Well this was eye-opening. While working on this website, I decided to start digging into the SEO portion and wasn't given any options to start putting in metadata and tags, etc. I contacted support through the chat window and was told the following: "Metadata isn't a thing that Google really looks for anymore. They don't look for tags like that anymore. They look for clear and straight forward statements on your site. The SEO Descriptions is the most important thing Google looks for, then they look for Page Descriptions."
Um...what? I had two reactions simultaneously:
1) Shock. For the last three years I've been learning as much as I can about SEO and how to write original content and use relevant keywords and such - all to appease Google in order to help my clients rank higher for their top search terms. Google has been changing their algorithms as often as most people check their social media feeds in a day, so it's a lot to keep up with. One thing I always knew was that you should never stuff keywords into your site. Any so-called SEO company that still does that for you should be fired immediately. They don't always know more than you.
2) Awe. Organic content is the new marketing focus. My support staffer said, "Nope, you just want to focus on constancy. Make sure what you put on your site, is what your site really is all about. Basically, if you write a paragraph on your site about tacos, don't put in the SEO that you are a Whiskey Warehouse." Makes sense, right? Some SEO firms will tell you differently. Don't believe everything you are told - even with regard to this article. The point is that I don't have to spend hours and hours going through websites trying to please Google by carefully making sure that everything is tagged, labeled and described in order to boost my rankings!
It makes sense that it would all boil down to this after such a focus on only using relevant content on your websites, doesn't it? After that revelation of a game changer, I pondered my entire website - which isn't very big - and then changed most of it to state simply what I do, rather than being too creative for creativity's sake. Creativity can come in many forms, but in this case, it is now - and always has been, according to Mom - better to just be yourself.