Why Human Engagement Optimization (HEO) Will Be Important For 2017
If you’re a marketer, you’ve probably been hearing it for a while now: SEO is dying. In a way, I think it’s true. At the least, it’s fair to say that traditional SEO is dying, as our focus shifts from optimizing header tags to filling pages with high quality content. Perhaps it’s better to avoid the exaggeration and just say that the SEO landscape is drastically changing, not dying.
Since Google’s Penguin 4.0 update, poor-quality links have been devalued. To be competitive in search, on-page SEO tactics have become obligatory instead of just recommended. Putting frequently-searched, relevant keywords in your headers won’t give you any sort of advantage over the competition anymore; it will just keep you from falling behind.
Consistent high quality content certainly helps with link building and driving traffic to your website, but traffic is not enough. You have to capitalize on the traffic you are getting from your SEO efforts by focusing on engagement. The best way to get visitors engaged is empathy. Treat them like people, not visitors. Practice Human Engagement Optimization (HEO) in favor of SEO.
So what is HEO? I first heard the term from Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of Hubspot, during his keynote presentation at Inbound 2016. Though he only spoke about it very briefly, the concept really resonated with me. My interpretation is that Human Engagement Optimization is about delighting the people that visit your website. It is a combination of SEO and UI/UX; a marriage of data and creative.
Data about the people that visit your website helps you to understand who you are marketing to. Using data to inform our marketing strategies is a given in an era when that data is so easy to collect. And this is a good thing; it allows us as marketers to improve our targeting and eliminate waste in ad spend.
But when gathering and interpreting data take up all of our time, creative suffers. Design and copywriting, two of the most important factors in providing a unique and delightful experience, are taking a backseat to data. Focus on the human element. Think of your site visitors as humans that feel emotion, not data points or dollar signs. If your website makes them smile, laugh, or makes their day a little easier, they are more likely to meaningfully engage with your site.
“I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.” — David Ogilvy
So how do you use HEO to maximize effectiveness of your SEO efforts? Firstly, don’t be misleading in search. Start by fine-tuning the list of keywords you are trying to rank for and only target keywords that are highly relevant to your website and landing pages. For example, if you are selling whiteboards, don’t try to rank for chalkboards or bulletin boards, or anything else that sounds similar but you don’t actually sell. By ranking for just a few highly relevant keywords you can increase the quality of traffic coming to your website. This will also allow you to better tailor the creative on your website to specific keywords and niches.
Show visitors what they expect to see in an intuitive and exciting way. This comes back to design and creative copy. Use data to learn. Be confident in your data, but don’t get hung up on it. Use data insights to guide creative, not to dictate or constrain it. Continually test different variations of your design and copy. Measure results, reiterate, and always take risks. Ask yourself, “Is this easy-to-use, informative, engaging, & unique?”
Like SEO, HEO does not happen overnight. It is an iterative process that requires tweaks and changes along the way (sometimes even a complete strategy overhaul). The process should be fun. Take risks with your creative. Risk taking is the fun part. It separates the good from the great.
Whether you are B2B or B2C, remember that at the end of the day your business is truly B2H (business to humans). As marketers we need to start thinking about searchers, users, and visitors, and customers as humans. Don’t think “What would a target customer want to see”, think “How can I delight and engage a person with this page?” Pairing the HEO best practices outlined above with your current SEO efforts will improve the quality of traffic you get to your website, and improve the overall experience for the people visiting your site.
