One unexpectedly effective (yet 100% non-technical) trick that really does help build organic SEO.
For the most-part, the concept of a tech genius SEO guru is a myth that is propagated to make tech genius SEO gurus money. As Google has become more and more humanlike in its ability to interpret and predict search results, SEO has become much more of a human product.
Dont like a page because it looks spammy? Google probably doesnt either. Like a page because it seems useful? So does Google. So those, basically, are the kinds of decisions a good SEO type will be making every day in managing a page. Minimizing spammy looking content, and maximizing the freshness, usefulness, and relevance of content around a single subject thats central to a page. If you have an intuitive understanding of what you, yourself like to see on a webpage, youre already halfway to creating good on-page SEO.
Off-page SEO is something of a different creature. It comes from other kinds of interactions. Backlinks. mentions. Social media shares. And heres where something very non-technical comes in:
...talking to people.
Are you surprised? We were, but then we tried it ourselves, and it really did work. We stumbled upon backlinks and discussions about ourselves in very unexpected places, and that kind of word-of-mouth web presence had much more staying power and Google authority than any of the backlinks we built manually.
Were not saying its easy; it might be hard. You might be really shy. But if youre talking to actual human beings, youre likely to find yourself mentioned online, and those online mentions benefit you.
Lets call this technique the Blabbermouth Method. Walk down the street in a arty/crafty part of town and hand people your business card. Go out the door in the morning with a handful of cards, and promise yourself not to go home until all the cards are gone. Just introduce yourself, and talk proudly about your work.
And when you do talk to people, make sure to send these people to your homepage. Your homepage is where you build brand equity and Google authority. It may feel funny to send people through your own URL instead of Etsy at first, but bear with us; every visit to your personal homepage builds page authority in a permanent way that builds up over time. It doesnt even really matter whether a person bought something through your site that one time (although thats nice when it happens). What matters in the long term, is that they linked to you. They visited you. Maybe they joined your mailing list. They shared your stuff on Facebook or Pinterest. That kind of activity is the kind that builds brand equity and marketing power—equity that matters to Google. Permanent, off-Etsy equity that lasts, regardless of whether or not you plan to keep your Etsy shop forever.