E37: 5 SEO Pillars That Can Make or Break Your Business
You’ve probably seen the headlines claiming SEO is dead. The truth is, bad SEO has been dead for a long time—but businesses that apply a holistic SEO strategy are still thriving. In this episode of Marketing Domination, Sean Garner breaks down why most companies fail at SEO and what it really takes to stand out in today’s digital landscape.
Sean reveals the five pillars of SEO every business needs to grow: technical SEO, content, authority, user experience, and local SEO. He explains how being clear and proving it to Google can transform your website from an online brochure into a revenue-generating tool.
If you want to show up in Google’s map pack, get more qualified leads, and dominate your industry, this episode will show you exactly where to start.
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Sean Garner is a marketing consultant and Certified StoryBrand guide dedicated to helping small business owners grow and dominate their industries. He created the Marketing Domination podcast to teach people how to combine storytelling with strategic marketing to help businesses connect with customers and stand out online.
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MARKETING DOMINATION PODCAST
Introduction
Sean Garner: [00:00]
All right, this is going to be about the holistic approach to SEO and the five pillars that clients need in order to stand out and dominate online. So we'll sync the audio.
Sean Garner: [00:24]
All right.
SEO Is Not Dead—Bad SEO Is
Sean Garner: [00:41]
So with the rise of AI, you've probably seen the headlines: SEO is dead. SEO is not dead, but bad SEO very much is dead, and it's been dead for a long time. If you're a small business owner and you've been struggling, maybe paying for SEO services without seeing the results you want or expect, it's probably because you are not implementing a holistic SEO strategy. So, on this episode of the Marketing Domination Podcast, I am going to share with you the five pillars of SEO.
All right, let's start this again.
Sean Garner: [01:19]
So if you've seen the headlines—SEO is dead—I don't believe that. SEO is not dead, but bad SEO very much is dead, and it's been dead for a long time. If you're a small business owner and you've been doing SEO or paying for SEO services with an agency without getting the results you're looking for or expecting, it is most likely because you are missing one of the keys that make a complete holistic SEO strategy.
So on this episode of the Marketing Domination Podcast, I'm going to give you the five pillars of SEO that your business must have if you want to stand out—not just on Google, but in the AI overviews and the LLMs like ChatGPT. Welcome to Marketing Domination.
Why Most Business Owners Struggle with SEO
Sean Garner: [02:06]
Okay, so the headlines of SEO is dead—I always think that it's funny because people misinterpret what SEO really is. A lot of business owners paying for SEO services are getting ripped off and wasting their money because what traditional SEO is, and what most agencies charge for, is honestly nothing more than keyword reporting and showing you your metrics inside of their reporting dashboard—how you're ranking.
What they don't do well is actual SEO that drives results and moves the needle in the business. Ultimately, who cares how you're ranking if it doesn't relate to more business? You can't pay your bills with keyword ranking reports; you can only pay them with actual booked clients and revenue.
One of the reasons business owners struggle with this is the lack of education around it. They've hired an agency, they've heard the buzzwords that they need SEO, but they don't know what they're actually getting. I want to share with you the five-pillar approach to SEO that we use to create a holistic SEO strategy for our clients. You can use this to evaluate what you're currently getting to see if it's actually working.
SEO is not dead. The reason is people are still searching for things. Yes, maybe what most people think of as traditional SEO is dead—as far as trying to stuff keywords in a blog post and hope it shows up at the top of Google with AI overviews. And although these LLMs—large language models like ChatGPT—are changing the way we search, the different approach people are talking about is really just SEO done the way it should have been done all along.
SEO is nothing more than being clear and proving it to Google. Their job, and the job of all search engines and LLMs like ChatGPT, is to deliver to their customers—the searchers—the best result for what they're looking for. There have always been ways to game the system with quick hacks, but at a certain point, those tactics stop working. If you focus on a good strategy, you will win in the long run. And that strategy is: Being clear and proving it to Google.
Being Clear and Proving It to Google
Sean Garner: [04:26]
Being clear means: what do you actually do? Google is not going to call your business, have an interview with you, and find out what services you provide and in what service area. If your SEO is not optimized, you are not going to be clear to Google. It's going to find your competitor instead, because they are answering those questions more clearly.
The other part is proving it. It’s sad to me that I see people, especially in smaller towns and suburbs, who are really good at their craft—but because they haven't prioritized the digital world, the internet has no idea how good they actually are. They don’t know about the thousands of customers you've worked with when your Google Business Profile only has nine reviews, none updated in the past several years.
That is the “proving it” part of SEO. You really are the best at what you do, you really do have tons of experience—but Google and these search engines aren’t going to call and interview you. That's where SEO comes in. It takes what you do, your experience, and formats it in a way that Google and these search engines understand. That way, they know you actually deserve to rank where you want to be.
Yes, there are some short-term tactics people manipulate for quick gains, but those get exposed. If you want to win, you need a holistic strategy—and that’s what we do and implement.
So, here is the five-pillar SEO approach that we believe you need if you truly want to grow in the rankings and dominate your industry.
The first one is technical SEO. Technical SEO is the structure that search engines understand. This is about having your website set up in a way that Google can clearly understand what it is you do. Remember: it's about being clear and proving it to Google. Part of being clear is using the structure Google likes to see, to make sure things are in the proper place for how it will crawl, scan, or read your website. All of these LLMs use similar patterns for what they’re looking for.
The Five Pillars of Holistic SEO
Sean Garner: [06:47]
A lot of this has to do with something called heading structure, site title tags, meta descriptions, and crawlability—how easy it is to find information or click through your site.
Don’t think of SEO as trying to trick a robot. Yes, it's a robot crawling and reading your website, but it needs to be done in a clear format. One big misunderstanding comes with heading tags. A heading tag changes the font size, but it’s also structured in the backend code.
For example, the headline on a website looks different than the text below it because that headline is a heading tag. There are different numbers of heading tags, and on Google, websites should only have one H1 heading tag per page. Then below that you have H2, H3, and H4 tags, nested like an outline you would write for a high school paper.
With headings, especially the H1, you want the main thing people search for to be in that tag. Google looks at that H1 tag and says, “This is the most important thing on the page.” Unfortunately, if a website developer doesn’t understand SEO, they may use heading tags simply to change the font style without realizing the major negative impact this has on search rankings.
The other part is your meta titles and descriptions—your site titles and meta descriptions. Whenever you go to Google and search something, like “plumbers Dallas,” you see the headline of the website and then the description below it. That’s your site title and meta description.
If you don’t set these, Google will make them up for you. But why not give Google the exact format it wants? That way, you’re showing the website information that’s actually relevant to that page. Don’t make Google guess. Remember: be clear. Don’t make Google guess what you do or what that page should be known for.
Sean Garner [09:01]
So we can use a really great tool. If you don't have this, there's a free plugin you can get called Detailed SEO. It's a Google Chrome plugin you can attach to your browser, and you can use it to quickly check your website. Just open the plugin whenever you're on your site and scan: Are your site title tags done? Is the meta description set up? Are the heading structures correct?
This is the first thing I do whenever I jump on a consultation call with anybody. I just open their website, click on that plugin, and it is shocking how many businesses don't even have that stuff done—because they don't know what to look for. So if you are doing SEO or you're paying for SEO, they should be looking at these things for you to make sure that your website is technically sound. That is our first pillar of SEO: technical SEO and making sure the structure of your website is set up in a way that search engines want and are looking for.
The second thing is your content. This is where we take what we're doing and we add content to our website. If you are paying for SEO services or think you're doing SEO but you are not regularly updating and adding content to your website, you are not doing SEO. It's like a table missing one of its legs—it won’t hold up well because content is a main pillar of SEO.
You need to be adding things like blog posts, service pages, and location pages. Those are very important, especially if you're a local service-based business. You need to add that content to your website because if you're not, your competition is. It's about proving to Google that you are knowledgeable and authoritative on the topic. You don’t do that by keeping information in your head—you do it by regularly adding content to your website and proving to Google that you are authoritative.
This also means regularly adding content to your Google My Business—adding posts, adding FAQs—because Google wants to see you using these tools. These search engines want to see you updating them.
Sean Garner [11:16]
The more content you add to your website on a regular basis, the more authority you build. That leads us into pillar number three of SEO: authority. Remember, good SEO is about being clear and proving it to Google. This is another way we prove it: authority. We build authority with backlinks or citations.
A referral in business is nothing more than an in-person backlink. It's somebody else trustworthy saying, "You should trust these guys because they did it for me." That’s what a backlink is—another website that Google deems authoritative pointing back to yours for a specific topic or service.
There are factors that go into backlink quality. You don’t want sites Google has deemed spammy pointing back to yours. You want to disavow or turn those off. Good SEO should build site authority by doing things like backlinks and citation building.
Citations are nothing more than directory listings—Better Business Bureau profiles, Google My Business, Bing profiles, Yelp, Apple Maps. Building out those citations to point back to your Google My Business profile and your website is crucial. We can also use press releases and other link-building strategies to prove to Google you are trustworthy.
Because anybody can spin up a website and say they’re the best plumber, best electrician, or best med spa. But we need ways to prove in Google’s eyes that you actually deserve to be there. One of the major ranking factors is backlinks—how many other websites point to yours saying, "You can trust this site."
The fourth pillar of SEO is something called UX, or user experience.
Sean Garner [13:34]
This is a ranking factor to Google and should be very important to you. What happens when somebody comes on your website? Are they taking action or are they bouncing right off the page because it's not what they were looking for?
Google wants to see you being clear and proving it. If I'm looking for the best med spa in Miami and I click on a website but instantly bounce back to search results, Google knows that website was the wrong choice. So user experience is a ranking factor.
We want people to take action when they visit. Are they watching your videos, clicking on other pages, service pages, blog articles? Are they booking a call or clicking your phone number? Google can see that information and evaluate whether your website provides a good user experience.
From an SEO perspective, we look at things like making sure our websites load fast, are mobile-friendly, and have clear calls-to-action. If people are looking for your products or services, they should know what to do to take action and buy. Google can see this as a click-through element: someone searched for a topic, was shown your business, and then took action. That is a big pillar of SEO if you want to keep growing in the rankings.
But more importantly, this is where you, as the business owner, can make sure you’re making money. Are people coming from Google actually booking calls, buying, or scheduling appointments? Whatever your call-to-action is, that’s where SEO turns into business results.
Becoming the Local Legend with Google Business
Sean Garner: [15:29]
And the final pillar of SEO for this holistic approach is your local SEO — becoming the local legend. You do this with your Google My Business profile. If you are a local service business, your Google Business profile is the lifeblood to that map pack and to showing up in those top three spots. When people are searching for a gym near me, a med spa near me, a plumber near me, or an attorney near me, you want to show up in that map pack.
And how you do that is by having your Google My Business profile optimized so you appear in that local map pack search. If you are not consistently getting reviews, responding to those reviews, adding content to the profile, or optimizing the profile by making sure it’s fully filled out with your services, categories, and everything built out, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. And I promise you, your competitors are doing these things.
So if you truly want to win, grow, and dominate on search engines like Google and on these LLMs — large language models like AI overviews and ChatGPT — you need this five-pillar SEO approach. Make sure your technicals are set up, you’re adding content regularly, you’re building authority with backlinks, citations, and press releases, you’re creating a strong user experience, and you’re dominating the local map pack with your Google My Business profile.
Do these things, and watch your business grow and rise in the rankings. If you’re thinking, “That sounds awesome, but our agency isn’t doing that,” or if you want to start implementing a holistic SEO approach, I would love the opportunity to talk with you. Schedule a call at SeanGarner.co and book directly with me. We’ll do a complete SEO audit, show you how your business is ranking, and what we can do to help you grow in the rankings and dominate your industry. Looking forward to talking to you soon.
