We're taking a more holistic approach to SEO these days, meaning we're using SEO as a lens through which to view things like your website content, online marketing, and overall brand messaging. While there are still things like keyword research, meta data, and link building that can be defined as SEO, all of the aforementioned efforts can also have a big impact on where your site ranks. That's why we have SEO teaming up with design, programming, and marketing in every step of the process. Let's unpack this holistic approach a little. The reason why it doesn't work so well anymore to be doing SEO in a technical silo is that ranking signals have multiplied and morphed in huge ways this year. The biggest shift we're seeing is much more weight being put on user behavior. So things like how long someone spent on your site, how many people filled out a form on your site, pages people keep visiting and linking to vs. pages that get hardly any views, how many people immediately hit the "back" button to the search results after they click your site link, etc. Sometimes, if the search volume is significant enough, you might see a really basic-looking site ranking above much newer, fancier sites. Why? Because if a site, despite being basic, is the one that users are clicking on and staying on time after time after time, Google is going to give the people what they want. Because that's going to help Google continue to be everyone's favorite search engine. Now, when it comes to a home search, basic/old sites aren't going to cut it unless the home builder is really well-known and revered in the area. Unlike searching for the answer to a question, a user won't be satisfied with a poorly designed website in their search for a new home. Here's where holistic SEO thinking comes in. Instead of just thinking about how to get more link clicks to rank better, holistic SEO says we need to think about these clicks as people. Do clicks or even rankings really matter if a person gets to your website and doesn't find what they're looking for? No. Those people already clicked over to your competitor's site and filled out their lead form because the photos sold them. A holistic SEO approach is concerned with leads, sales, and brand perception more so than clicks and rankings. Why? Because the efforts that convert leads will eventually result in more clicks and better rankings. Holistic SEO puts people first instead of Google. If Google's already doing that, why shouldn't we? You might be wondering how you can call web design and online marketing aspects of SEO, or vis versa. Have you ever been to a website that looked really cool, but you couldn't figure out how to get to certain pages of information? Did the website leave you feeling confused and frustrated? Did you seek out a different site to help solve your problem? That's an example of good aesthetic design with a bad user experience. SEO cares about user experience because clicking back to the search results after spending very little time on the site is a negative ranking signal. Google can tell when people are dissatisfied/frustrated and will rank your site accordingly. In online marketing, have you ever paid for ads that brought tons of traffic to your site, but didn't result in any new leads? Holistic marketing from an SEO perspective doesn't just focus on clicks vs. ad spend; instead, that traffic is analyzed for quality control. When ads target the right people, they'll come to the site and behave a certain way. Leads will come. When ads are set up and left to run without analyzing the user behavior, you might just be paying for tons of 10-second clicks to your site. If you're currently spending money on online advertising, check on your efforts with these simple tips for understanding what to look at in Google Analytics.