Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Its Reason for Being

If someone asked you to explain what is SEO in one sentence, the quick wiki search would be something in the lines of: “…a holistic marketing approach that combines website content, blogging, links, and social media engagement amongst many other factors…”

Search Engine Optimization IS that AND, so much more.

The directive of SEO is to create website content that search engines will consider relevant and rank high on the search results page.

Of course, there’s a difference between organic search and paid search as we’ll see in a bit. For now the most important thing to remember is:

Page One Search Results Are Your Top Priority

Why is it so crucial to appear on page one of search engine results, you ask?


  • 94% of people never even look at page two! (Petrescu, 2014)
  • Searchers click on website listings 38% of the time, which is the biggest slice of the clicks (images get 9% and videos get 11%).

These are listings or links that are not paid advertising and show on the page “above the fold,” so they are visible without scrolling down. These unpaid listings are known as “organic,” “natural,” or “free” results, because you cannot pay to be listed in these spots.

Today people are also using social media sites as search engines, and you can optimize your tweets and status updates to increase Findability.

My second book, Thumbonomics: The Essential Business Roadmap to Social Media & Mobile Marketing (Findability Press) addresses this aspect of online marketing.

How To Do SEOYour Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

When you apply the Marketing Espionage method, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to dominate all the spaces at the top of page one.

As you implement the strategies, you will gradually push your competitors off the first page of results one-by-one, until you are the only game in town.

What is SEO and How it Works

If you want to be Findable online, you’ll need to dominate page one of search results!

To achieve this, you are going to rely on Marketing Espionage, combined with the Findability Formula, which uses the right keywords at the right time so searchers find you and feel you really understand and “get” them.

Findability also involves optimizing videos, images, and social media. You’ll learn how to discover exactly what keywords your prospects use in searches.

That’s how you build Findable websites, website pages, blogs, and social media content that fully integrate everything from the customer search perspective.

This Is NOT Mission Impossible!

The good news is you don’t need to be an intelligence agent to understand “what is SEO” and apply my Findability methods.

These powerful SEO concepts are broken down into understandable bite-sized chunks. While I am confident you can understand highly technical information, I prefer to “express pass.”

My goal is to distill the most essential information so you are able to allocate a budget, vet vendors, and empower your internal teams in order to drive sales to move the needle.

What You Get With Findability Formula

Even in this noisy world, it is possible to capture Google’s attention—and therefore the attention of your ideal prospects. And I’m going to show you how.

  1. I’ll explain how to gather intel on the successful strategies your competitors use.
  2. Next, you’ll be guided step-by-step through the process of putting that intel to work to create a new website or revamp your existing site so the right people find you.
  3. This advice will also influence your social content, blogging, and content marketing efforts.

Along the way, I will reveal tools to find and interpret valuable data that will guide your strategy. Search engine marketing professionals charge a LOT of money for these well-guarded secrets.

SEO Consultants Can Act Like Secret Agents, Using Jargon to Keep You in the Dark

Many SEO consultants, web developers, designers, and copywriters seem to be speaking some sort of code when they offer advice on how to increase the number of prospects visiting your website.

Chances are you feel like hiring an interpreter just to understand them.

These professionals often use too much technical jargon which confuses you and makes them seem untouchable, like intelligence operatives doling out details on a “need to know” basis. Soon enough you find yourself wishing for a simple, beginner guide to seo.

You are not alone if you think SEO is a discipline hidden from public view. Most business owners know their site needs to be optimized.

When I first started training CEO’s for Vistage International (, I was concerned that they would find the topic tedious and the information too tactical. The opposite occurred. I saw light bulbs going off, frustration bubbling up and clarity for which they had never before had access. The simple answer to “what is SEO?” had been answered!

Decoding Tech Jargon

For a decade and a half, have worked with hundreds of successful businesses, and trained marketing professionals how to create a Findable online presence.

I do this without all the technical jargon I refer to as “geek speak.” I have spent years decoding the methods and ways of talking about the process to make it easy for business owners.

What is MY mission?

  1. To make sure you understand the methods to take charge;
  2. To ensure your online success.

I am offering you an easy, non-technical approach for developing a website that attracts the right visitors and converts them into paying customers. I call my method Marketing Espionage: How to SPY on yourself, SPY on your prospects and SPY on your competitors to Dominate Online.

This is the trifecta of online domination. Once you identify how your competitors are succeeding, you can make a plan for your own online success.

I will NOT be trying to impress you with jargon and stats!

My job is to train you to understand the different types of SEO, and learn how to use great content and social media to build a truly Findable presence online.

Secret Jargon of SEO Is Dead – Long Live Findability!

Before we begin our training, I want you to put the term “SEO” out of your mind completely.

Today we’re talking about becoming Findable which is a far more helpful way to think about improving your online marketing and website performance.

Imagine leading a successful team that knows the methods to improve the Findability of your website. The journey of understanding what is SEO begins with the first step: