To Get Found on Search Engines, Put on Your Customer SEO Hat!

To get search engine rankings you need to think like your customers for SEO!

Acquiring decent search rankings doesn’t happen by osmosis. When I started this journey decades ago, getting ranked was relatively simple, primarily because there were fewer websites. Now, there are billions.

Basic SEO practices incorporated into your site did the trick, especially given the limited competition. Online was an equalizer for small businesses back then, but that, too, has changed.

By creating your site correctly, from code to content, you had a decent chance of being found when people searched for it back in the day. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, and I am surprised how many still believe it to be true. Wishful thinking?

Think about this…

There are currently at least 1.34 billion websites, with around 252,000 new ones being created daily (October 2026). That means hundreds of thousands are competing with you for above-the-fold visibility on that top page.

Above-the-fold refers to the results displayed after a search before scrolling to see more. Bumping out the sites already occupying those spots will take a lot of effort and years. So, it is time to get to work!

SEO has not changed much in the past 3 decades. Instead, the changes have been more technological—for instance, the addition of social media, mobile responsiveness, server performance, and site speed.

Creating relevant, valuable, well-written content that your site visitors will appreciate is naturally SEO-optimized. Therefore, quality content will always be at the core of attaining relevant rankings.

A note about AI. Google has noted that it considers the amount of human effort put into creating content. This negates the use of AI for everything on your website, known as “AI slop.” So use AI as a tool, not as the sole creator of your content, or your rankings will suffer.

Where Do I Start SEO’ing My WordPress Site?

Many believe WordPress has built-in SEO, so the site owner doesn’t need to do anything. Yes, WordPress (and premium themes) are SEO-friendly, but you still have to create content that needs to be SEO’d.

Check out my article that will help you get your feet wet
on the basics of “how to learn about SEO.”

While several plugins assist with this process, I recommend Yoast SEO. But understand that no plugin is the be-all and end-all.

It won’t miraculously “SEO” your pages to the top of search engine results. Instead, SEO plugins make recommendations based on your content.

It is best to do keyword research to identify relevant keywords and incorporate them into your site. In addition, mapping out how you will structure and organize your information in a user-friendly way is an essential part of the process.

If you have an established site, look at your stats. You can see how you are being found and which content is most popular. Build on that.

Either way, you need to have a plan.

SEO is Not Entirely About You

I always advise clients to put themselves in their customers’ shoes when selecting keyword phrases for their SEO efforts. Identify and target the terms your potential customers use.

They don’t know you exist, so they can’t search by name.
Do not assume they know what you know or that they will use the phrases you would use.
The terms they use may be entirely different, and many times are.

Please do not fall into the trap of optimizing your website based solely on how you want to think or be found. When you look at your SEO from this perspective, you may be surprised that your target market uses an entirely different set of terms.

The industry terms you use may be unknown to your target customers. The terms you want to be found by may not be the terms your potential market knows about. This is where keyword due diligence is so critical to your online endeavor.

FREE: Find new keywords for your market…

Guessing or thinking doesn’t cut it. Knowing precisely what folks use is imperative to your “findability.”

Having the data to figure this out means you have no excuse for not knowing. Identify the phrases to search for and integrate those terms throughout your site.

What are the “Right” Keywords for Your WordPress Site?

Not keywords — phrases! Keyphrases. Expecting to rank for one-word search terms is impossible. So, instead, let’s go for phrases:

2-3 word keyphrases your customers actually use.
Include 4-5 word “longtail” and less competitive phrases.
Terms that accurately describe what you have to offer.
The phrases that are searched for are based on currently available data.

Now go to my post on Bullseye Marketing, which includes a PDF you can download to help you identify your target phrases and start actively SEOing your WordPress site.

So go ahead—get to work!

At your service,