Algorithmic or heuristic SEO: What approach are you following for your B2B brand?
First, let’s clarify the meaning of each term, starting with algorithmic SEO.
Definition for Algorithmic SEO:
Algorithmic SEO involves all the SEO actions that aim to “satisfy” algorithms of Google, Bing any other search engines, to help a website get as much organic visibility as possible by outperforming other websites in the search engine result pages (SERPs). Right?
When we talk about search engine algorithms, we don’t know for sure how results are generated; what we do know though is that it’s something multidimensional that considers a page’s authority and ranking. What is that? — Relevance, quality, usability, context, trustworthiness etc. to decide which pages play by the rules of the algorithm and which do not.
Definition for Heuristic SEO:
Wait! Before delving into the definition of heuristic SEO, it’s important to grasp the fundamental concepts behind the heuristic approach in marketing. Applying heuristics in any vertical under marketing is utilizing customers’ common mental resources. This leads us to rely on heuristic devices that provide efficient decision-making without excessive effort or analysis.
Therefore, when heuristic approaches are followed in SEO campaigns, it means that –
- it aims to create users’ untapped needs through something entirely new and innovative
- it guides prospects to search by helping the algorithm decide on which topic / trend to explore next
- it improves the algorithm’s comprehension of user intent and context
- it can trigger prospects’ mental shortcuts
- it appeals to consumers’ need for social proof
- it drives consumers to make quick decisions to secure the perceived value
Therefore, it doesn’t aim to satisfy the algorithm but rather helps the algorithm decide what topics people would explore next and what makes it trending. Alongside, it encourages users to nurture a need to discover and learn something new and innovative for themselves.
What does Algorithmic SEO look like:
For algorithmic SEO you can conduct on-page, and off-page link-building, and technical optimization and follow all the algorithmic instructions regularly. In addition to that, you also select suitable keywords and produce content that gets an A++ grade, draw a clear page structure along with headings, meta items, Alt tags for image and video, table of contents, call-to-actions, etc. And all you implement is to satisfy both users and search engine algorithms.
What does Heuristic SEO look like:
Example 1:
Just look at CoSchedule’s ‘Headline Analyser’ tool. They are receiving a huge amount of traffic to their webpage for 200K keywords (as of March 2023) — with the best-performing ones (after the main branded term) being “headline analyzer” and “coschedule headline analyzer”.
The interesting fact is that they started optimizing for these keywords in 2014. With the help of WaybackMachine, you can also see that the page started getting visibility towards the end of 2014. So we can safely assume that’s around the time it was created.
But why has CoSchedule chosen the year 2014 for launching this tool? The ideal answer is Google’s algorithm update over search intent as an important ranking signal. In the RankBrain update (the third major algorithm update) Google revealed how users’ search intent matters to SEO along with keywords. To cater to search intent, marketers need to use effective headlines.
According to the WaybackMachine report, until this update the search demand for testing headlines (“headline analyzer”) was low, but after that, there was a significant increase in search demand.
Simply put, no one was interested in searching for a tool like that before 2014, the company went ahead and made it anyway, thus creating the demand on its own.
Example 2:
HubSpot Website Grader tool launched in 2007 and started gaining visibility around 2008. Why was 2007 important for HubSpot to launch this helpful tool? Again, the answer is Google algorithm’s link-building focused update.
With the help of Google Trends, I noticed that until the tool was launched no one was searching for the term (“website grader”), but after 2008 demand started growing significantly due to the tool’s existence.
Why so? After Jagger and Big Daddy update in 2027, marketers had a growing need to frequently check their website’s health. Then Hubspot launched the tool and the demand started growing significantly due to the tool’s existence.
Example 3:
One more example for you — Zillow. It allows users to enter any address or ZIP code in the US, and discover what properties are available for rent or sale on a particular street or neighbourhood.
Zillow ranks organically for the keywords looking for properties in any ZIP code. If the keywords have a very low search volume, Zillow is the first result that comes up. Zillow wasn’t discouraged by the fact that not every address in the US had search demand, but it went ahead anyway and created a page for each one so people could find a property there, if interested.
It created pages with the available properties for each one, that allowed users to use the product effectively and demand followed naturally, in a classic case of a heuristic SEO approach.
Example 4:
Let’s have a look at another example. Drift is a special case in the SaaS world because it coined the term ‘conversational marketing’. In a nutshell, conversational marketing is a method of engaging with website visitors and converting leads through dialogue-driven activities.
This method hadn’t been given a name until a few years ago and the company came up with the term in 2018 — which is widely used now.
They have built their brand, rather whole business based on a heuristic approach. And they have become a thought leader and an authority in their space — conversational marketing.
Differences between Algorithmic and Heuristic SEO
Let’s break down their main differences to make things clearer. Both the approaches in general have some prominent differences.
When it comes to using both algorithmic and heuristic SEO, you should bear in mind that -
- you need to keep a balance between the two
- one’s not necessarily better than the other and you don’t have to choose just one
- algorithmic SEO is better at producing results in the short term, while heuristic SEO is for the future
- the former, however, should remain as a constantly maintained foundation, while the latter one would be the way to squeeze out some extra mile
How to pick out your approach
When you have certain goals in mind that you wish to achieve within a short period — such as Increasing organic traffic, raising awareness, increasing sign-ups/demo requests, and increasing sales, you need to invest in algorithmic SEO.
On the other side, when you have long-term goals like brand awareness, standing out in the future, pioneer of a new approach, launching any tool or concept, shaping user search behaviour, etc., you should invest in heuristic SEO.
Combining algorithmic and heuristic SEO
We can safely state that algorithmic SEO is a way to fill users’ existing needs and heuristic SEO is a way to fill users’ underlying needs. Both practices are important, and they feed off each other.
Now the question is how you should combine both approaches practically. Algorithmic SEO is a continuing process. To deal with the intense competition, you need to continue your regular SEO practices and satisfy the search engine crawler.
At the same time, you need to pay attention to what people are searching for or what Google tells you what people want to see in the near and far future, then you need to go into unexplored search areas and create from scratch something you believe people will want to see.
Let me elaborate on it. First, you need to find out whether anything new is popping up or if there are any up-and-coming keywords with upward search volume. Here your task is to identify the users’ underlying needs in a novel fashion. Additionally, you need to find out the cluster of new keywords as a proxy signal of emerging needs. This approach may give you a sense of what changes are about to come in the user search behaviour.
Another way is to monitor small competitors, even if your website has the largest market share in terms of organic traffic. They may show you uncommon keywords where user search is gradually and deliberately growing up.
If you succeed, you’ll be the pioneer and establish yourself as a thought leader in a certain field or category, just like Coschedule did. No?
Keyword strategy for heuristics SEO
As I mentioned earlier, when incorporating both the SEO process, it’s crucial to consider untapped and uncommon keywords that may still be in their early stages with low search volumes but are showing an upward trend. Utilizing these keywords can facilitate easier ranking. Subsequently, continually adding more keywords and establishing a hub-and-spoke model with the newly integrated keywords is essential.
In addition to focusing on service or product keywords, leveraging brand category keywords can also be beneficial. These keywords may have less competition and significant growth potential.
Moreover, it’s important to stay informed about trends discussed by opinion leaders and market experts. Understanding which trends are gaining upward search volume is vital for heuristic strategy.
Common heuristics to apply:
- Efficiency — Ensure the First Input Delay metric has a value below 100ms for your website. Also, ensure your website is responsive by manually checking all buttons and moving elements.
- Relevance — Make sure your content readability is acceptable as per the industry standards. Also, make your words clear and simple. Don’t use jargon or too many technical terms. Remember the KISS principle (Keep it Simple..Stupid)
- User satisfaction — Keep clear instructions for users in order to act.
- Diversity — Simply follow the KISS Principle (Keep it Simple…Stupid). Avoid using excess CSS and Javascript elements. Also, avoid complex procedures for completing a single action. All of this will improve UX dramatically.
- Error tolerance — Keep a check on your Google Search Console. Make sure all indexing issues are fixed, especially 4xx and 5xx errors.
- Adaptability — Implement a breadcrumb structure in the body for navigational ease. Also, implementing an HTML Sitemap in the footer gives full navigational access to the website.
- Contextual understanding — Make sure the theme of the website, colour, button dimensions, and animations are consistent across all pages.
- Timeliness — Prioritize recent content to keep the results up-to-date.
Unique heuristics to steer customer choices
What tools to use for keyword research
- Google Trends — for historical trends
- SEMRush — for untapped keywords
- Keyword planners — with YOY change
- ExplodingTopics — for trending topics
5. Meltwater — for trend spotting
Conclusion
Let’s wrap things up with some final words. As we look to the future, the potential for heuristics in SEO is vast and largely untapped. Emerging technologies and data analytics offer new ways to understand and predict user search behaviour and content consumption pattern, allowing for even more personalized and effective heuristic strategies.
The challenge and opportunity would lie in balancing the use of powerful tools with ethical considerations, ensuring that marketing efforts enhance the user experience without manipulation.
