This is a guest post by Jeff from ArverneByTheSea.com.
Search engines are constantly evolving and updating the ways they rank webpages according to variables like links, backlinks, keywords and phrases, on-page and off-page content, how long a site has been around, how often it is updated, physical location and much more.
The goal of search engines is not to help you, the webpage or blog owner, get ranked higher.
Their goal is to provide searchers with the most relevant information possible, first, given the keywords or phrases entered into a search. With that in mind, here are some ways to improve your search rankings:
- Provide Unique, Quality Content
Copying content is the cardinal sin of optimization, and sites have been blacklisted for this practice. The second worst transgression is irrelevant content. Yes, a lot of people search for “porn” for instance, but if you sell shoe laces linking to or from this ever-popular term will hurt, not help your searchability. The trick is to as much as possible, treat your search engines like people. People don’t like being fooled or lied to and neither do these search engines. - Guest Post
Again providing relevant and unique content, find blogs in your niche and provide content for them with a link at the end of the content. There are sites that invite this openly to bloggers in a niche, so check those out, and create relationships with bloggers so you can exchange guest posts. - Quality Before Quantity
Having a lot of content still helps, but more so over time. In fact a hundred new links overnight will “scare” search engines initially, and they will look for plagiarized and spun content within. One good link with great original content on a site with authority is worth hundreds of poorly written irrelevant links. Instead get one great piece of content and share it with others. - Avoid Automated Services
There has yet to be built a computer that can even come close to mimicking a human being writing stuff. This doesn’t stop many from trying though, and they will even charge you for this horrible service. Automated content offers the reader nothing of value, hurts your brand image if it is stumbled upon by a real human, and search engines hate it. - Get To Know Other Bloggers
There are hundreds of millions of blogs, and chances are many of these are in your niche. Say hi, ask to guest post and allow them to do the same. These symbiotic relationships are a great boost to your searchability if the content is of high quality and unique and if each site has some authority. Comment as well as guest post if you see an article you like, always saying something useful. - Social Networks
The major ones right now are Facebook and Twitter, and if you are a B2B industry LinkedIn is also a quality source. Create your page and offer good content and updates, just as you would a blog. Invite others and visit others in your niche, “liking” their content when applicable, and asking them to do the same for you. In addition, when you friend someone on a social network and they choose to “follow” you they can automatically be notified of updates to your blog, increasing the likelihood of more visits, and visits from those who actually want to read your content.
Building online presence takes time and effort, but it is very rewarding as well, when done the right way. There really is no shortcut to long-term success however, so avoid bots, irrelevant posts, automated systems and other black hat tactics and stick to the suggestions provided above.
Top 10 Search Terms:
• seo tactics 2011 • seo 2012 • seo tactics
Great post, those are some excellent tips that I recommend people start practicing right away. One thing I really hate is automated comments that are vague and generic and they very rarely make sense in the context. I want people to stop using such programs and start contributing to the post.
Thanks Evie. Automated link building will hurt you blog on long terms. It is better to put 2-3 real comments than order 100s of automated, mostly worthless comments.
As always, Content is he King. In any website or blog, you should have good quality content in order to get good search engine ranking. You have come with some good ideas in order to help new bloggers. Guest post can be a very effective SEO tactic to get fast result in SE ranking.
Hi Jhon,
content is a king. And, joined with guest posting is winning combination for every blog. Thanks on feedback!
Its a lot of work to do it right by writing great engaging content- but who would want to read software generated content. That would be the same as reading a book or newspaper “written” by software… not likely to be a very good read.
Thanks for the tips…I’m still pretty new to SEO and I’m reading as much as I possibly can to learn more about it. I appreciated the tip on not using “automated services” I have been doing everything by hand and its a slow process, but it sounds like its probably the best way.
SEO is matter of quality. You’ll get more rankings from search engines with 2-3 guest posts than submitting on 200 article directories. And, nobody read articles from article directories.
Nice article, Jeff.
I think you raise some really good points.
Quality content does win in the end. I would rank guest posting as one of the best ways to help the growth and rep of a website(And the author).
Understanding basic SEO practices is something that can make all the difference. A few well executed on page optimizations, or off page promotions, can make a world of difference.
Totally agree with all your points. Thanks on comment Daniel!
Provide Unique, Quality Content is always what I’m talking about. The viewers are like customers, how will they feel if they know your service/product is fake?
Yes, quality unique content should be at first place for every blogger. SEO is useless if you haven’t something to offer your readers/customers. Thanks Jake!
“Avoid Automated Services”. Agree totally about this point. Maybe you can cheat the human beings but Google will, sooner or later, discover it and you will be penalized.
You’re right Frank. Many people loosing time in thinking how to trick Google. But, this is impossible. If you cheat, you’ll pay sooner or later – that’s the rule with big “G”.
Awesome post! SEO strategies changes from time to time that’s why it is necessary that you research and update your knowledge what works today and what doesn’t work anymore.
These ideas are tried and true SEO tactics. Search engines are constantly changing the way they offer results, so attempting to trick them is not going to work. Keep things ethical, think of your audience when writing blog posts, and take your time building an online presence. Good things come to those who wait.
I think the best way to be liked by search engiens and visitors is to provide quality and unique content.
Agree. But, you must do little SEO work to start getting decent traffic. After that, your content will bring you additional links and rankings.