Once the first search engines started ranking pages there came about a competition of sorts to rank at the top. If a business wanted to ensure that their website was ranked well they would utilize a variety of search engine optimization techniques, otherwise know as SEO. Initially the techniques used were all about keyword stacking. In time the search engines sought to improve their results so SEO techniques that were viewed as deceptive “black hat” were penalized, and consequently a site was ranked low.
Those serious about SEO did their research and found out what did work. These approved techniques are the ones I write about often, and have been collectively considered “best practices” by most SEO experts, and is where “white hat” was coined. As someone concerned with SEO for my own business, and my clients, I spend a lot of time evaluating what works which brings me to this post today. What worked in the past only partly works now!
If you haven’t’ gotten the memo, the SEO rules of today are constantly changing. I’ve noted how the latest Penguin update has had a big influence on how pages rank, and upon assessment this update has affected my “established” site ranking more than any update I’ve seen in the last 10 years. In short, the big player, GOOGLE, will only rank a site high now that has a good reputation.
If you’ve read my recent posts then you know that reputation is primarily about how popular your site is. Popularity here is defined in a big way by social media shares, likes, tweets, etc. If you’ve been doing your homework then you likely already have a strong social media presence. Ideally these should include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, Review Websites, and your Blog. If you’ve done all this correctly .. meaning that you’ve regularly updated this content with good and fresh content that is of interest to your visitors, and your site is still ranked low then you need to evaluate your site for practices that Penguin will use to lower a site’s reputation ranking.
First off, avoid flooding the internet with posts and articles on other sites. If you have something of value to say on another site that’s great, but it should be on topic and relevant, not spam. It is generally considered okay to add a link back to your site, but it is suggested that you don’t add a link to every comment and every post. In short, avoid spamming in any form. As for those black hat techniques … don’t use them. This includes excessive links, invisible text, and excessive keywords. To be clear, yes, in the past you could include a lot of keywords in your ALT and TITLE tags, as well as your page descriptions, titles, and navigation, and this would help your site ranking. With the Penguin update this is no longer the case. So ask yourself if what you have in place reads as genuine, if not … REMOVE EXCESSIVE KEYWORDS. Remember that what Google wants is content that is new, timely, original, and that is well written (so be sure to spell and grammar check).
Okay, so now we know that we need to have authentic content, but what else? Quality inbound links still work, but remember that just a link isn’t really helpful. Where possible the link should be include with a description about your business, and ideally why it is a valuable resource to others. Encourage people to interact with your site, be it by social media, or shares. Besides just having words include engaging images, video, info-graphics on your site pages and social media. The goal here of course is to ensure that your site is engaging so that your visitors will stay longer on your pages, and visit more of your pages .. both still important SEO criteria.
My advice is to use the same strategies that I have long written about while keeping in mind the importance of not over stuffing keywords. Be sure to infuse a bit of humor, and be sure to include ways for visitors to easily share your content. With most CMS platforms there are plugins that will allow visitors to share your content via social media. Remember to use Google+, create YouTube videos that are fun, and ask your clients to review your business on Yelp, and other popular review sites.
