Search engine optimization ("SEO") is the process of improving a website’s infrastructure (technical) and content (editorial) to improve its visibility in non-paid (i.e. "organic") search engine results.
Nota bene: "SEO" differs greatly from "SEM," or "Search Engine Marketing." SEM describes the practice of bidding for paid ad placements on Google's search engine result page listings (fwiw — this all comes down to high quality content paid arbitrage for low quality content is known as publisher purgatory, aka the chum box).
The most fundamental value creation lever for seo and affiliate marketing is the SERP. Let's break down the various elements of the all-important Search Engine Result Page, or "SERP" for short.
Example listing types, e.g. Google Shopping ads, SEM, and SEO
WHEN IN DOUBT, REMEMBER E-E-A-T:
Components of a specific search result
This is why optimized codebase architecture and site taxonomy can drive significant value for publishers that want to sustainably grow.
More recently added components of search engine results pages
Google is solving for users, according to their codebase: all of these newer, specific entries on a search engine result page (e.g. "People also ask," site links) have to connect into Google's codebase to render correctly. Improving the way a site's codebase talks to Google dramatically impacts SEO success.
Own the full funnel of searches: for an affiliate publisher to win, they have to write for and rank highly in bottom-funnel searches (e.g. "best car wax, buy now").
In order to do so, however, affiliate publishers also have to cover the entire funnel of searches (e.g. "best car waxes for sunny climates," "best car waxes for old cars," etc.).
To win in affiliate you need to commit to a (call it) volume of quality — where scale comes from satisfying the demand of voraciously-searching consumers interested endemic, expert product content.
There are essentially three ways to improve SEO and affiliate marketing together:
One example from the home endemic category — domino.com saw an opportunity to find users via category searches for " lime green paint." This increasingly-relevant topic for design-minded consumers became a way for Domino to use its design expertise to earn new visitors, and educate them about how to best deploy this color to various rooms and items in a smartly and savvily- designed house.
Think of Google like a library: the best way to understand taxonomy is to think of Google Search as a Gigantic G-Library:
If the librarian (Google) has a choice to recommend a resource to the person searching, the librarian will always select retrieving information from the well-organized bookshelves / proper taxonomy (go Dewey!).
Google Search Console: Google’s official SEO analytics platform, used to track a site’s visibility in Google, and remain up-to-date on any potential technical or other issues:
Example comparison of various organic search result conversion rates, according to search position (i.e. #1-ranked article returns 40% of total traffic; #2 = 19%).
Long story short, you have to get in the top 3 to be successful at earning maximum value from SEO, or at the very least the first page)
Consider that in the U.S. alone, there are more than 250 million Google users. These users post ***hundreds of billions of searches every single month***
#1 - High-traffic website owners who satisfy this demand will be more successful than those who don't
There's too much value in growing audience for free. Imagine a consultancy that dependably received hundreds of billions of advisory service requests every single month without having to spend a cent marketing —> That's the opportunity that Google represents for publishers. Free traffic, which you can then convert to recurring visits, readers, and revenue to reinvest in your media business.
#2 - Endemic publishers will be more successful than generalists
By 2030, Google will send most of its traffic to expertise-laden publishers who can satisfy consumer interest authentically. Alphabet maintains that they invest in servicing their customers (i.e. searchers) with high E-E-A-T content — expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trust.
So, high traffic websites who can authentically speak to endemic categories will win in the end — which means great news for automotive mechanic gearheads, Masters of Wine, design-savvy minds with exquisite taste, YouTube creators re-imagining their favoriate shows, and less so for blanket-sports coverage, generalist news, or (call it) "chum box fluff".
The modern Internet is eradicating what are called "third-party cookies." Compliance with policies such as GDPR, Consumer Protection & Privacy, etc. will only become more stringent, preventing sites and technologies from tracking consumers wherever they go. As a result, advertisers will have to place their bets with publishers who can provide reliable and consistent access to endemic audiences.
#3 - Endemic publishers should consider SEO content from two perspectives: beats and breaks
Consistent access being the key to servicing demand — and that's where SEO and editors need to collaborate. Consider the search demand for anything in an endemic category, e.g. "launch of the Nintendo DS" vs. "Best games for the Nintendo DS. You have news that drives traffic in a single day or month, vs. ongoing interest that drives traffic for months, quarters, and years.
Point being, editors and SEO teams satisfying two news cycles, if you will, with their SEO content analysis —
Beat: 12-month time horizon that drives maximum ongoing/recurring traffic
Break: 1-month time horizon that drives maximum traffic in one day/week
For example, millions of monthly searches will continue for terms like "5 drawer dresser" for the next 10 years, at least. The current data trends show momentum that's too strong to suggest otherwise. So media publishers that can own that entire funnel of discovery, learning, evaluation, decision, feedback due to their in-category expertise stand to gain tremendously from the erosion of third-party cookies.