Hospitality via SEO: A Take on Website “Hosting.”

It’s easy to think of SEO in terms of data. Conversion, click-through rates, keywords, linking on and off the page, hitting a certain word count, and creating embedded links are all valuable parts of the process. It’s also important to consider SEO in terms of content. Knowing your audience, creating value, and getting creative with your format are all just as important.

However, when we start to view people solely as customers to cater to or conversions to create, we lose sight of the entire purpose of SEO and Google.

One way to combat this is to think of your SEO efforts in terms of hospitality. If you’re having a guest over to your home, you don’t tidy up or serve a delicious home-cooked meal with the idea of getting something from your guest. Instead, you’re focused on creating an enjoyable experience in which you can both enjoy each other’s company and get to know one another as humans.

Here is a list of some ways these ideas might translate into SEO:

• Tidy up – You wouldn’t want a guest to come over and find your home a wreck, with objects strewn over the furniture and messes that inhibit your ability to get to know each other. Apply this to the usability of your website. How easy is it for your guests to find the information they are looking for? Are links and menu items crowding the page? Is your site cluttered with unusable links, a confusing layout, and too many animations and pop-ups? This often confuses and overstimulates the user, causing them not to feel welcome.
• Serve Good Content – When determining what food to serve to guests, it’s not about how much variety or the quantity of food you place in front of them. The food you choose to serve is a unique combination of the recipes you know best and what you think the guest will enjoy. Consider implementing this when creating content for your site. It’s not about quantity but quality. Play to your strengths!
• Know your Guest – Typically, the people you’re hosting are friends that share a common interest. This is similar to the idea of creating tailored SEO strategies for your specific target market. This also plays into the idea of PR. Just like friends you meet can introduce you to similar friends, by knowing and catering specifically to your audience, you will draw in and discover more people in your niche, reaching a wider audience.

These are just some ideas, but I encourage you to refrain from categorizing your SEO strategies and your social life. Instead, think about ways they might be integrated! Think of your website as your home, with you as the host and your users as guests.