Non-Technical SEO: Aspects to Take Seriously for Ranking

What non-technical SEO entails

Non-technical SEO may sound like the direct opposite of the technical one. No!

In content marketing, it's not just word and opposite. What makes technical SEO really technical is that it has to do with the structural breakdown of a website and how to make search engines get correct pictures of things around it. Hence, able to serve their users better.

Non-technical SEO is not far apart from this too. With non-technical SEO, we aim to improve the usability of the website and its content without having a direct influence on search engines, instead, the audience is taken as a priority.

To break things down, non-technical SEO publishers seek to deliver the best content in a much more friendly manner such that readers will find all available resources on the pages useful, friendly, not frustrating, and uncluttered. They will enjoy spending their time with your pages and interact longer with content, links, and other parts.

Here, you achieve ranking, not because of your understanding of HTTPS, crawlers, link structure, etc but because you understand how your audience uses or will like to use your pages.

Non-Technical SEO Decides More of Your Fate in Ranking

Of course, there is no way we'll talk technical without the nontechnical aspect of SEO. Yet, whatever activities you pay attention to on your pages that improve the experience of your audience positively matters most to search engines or as it is to you - the publisher.

Very many websites/blogs are doing well even though the owners know nothing about technical SEO. All they do is write the best posts and keep publishing. With time, search engines give in on the technical stuff and focus on what users want.

Technically, we say your domain must include your keyword. That's true. But, websites with domains not including the keywords are still doing better.

Technically, we say your menu, links, on-page links, and structure matter for bots to understand your website. One-page promotional websites (with no menu, tags, etc) are doing fine ranking for their content if the information is quality and unique.

If care is not taken, however, we may find it difficult to split the two.

To this end, whatever I cover in this post should be taken seriously as you would with technical SEO if not more.

Below is a list of what you should understand about nontechnical SEO and aspects to be mindful of.

1. Non-Technical SEO is Not Only About External Link-Building

My previous knowledge of nontechnical SEO is the creation of links in legal ways. Is that true?

If you do a quick search around the net about aspects of SEO called nontechnical, you're more likely to flock with how to build links from other websites. To the authors, nontechnical SEO is synonymous with off-page link-building strategies.

Well, while this is correct, nontechnical aspects of SEO are more than that.

Of course, for your SEO efforts, you may need to work on social shares. This can easily be achieved by including share buttons below your posts. Readers will be delighted to share with their friends and families if they find them worthy.

Nontechnical SEO requires you to market your content across the net by connecting your website with Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. It requires you to write (or share as) guest posts with other websites in the same or related industry. It requires you to link back to your website with podcasts, Youtube, forum comments, and contributions.

It includes making your domain available on flyers, business cards, handbills, etc.

But it doesn't end there. This takes us to the next points.

NOTE: Link building outside your website should be moderate as excessive links from outside websites can turn out to hurt your ranking.

2. Content is Still the Number one SEO

Nothing is technical about your content. The value, in knowledge, guides, or answers, you give doesn't have any technicality in it. Once the audience is helped, you're doing good with the non-technical side.

This is why, "CONTENT" is repeated a million times across the net - as the KING.

You have to work on providing the best values with your content. If you can't beat the existing posts, find something else you can write on. You must present something different, smarter, more resourceful, and unique.

Experience has shown how much people fall in love with long-form content. It's hard to write one without providing added value to what is already available on the net.

If you can win your audience with the best articles, you'd done well with another part of non-technical SEO. You don't only win them, you win the search engines too.

3. Keywords With Relevance and Users' Intent Matters

There are three elements of quality content. These three elements fall under the armpit of non-technical SEO.

These are Keywords, Relevance, and Intent.

With nontechnical aspects of SEO, your focus is your readers. However, this will overlap with a part of technical SEO.

You should focus on keywords (this is more technical because search engines read that) but more, on relevance and intent. Relevance is about how related the content you're pushing is to the intention of the visitors before hitting the search buttons.

Let me break this a bit down.

You may stock your pages with relevant keywords that search engines compensate for. But, this will hurt you if you just stuff up. Search engines wait to see how users interpret your keywords and whether it matches what they truly want answers to.

For example, you may write around the keyword, "long-form posts". Users may be interested in the basics of this topic. If you write a too complex post for them, they will bounce back to find something more basic. In the end, Google will only reward someone who writes with their intent and relevance.

Therefore, while writing, don't commit keywords only to the mind, match them up with relevance, and users' intent.

4. Themes, Fonts, and Color Should Blend and Communicate

Technical SEO is more about search engines' experience while nontechnical is more about the human experience.

When search engines crawl your website, they know what to look for: domain name, website structure, mobile-friendliness, speed, etc. If a man visits your website he comes only for content. Yet, in an effort to let him enjoy that content, especially to the end, some things come in. Among these are the website theme, font type, and color.

Technically, search engines don't care about your color, Googlebot doesn't read that. However, people read that -  though unconsciously.

You must match your website theme/color with the right font for your niche and color for the font and background. Districting colors and fonts can be hunting. Give visitors something pleasing to the eyes.

5. Email Subscription Box and Pop-Ups are Better Blended

How do you feel when you get to a page, reading the title you find a box popping up and asking you to submit your email?

Search engines find it annoying with pops on pages just as humans find it very distracting. If I must subscribe to your posts, I'll rather do that after I complete reading and find the answers to my search.

Technically in SEO, this may not hurt search engines' feelings about your website. But, if visitors complain by bouncing back or closing boxes severally, you'll feel the hit sooner.

This is nontechnical though, yet important.

Blend your subscription box with your content or insert the links while writing. People will prefer to read a new message asking them to submit emails to pop-up boxes chasing them around the pages.

6. Pay Attention to Content Structure

Search engines read your content and reward it if the structure is appealing. The same happens when readers find your work well structured.

By structure, I mean how you title, introduce, and divide the body into sections, headings, and subsections. This part is a nontechnical aspect of SEO, yet it's as important.

Even where search engines rank a relevant post without a better breakdown, people may not fall in love with it.

Since we're talking human experience here, people enjoy posts divided into sections and adequately broken down for better assimilation. Hence, take this as seriously as other aspects.

7. Give Humans and Bots Words to Understand in Links

Your posts may still rank if you're not good at linking old posts with new ones and vice versa. After all, content matters.

However, people fall in love with links that give them enough words to understand what to expect on the linked pages. This also happens to bots. They want to read not only the linked content but the very word or collection of words that you link in each post.

For instance, people will love to see a link in a post like this "how to rank higher for keywords in crowded niches" instead of "this guide".

Except you take time to explain what to expect in "this guide" neither the readers nor the bots will understand what to expect at the other end.

These are nontechnical aspects of SEO that must carefully be attended to. You should also be sure you link rightly as erroneous linking to pages may cause people to bounce back or bots to feel you're click-baiting. See Clickbaiting: Where and How To Use and Not To.

8. Go Beyond Text-Based Content if Relevant

This may not be relevant to all niches. But where it's related, let your content go beyond the 3500 words you are usually hungry for. You may need to add images, charts, videos, and podcasts to add more value.

While your audience falls in love with this professionalism, search engines believe you should have all it takes to guide further when these accessories are included in your posts.

9. Commit to Serving Voice Searches

Commit to writing for voice searches. This is a non-technical SEO aspect you don't look down on in the present age. In fact, it's getting hotter in the future.

With the advent of voice search using Google Assistant and Apple Siri, people are getting lazy (just kidding - they're putting their resources to use).

People that do speak to search should be our focus as well.

To achieve being ranked for voice searches, you may need to work on the things that make people rank for Google snippets and Discover. See Google Discover: How to Rank for Every Post.

My experience has shown that content with good and well-formatted headings, lists of, types of, how-to, when-to, where-to, definitions, etc are doing well for voice searches.

Just hit your Assistant or Siri and ask what's "keyword stuffing", you're more likely to see a definition from Wikipedia. How does it better if not Wikipedia?

Conclusion

There is more to talk about when it comes to non-technical SEO. However, the summary of it all is "what you do that benefits the readers more than search engines". Even though it comes back to dictate for the search engines, users come before it in the non-technical SEO.

Do you have more to add to this list? Do you disagree with any of the points? Share your views in the comment section below.