What’s SEO Without the SE?

SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” of course – but what happens when search engines aren’t how people are finding your content?  

I’d be willing to bet that, this week, you – and your friends – and your kids – have asked a virtual assistant for information. Or you’ve read the AI-generated summary at the top of a search result, rather than scrolling down and clicking through a list of websites. Or you’ve put a term into YouTube or TikTok or Instagram to see what people were saying about it. Or you’ve asked ChatGPT or another generative AI for an answer.  

That’s searching, of course. But it isn’t old-school search-engine behavior.  

So… with this new way of searching, will your content still be found? That’s the billion-dollar question. And that’s why we’re doubling down on our prowess in digital content optimization for all kinds of discovery, on all kinds of media and platforms.  

Because here’s the truth: SEO isn’t terribly sexy. It isn’t the splashiest, flashiest tactic. It isn’t going to make jaws drop. It IS, however, the unsung workhorse of digital marketing. Because why are you creating content if not for it to be discovered? So the goal is to create and disseminate content that is easily discoverable. Easy to say, harder to achieve — especially when traditional search behavior, while still common, is increasingly joined by many other ways that people look for information online.  

The digital ecosystem gets more complex all the time, and so does the way we all behave inside it. At EVERSANA INTOUCH, that means the SEO team, which I lead, is collaborating in new ways with our partners across the agency network: in social, in creative, in dev, in strategy, and in EVERSANA INTOUCH Tech & Transformation. (Did you know that how you implement your tech stack can make a big difference in how discoverable your content is?) 

There are always new algorithms to consider, new patterns in content creation and consumption to understand, and old approaches that don’t work as well anymore. All of this constant learning informs topics, production, forms, methods of published and disseminated and promotion… and it only works when we all work together.   

You might say: Nathan, stay in your lane. How can an SEO team work on video? That’s a whole different thing. It’s like moving from working on a racecar to working on a speedboat. And yes, that would be a problem – if all you had was a team of car mechanics. But what if you have a team of mechanical engineers who understand anything with an engine?  

Our team is not only SEO specialists, but true marketers. We’re experts in not just search engines, but in search behavior. This lets us solve the problem, not get tripped up by the platform.  

We’re still called SEO – for today, at least – but we’re thinking way beyond search engines. You should be, too.