to do better than that. And what’s better than being relevant?

Being vital.

SEO Quality Scale

If you think about an SEO quality scale, there’s nothing better than being vital.

I’d never suggest that a small business owner take everything Google says about SEO as the gospel truth, but I think it’s wise to look at and think about how Google classifies web pages.

That’s from a document that Google uses to train the people — regular folks like your neighbor — that are paid to rate Google’s search quality. They’re called Google Search Quality Raters and there are thousands of them around the world. They’ve been rating Google’s search results for at least the past 6-7 years. (I recently interviewed one of them on Search Engine Land.)

Web pages are rated on a five-point scale, with “off-topic/useless” at the bottom of the scale, moving all the way up to “vital” at the top. And as for “relevant,” well — that’s right in the middle. Just kind of normal or average.

The SMB’s Task

Keep this in mind next time you’re creating new content for your website, building a new website altogether, or blogging: Once you’ve done your keyword research and it’s time to turn those keywords into content, don’t just aim for being relevant. Your goal is to be vital for every keyword that you’re targeting.

After all, if you were a search engine, what kind of pages would you want to show to searchers? Pages that are just relevant to their search terms? Or pages that are vital to their search terms?

Don’t stop at being relevant. Go all the way to vital.

(Stock image via Shutterstock. Used under license.)

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

SEO: Are You Relevant, or Are You Vital?

At first, [not provided] represented a small percentage of overall traffic to most of the sites for which I have analytics access. And then it grew. And grew. And grew.

Today, [not provided] represents about 25% of the daily referrers to this blog. But it also represents double-digit daily referrers to non-marketing/tech sites that I follow.

And maybe the most head-shaking thing of all is that, in just 2.5 months, [not provided] managed to become a Top 10 referrer for most of the sites that I monitor. Here’s a look at three.

Small Business Search Marketing

My impression is that this blog attracts a mix of marketing consultants/agencies and small business owners. In both cases, it’s probably safe to assume that many readers are Google users and also frequently logged-in to their Google accounts. The [not provided] keyword referrals bear witness to that.

Not surprisingly at all, [not provided] occupies the No. 1 spot among all keyword referrals for 2011 to this blog. That’s among almost 69,000 different keywords that sent 168,000 total natural search visits.

But lest you think that [not provided] only affected marketing/tech blogs and websites, consider this next case.

@U2

@U2 is my long-running hobby site about the rock band U2. It’s been in existence since 1995 and for at least the past 12 years has never ranked lower than third on a search for the band’s name. (It was #1 until the official site launched in 2000, and stayed #2 until the Wikipedia page overtook a couple years ago.)

@U2 had more than 1.4 million unique visitors in 2011 from all corners of the globe. It’s a very diverse site and certainly not limited to the tech crowd like my own blog is. Visitors range from teens to senior citizens (yes, we have readers in their 70s).

In 2011, natural search sent 1,763,917 visits to @U2 on 237,929 total keywords. But in just 2.5 months, [not provided] cracked the top 10 overall keywords sending traffic to the site.

Related: On the @U2 forum, which has its own subdomain (forum.atu2.com), [not provided] was No. 7 on the 2011 keyword referrer list. We also have a blog on its own domain (atu2blog.com), and [not provided] was the No. 4 “most popular keyword” during 2011.

In other words, this is not just a problem for tech/marketing sites.

Dr. Cynthia Bailey, California Dermatologist

As many of you know, one of my clients is Dr. Cynthia Bailey, a dermatologist in California. Dr. Bailey’s target audience is also not the tech/marketing crowd. Her site offers high-quality skincare products and solutions to a very mainstream audience; it skews female, but us guys have skincare needs, too!

And, much like my mainstream U2 site, [not provided] cracked Dr. Bailey’s list of the 10 most popular keywords; in her case, it was No. 2 on the list in only 2.5 months.

The Problem With [Not Provided]

In each case above, with three very different target audiences, [not provided] made up a substantial percentage of the overall search traffic to these sites — and the numbers would be higher if I only compared it to overall Google traffic.

There are ways to use analytics data to help get a general idea of who these [not provided] visitors are. Google’s own Avinash Kaushik has some ideas and examples in this excellent article.

(I should mention that next month’s SMX West conference has a panel dedicated to discussing ways to cope with this issue: Life In A [Not Provided] World.)

But you know what? I don’t use analytics for general ideas and guesswork; I use analytics for specific answers. And Google has taken away a lot of those answers.

For a number of reasons (many of which Danny Sullivan explained yesterday on Search Engine Land), the [not provided] keyword referrer is nothing short of a pain in the arse for anyone who does serious work on the web.

For me, a blogger who relies on analytics to understand what content visitors are looking for, [not provided] is more than 7,500 visits that are a mystery to me — and remember, that’s in only 2.5 months! I shudder to think what the full 2012 statistics will look like.

For someone like Dr. Bailey, [not provided] directly impacts the bottom line. She not only relies on keyword referrals to help decide what to write about on her blog, but also to understand which keywords drive online sales of skincare products. And in just 2.5 months, [not provided] was No. 2 among all keywords that directly led to online sales.

This isn’t the end of the world for Dr. Bailey, nor for me, but it’s a serious hurdle to accomplishing our website’s goals. (And it’s a slap in the face to think that Google’s paid advertisers aren’t facing the same hurdle, but that’s another post for another day.)

I’m curious: In your analytics, where did [not provided] wind up ranking among all 2011 keyword referrals? How has it impacted your website(s)?

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Google’s [Not Provided]: Assessing 2.5 Months of Analytics Damage

Have a look at this screenshot of a recent search for [u2 i believe in father christmas]:

First of all, Google, what’s up with giving a file-sharing site such high visibility? (Google’s been under a fair amount of pressure to fight online piracy and has already removed some such terms from its autocomplete and Google Instant tools.)

Second of all, Google, that site in the second position is pulling the wool over your eyes. As you can pretty much tell from the screengrab, there’s not really a video on the landing page. I don’t want to link to it, but here’s the URL if you want to cut-and-paste:

www.4shared.com/audio/zlxhw3Q0/U2_-_I_Believe_in_Father_Chris.html

If you check it out, you’ll find that the “video” is really just one of those screensaver-type things that shows color patterns on a black background. Like this:

Now, I understand that, as far as Googlebot is concerned — that’s a video. Googlebot has no way to actually watch the video. It just knows that there’s a video file embedded there. And I also know that this song is something of an outlier; it was only sold for a limited time to raise funds for (RED) in late 2008. So there’s not a ton of results to go along with this song.

But still, Google … is it really that easy to rank at the top of page one? Just find a fairly non-competitive query, post a non-video on the page, and …. BAM! Instant SEO win for a site offering a song for free. Illegally.

It should be harder to rank in Google’s universal results than that.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

It Should Be Harder To Rank In Google’s Universal Results Than This

So it was with some interest that I watched this recent Google video in which Matt Cutts answers the question, “What does Google mean when it talks about ‘trust’?”

Matt basically explains that “trust” is a catch-all term that Google uses, not a specific ranking signal — there’s no “trust rank” score, but it’s similar to a website’s overall reputation and authority.

I put Trust at the top of my SEO Success Pyramid way back in early 2008, and I wouldn’t change a thing if I were redoing that image today.

Google doesn’t offer any specifics about how to earn trust in that video, but that image above is my explanation for how to do it. I also asked a couple dozen peers how they think businesses camn earn trust in this article: Why Trust Matters & How To Earn It.

As you start making plans for 2012, keep the idea of “trust” in mind. And make sure that everything you do online and offline is done with the idea of gaining the trust of your customers, potential customers … and the search engines.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Google on Trust and SEO

You know what else I love? That these folks charge more for search engine submission ($30 per month) than they do for “one-way link building” ($20 per month).

Here’s a note to the small business owners reading this: Please delete any email you get like this right away. You cannot get 370 quality links for $220 in any month, much less every month. Plus, out of the 20 things on that list above, there are really only five that matter a lot. (Nos. 1, 6, 12, 13 and 16 … as long as their definition of “interlinking” isn’t something spammy.)

Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, this SEO company is actually a heckuva lot more expensive than the cheap SEO offer that I got a couple years ago. (Yes, I’m trying to rank higher than #4 for “cheap SEO.”)

If you need SEO help, I can’t get you 370 links for $220, but I can offer you my highly-regarded How to SEO Your Site e-book for only $25.

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

370 Links Per Month for the Low, Low Price of $220 USD

If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you don’t have an online marketing strategy.

I’ve been saying that for some time now, and I think it’s never been more true than it is today. If you want to succeed online in any industry that’s even remotely competitive, you must have an effective content marketing strategy. I’ll explain that more in a moment, but the key point is this: Static, rarely-updated, brochure-ware websites are dead. I think they’ve been dead for some time now, but Google really put the final nail in the coffin with its latest algorithm change that emphasizes the value of (and the need for) fresh content.

Google Wants Fresher Search Results

Earlier this month, Google made a huge announcement that I think probably hasn’t been written about enough. (Certainly not by me; I’ve been trying to write this post for weeks now.) Search results “are best when they’re fresh,” Google said in its announcement. “Even if you don’t specify it in your search, you probably want search results that are relevant and recent,” Google’s Amit Singhal wrote.

To be clear, this isn’t going to impact all small businesses in all industries in every location. In fact, I’d guess that purely local businesses might not be affected at all — searches like “seattle bakery” or “kansas city dry cleaners” probably aren’t the types of searches where fresh content is necessary.

But Singhal said this is a ranking change that affects at least one result on about 35% of all searches, and clarified to say that about 6-10% of searches would be changed “noticeably.” That’s huge.

What It Means for Small Business Websites

As I said above, I don’t think a bakery in Seattle is going to be impacted by this too dramatically. How often is there breaking bakery news? In Seattle?

But there are millions of small businesses that aren’t doing business just in their immediate local area. And millions more that are operating in industries where there is regular news or where things change on a regular basis. In those cases, Google is saying it will reward quality websites that offer fresh content.

If that describes your small business, your static and never-updated website is officially dead. In many industries, I believe it will be nearly impossible to get natural search visibility in Google with a small, brochure-style website that doesn’t offer fresh content.

How to Succeed Going Forward

As I said at the beginning of this article, if you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you don’t have an online marketing strategy. So it’s time to develop a content marketing strategy. And keep in mind that this content has to exist on your website; using Facebook and Twitter are fine, but that’s not where your content strategy lives. It has to live on your website.

Here’s what I’d do as soon as possible:

1. Get your team together and discuss the pros and cons of starting a company blog. Cons: Blogging isn’t easy, not if you plan to do it the right way. More and more business are blogging, but many will get it wrong. Don’t be one of them. Pros: When done right, blogging can mean more search traffic and more inbound links. A great blog can be the best weapon in your SEO holster.
2. If you DO decide to start a blog, start by deciding A) who will be in charge of it, B) who all will write for your company blog, C) how often will you publish new articles (I recommend at least twice per week if you can do it), D) what content policies will you need, and E) what other guidelines need to be in place. (I highly recommend allowing comments on your blog posts, for example, but there should comment guidelines in place.)
3. Before you launch your blog, create an editorial calendar. You’ll use this to guide what articles you’ll write, who’ll write them, and when they’ll be published. Be sure to read my article, A Simple Sample Editorial Calendar to Keep Your Blogging on Schedule, for more guidance in this area.
4. Write a lot before your blog launches. Before you even add the blog to your website, have the first month or two of articles already written — or at least as many of them as you can. Writing material in advance will help with making the launch smooth; you won’t be desperate for article ideas, nor will you be hurt if someone misses an assignment.
5. Know where to watch for new blog content ideas. I’m sorry, but I have a hard time accepting it when I hear bloggers say they can’t find anything to write about. I wrote a series with all kinds of tips for this: 5 Ways To Find New Blog Content. Oh, and when you’re writing, don’t worry about how long your blog posts should be.
6. Know your ultimate goals and be able to track what you’re doing. If you’re already using a web analytics program, it should be easy to tie your blogging in with existing company business goals. Those goals should have something to do with selling products and/or generating leads — whatever helps your bottom line. Don’t worry about less important numbers like how many RSS subscribers you have, how many times your articles are retweeted, etc. Those things are nice, but getting a hundred retweets isn’t going to help you meet payroll next month.

One last thing: It’s okay to choose NOT to start a blog now. If you’re not ready to make the commitment, that’s fine. But keep in mind, you still need to have some kind of plan to consistently expand your website with quality content. Can you start a weekly newsletter and put it online? Can you create a Glossary or a Frequently Asked Questions page and expand it regularly?

Whatever you do, don’t settle for a static, brochure-style website. It’s dead. If you’re in a remotely competitive space, you need more from this point forward if you want to succeed online. One last time, because it’s worth repeating:

If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you don’t have an online marketing strategy.

(Tombstone image created via JJ Chandler’s tombstone generator.)

Hey! RSS Subscriber: Have you purchased my e-book, “How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes”? If not, what are you waiting for? It’s only $25 (for the time being). Find out why Search Engine Guide said, “I can almost promise that following the advice in the book will earn you your money back ten to one hundred times over.” Here’s where to learn more: E-Book: How to SEO Your Site in 60 Minutes.

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

It’s Official: Static, Brochure-Ware Websites Are Dead