Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the optimization of online content to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results. The goal is to drive more organic (non-paid) traffic to a website. It involves various strategies and techniques aimed at enhancing a website’s relevance and authority in the eyes of search engines like Google.

SEO Pitfalls

There are SEO best practices you can follow to help make sure your content is “findable,” however there are usability considerations around SEO that need to be factored in to SEO work. A good technical use of SEO techniques should also be a good user experience. Why you ask? A good format for machines to read can be terrible for humans to read. And then there’s AI. Generative AI is starting to change how we think about SEO (see Website Survival Without SEO in the Age of AI).

Some companies exploit their customers’ lack of understanding of SEO to make false claims about what it should or can do. They approach it incorrectly, providing solutions that are not in the best interests of their customers.

How should you approach SEO?

Following basic SEO best practices (which can also support accessibility best practices) makes a lot of sense. However, don’t do SEO at the expense of a good user experience.

Stephanie Lummis publishes an excellent newsletter and a recent issue articulated really well what I believe are considerations and approaches for good SEO practices. She also provides some examples of SEO gone wrong. I highly recommend it.

Read Stephanie Lummis’ post, Sketchy SEO practitioners, persistent myths, and Google’s Caramilk-secret-like algorithm all lead companies to have unrealistic expectations about SEO.