Is SEO Dead? Or Does it Need Help?
Search engine optimization as a standalone methodology is dead as a doornail. Dead, kaput, deceased, wandering around waiting to be buried. Trying to accomplish high search engine ranking using SEO alone is a losing proposition at best.
In the beginning, you could throw up any kind of page and get people to visit. Quality Web pages were few and far between, and it was just astounding that you could get type on a page others could view. Then came the keyword, the meta tag, the phrase, the optimization and software that would be considered downright primitive in today’s world that would tell you your page was a cut above the pack. These days are long gone.
In order to get around the dead horse of SEO standalone, you need to be ready to add links, backlinks and quality backlinks. You need to be able to do more than string three words together. Today’s readers are savvy. They want real information. Don’t deliver junky, slapped together, non-researched splats of content and expect to maintain traffic and credibility. Today it is all about quality content that delivers a message that is both interesting and informative.
For basic optimization, you need to add things like blogging, dynamic updating, and social networking that can be press release driven with a landing page to command attention. Use the checklist below to smarten up your pages and make them more than SEO optimized. Knowing what spiders love will make your pages more than just web-ready. They will become traffic magnets.
Let’s talk keywords
If you remember nothing else, remember to put your keyword or keyword phrase in the title tag. Many folks overlook this and just like that the spider glides on by – uninformed. If you are adding things like social bookmarking and blogging to your site and you forget this, you might as well be holding up a sign in a sandstorm.
Keywords in the URL do help. Remember, if you are just redirecting a keyword URL to your site, use a 301 Redirect, which is the most efficient and search engine friendly method for webpage redirection. Anybody who tells you differently is not up on the latest trends. The search engines do take note of your keyword as part of your URL.
Keywords headline tags are important. They are rated by search engines, and if your keyword is part of it, it’s rated higher. But be sure that it’s also part of your body text or you will probably upset the spiders. Never upset the spiders or you’ll be on page 11 million when a prospect searches your keywords.
Be sure to include keywords in the alt tags, which is what your page displays when the pictures can’t be found or someone browses your page with pictures turned off. Spiders also read the alt tags so if you have your keyword in there then viola, more credit for your page.
Article writing and distribution
There are a number of article directories where you can distribute articles with your resource box promoting your website. You will want to write relevant, short quality articles that build curiosity for your site. You do not want to write articles longer than 500-600 words for article directories.
Articles as bait
You will want to have longer, informative articles on a specific subject related to your site’s topic. Called linkbait, these articles are designed to inform and educate your readership on relative topics. This is not what articles for article directories are all about. These are curiosity builders. You write 300-400 words on a topic to demonstrate your knowledge on that topic. You include a resource or author’s box back to your site where you can present a long, in-depth version of your material.
Most article directories require at least 400 words on a topic. Remember that each article you write for directories must be different from each other and the articles on your Web site.. Duplications will kill your page rank and credibility. If you use them properly, article directories get you quickly indexed and offer a curiosity booster that acts as a portal to your main site.
Through these directories, you’ll receive a ton of backlinks as other sites use your content. However, none of it will match what’s on your own site, so it won’t be considered duplicate content, just inbound links.
Press releases
If you can write news copy, you can write a decent press release which will get your website a ton of exposure. You can write press releases to announce a new site, or draw attention to new products, services or site features. A well written press release will get picked up by other sites, which will help your incoming links.
Pay per click advertising
Using pay-per-click advertising is a quick way to get almost instant traffic to your site. There are also text link advertising, classified advertising and pay-per-post advertising where you can get other bloggers to blog for money about your product or service on your site. It is a variation of PPC in that bloggers will write and review your site or service for a small fee and list you for a set period of time on their site. It adds content to their site and gives you more than just a link back to your site.
Social networking and social news sites
Social news networking is for when you want to advertise your business, home business or professional site. It’s about providing news to the world about who and what you are, the benefits you offer and why they should stop by. Some of the better news sites where you can post include: Netscape, Newsvine, StumbleUpon, Digg and OnlyWire.
Social networking is all about building communities of like minded individuals who are looking for certain things. Your site is taken into a group and depending on your service or product, people arrive at your site because of the tags and text you provide to the online community.
Randy Zlobek is a search engine optimization specialist and author of Sem Gorilla.
