You can't SEO-away your fundamental flaw

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not about gaming the system. If you believe it’s just about knowing the latest tricks, then stop now. You won’t like what I have to say. The fact is that if you’ve resorted to trying to trick the system, it is a sure sign that you don’t have a well-defined sense of purpose. You’ve become a huckster, exploiting the latest vulnerability – trying to fool people into visiting your site, instead of becoming irresistible by being incredibly valuable to prospects.

This misuse of SEO is a misguided approach. Why? It is this simple. It is you thinking about you. Instead of you thinking about those you serve.

SEO: What Google wants

If you understand what Google wants, you understand why developing a sense of purpose is so critical.

Google’s technological prowess is impressive. It boggles the mind to think of the complexity in their algorithms. So it would be easy to become intimidated by it all. And to go looking for some SEO specialist who could just tell you what Google wants.

I don’t want to disparage all SEO specialists. The good ones can be incredibly valuable. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to take advantage of the intimidation of it all. For example, run away as fast as you can if you hear an SEO specialist tell you, "It is too complicated to explain and it’s constantly changing.” Come on. Really? The best people I’ve worked with have a knack for finding really simple ways to explain incredibly complicated subjects. And of course it’s changing. We all operate in a rapidly evolving environment. Change is inevitable. But, the fundamental things don’t change. We’ll get to that in just a minute.

Ultimately, it’s really pretty simple. Google wants to deliver the most relevant and useful information to you. So you will make them the default source for every search you do. Because they sell advertising. And they need a quality audience. Not users who are disgruntled by being confused or tricked into visiting sites that don’t really have what they’re looking for.

So how do you become the most relevant and useful source for searchers? It’s fundamental. Deliver great help.

What does all this have to do with your purpose?

If you’re a business, Google wants you to be incredibly relevant and helpful to the audience you serve. That also happens to be exactly what a purpose-driven brand aspires to do.

If you have defined your brand purpose, you will have declared the difference you hope to make for your believers. So you will have an innate sense of what kind of help to deliver. You will know what’s authentic and what is not. So will your visitors. And so will Google.

Your brand purpose will become a fundamental principle for your organization. It will help you make smart decisions. It will help you deliver the great help your prospects need. Most importantly, it will help you reach your full potential. Without it, you simply won't get there. No matter how much SEO work you do on your site.