What Real SEO Looks Like
Most people who say SEO does not work have never had real SEO. We are The Final Code, an SEO company in Ventura County. We have spent years trying to convince people to tell stories, write content and publish it, so the searchers out there have enough information to find them and choose them. But they won’t do it. They buy something with SEO written on the invoice instead, and wonder why the phone stays quiet.
So here is what real SEO actually looks like, and what an SEO company should be doing for you every month.
Real SEO starts with one message
Somebody out there is looking for the right person and the right company to fulfill their need. That’s who a business needs to speak to. Make a conscious effort to illustrate and demonstrate three things.
- 1Why you're the best at what you doNot "quality service." The specific thing you do better.
- 2Where you do itThe towns and the neighborhoods, by name.
- 3Why pick you over anyone elseThe reason a stranger should call you and not the next result.
That’s always the core message of SEO. Everything else is how you get that message in front of people.
Google is plain about why the proof part matters. Its own checklist for good content asks this question.
Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content
Your jobs, your customers and your results are first-hand experience nobody else has. An agency cannot invent that for you. It has to come out of your business and onto your pages.
If you're not saying "pick me," you're not marketing
If you don’t go out and tell everybody what’s so great about you, then you are not marketing. And if you aren’t out there every day saying “pick me, pick me, pick me,” then you are not marketing either.
SEO is just a way to make sure that if they look here, or they look there, your “pick me” is there.
If your message isn’t there, then as far as that buyer is concerned, you don’t exist. You can only exist or not exist on page one. Everything else, you’re scratching for crumbs.
Tell a thousand stories
You need to tell a thousand stories. “Oh no, that sounds like a lot of work.” It is a lot of work. And there’s the difference between why your competitor is swimming and you’re drowning.
But isn’t this what you get up for every day, to tell everybody what’s so great about you? You started your business saying you were going to do something faster, smarter, cheaper, better. Then somehow you stopped promoting that. You fell into where the dust settles, waiting for the phone to ring. “Maybe they’ll call me about that.” It’s not working.
A thousand stories sounds like a lot until you count what you already have. Every job you finished. Every question a customer asked you on the phone. Every town you drove to. Every problem you fixed that the last guy couldn’t. Each one is a page somebody is searching for.
What an SEO company should actually be doing
Here is what is included in real SEO services. If your provider can’t show you each of these in plain English, ask why.
Those are the deliverables. If what you’re getting is a monthly report full of words nobody searches, you’re not buying SEO. You’re buying what we call BSEO, and we wrote a whole guide on how to spot BSEO before it costs you.
One target list, two ways to show up
The same people should say: we have a hundred targets. There’s only one Google, and there’s AI and what we want it to know about us.
We’ll rent it for now, but we’re building a facility. And in a lot of markets, the people who click the ads and the people who click the organic results are two different types of people, with two different levels of seriousness. That is why one list should drive both. We break that down further in SEO and PPC working together on one keyword list.
Real SEO doesn't stop once it works
Real SEO comes in a certain order.
- RecognizeAdmit the way you were doing it was wrong.
- ApplyStart doing it right, on the right terms.
- TrackWatch where you rank and what it brings in.
- ContinueKeep going after it starts working.
The last step is the one people skip. Once you get in the right lane and it’s all working, why did you take your foot off the gas? “Oh, that’s good enough.” Who do you think is right behind you, racing behind you? Your competitor.
He may be doing exactly what you just did. Looking up what the words are, who’s getting that business, what they’re saying, and copying it or doing it better to get the lead.
The world has changed. Business has changed. Guess what? Tomorrow’s going to change again. Those who survive adapt.
Send us your site. We will show you what you show up for today, the terms you should be going after, and who is winning them right now. No charge, and no obligation. Or call or text 805.243.8321.
Get My Free Visibility ReportReal SEO isn’t magic, and it isn’t pixie dust. It’s telling the people searching why you’re the best, with proof, everywhere they look, and never stopping. That’s what our search engine optimization is built to do.