In the early days of search, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) meant that anyone could use low-quality, keyword-stuffed content and create many low-quality backlinks to their site and rank on the first page of the results for the keywords they were targeting. Companies could engage in all sorts of “black hat” tactics including hiring cheap writers who barely knew how to construct a sentence in English, spinning articles into multiple low-quality articles stuffed with keywords, or purchasing domains with high page ranks and quickly turning them into spammy sites that simply existed for the purpose of providing them with backlinks. All of these tactics used to be effective in promoting a business.
Over time, though, Google has implemented several updates to the search algorithms, especially in the last two years with the Penguin and Panda updates. Google is focused on providing the user with the best experience possible, which means getting rid of spammy sites and penalizing sites that are using a lot of black hat tactics to dominate the search engine results pages. If you are using a lot of keyword-heavy, low-quality content or creating a lot of low-quality backlinks on irrelevant sites, your website and your business could be in danger.
While it’s certainly no longer possible to trick Google with these strategies, it’s more important than ever to have an SEO strategy that will work. If you aren’t following Google’s best practices, your search rankings will more than likely go way down, resulting in less traffic to your website and less business for you. There are a few ways to make sure that your website remains a respectable website by Google standards so that you can increase your position on the search results pages.
– Be Original – Producing high-quality, original content that is of value to the user is extremely important. This may mean hiring new talent that can produce videos, blog posts, and infographics that will not only be interesting to the user but entertaining. This will make your website visitors want to share links with their friends, which is exactly what you want for your business.
– Increase Your Usability – Make sure your site is easy to use. This may mean using proper grammar, creating mobile-friendly pages, or using responsive web design so that your site is visible across a wide range of devices. Make sure the content on your site is well written and your webpage is well structured.
– Be an Authority – How are you an expert in your field? Google takes more notice of sites that would be considered an authoritative source on that particular subject. Educational and government institutions, for example, have a high authority on their subject matter and typically are given a higher position in search rankings because of this.
SEO services are more important than ever now in order to ensure that you are following Google’s best practices and running your website in the most beneficial way.