Do a search on Google for 'search
engine optimization company' and you'll get about 5
million results. Many of the lower results won't be there
next month. The competitiveness of the SEO industry can
eat up companies in a heartbeat if they don't stay on top
of the most effective methods. The companies that don't
survive have usually fallen into the trap of using unethical
SEO techniques,
such as keyword stuffing, spamming search engines with repeat
submissions, doorway pages, and other suspect methods in
a desperate attempt to get any edge they can over the competition.
In response to these practices,
search engines are constantly updating their algorithms
in order to offer the most relevant results possible without
giving search engine optimizers ways of spamming their way
to the top. Remember the days of stuffing the keyword meta
tag with hundreds of high usage words in order to drive
tons of traffic to a site? Looking back now, that seems
like such a silly waste of time. But as we embarked down
this unholy path of linking networks of unrelated web sites
together by the hundreds, did we stop to think of how similar
a course we were taking? Perhaps some of us did at first,
but then justified it by the fact that if search engines
hadn't caught on yet, well then it's full steam ahead for
this brilliant idea.
However, with this last Google
(Feb. 2005) dubbed "Allegra", some interesting
trends are beginning to take shape regarding linking strategies.
Google has been far stricter with links showing up in a
web site's backlink check. Web sites participating in overused
link networks are suddenly not experiencing the jumps in
ranking they would have previously. PageRank values are
dropping for sites with a lot of unrelated outgoing links.
Sites that have paid for incoming links on unrelated sites
are dropping in ranking. What does all this tell us? Well,
that possibly one search engine has finally caught on to
the keyword stuffing of the 21st century we like to call
Link Popularity Development.
I chose to title this article
SEO Basics because so many of us pass up the simple strategies
for more time consuming and risky measures. Being engrossed
in something day in and day out can cloud one's perspective
and sometimes we all need a good refresher. So let's go
way back and attempt to figure out what the purpose of the
World Wide Web was. In general, it was created to offer
people access to information. Search
engine optimization companies have the power to change
what information people all over the world see. Are we doing
Web users justice by creating false "votes" for
a web site's link popularity? Of course not. I can guarantee
you that this method has seen its day and is on its way
out.
With that being said about linking,
what then of content? For some time now search engines and
optimizers alike have been saying to write your content
for the visitor, not the search engine robot. That is still
the smartest method when it comes to doing business online.
Although effective, a search
engine optimization campaign is not the be-all and end-all
of promoting your web site and you have to realize that
regardless of how people find your web site, if they don't
like reading what you have to say you won't do any business.
The more good quality content
the better. The more links that can direct targeted visitors
to your site the better. Finding exposure through quality
directory listings is great. Now let's stop all these foolish
games we all know the search engines will eventually pick
up on.
Further Reading:
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