Learning How to Conquer SEO

/in /by

It sometimes seems like everyone is talking about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The amount of information out there can be overwhelming, but effective SEO can be reduced to some simple principles that can reap rewards for your organization.

SEO in a Nutshell

SEO means taking steps to make sure the search engines will like your site and rank it favorably. This has two key components:

  1. Relevant and high quality content
  2. Getting links back to your site

Quality Matters

The key to sparkling SEO that works is quality, in both your content and your back links. Search engines don’t like low quality content, including:

  • Poorly written or grammatically incorrect content
  • Duplicate content between your own pages
  • Content that is copied from another site
  • Content that isn’t relevant to your site’s keywords

Search engines love high quality content, including:

  • Original content that adds value or provides a unique perspective
  • Regularly updated content that stays fresh and dynamic
  • Content that is relevant to your site’s keywords
  • Content that flows naturally without keyword stuffing

The same goes for links. All links are not created equal – low quality links can damage your rankings. Low quality links include:

  • Links from link farms
  • Links from newer sites
  • Links from sites that search engines consider low quality.

On the other hand, high quality links will help build your page rank. High quality links include:

  • Links from popular sites
  • Reviews and mentions of your business on relevant sites
  • Links from sites that search engines consider high quality

The Simple Formula for Sparkling SEO

SEO is an ever-changing field, and factoring in time to keep up to date and learn more about it will stand your organization in good stead. But if you’re feeling deluged by the amount of SEO information out there, remember to bring it back to this simple formula:

Good quality content + good quality links = good quality SEO.

SEO isn’t a one-time event – it’s an ongoing process. Invest some time in learning about quality SEO techniques and start implementing them in everything you publish. Create excellent content and forge positive relationships to get quality back links. Your SEO will come to life and search engines will like what they see.