SEO Blog

An SEO will always tell you that what they’re doing is beneficial to the way search engines function. However, critics will usually suggest that ‘gaming’ the algorithm to give a site an advantage is unfair and ultimately lessens the quality of results. So who is actually right?

Well, there’s little doubt that search engine optimisation has been used to pillage and plunder rankings in the past. Back at the turn of the millennium, you could pretty much get any site ranked as long as you had a high keyword density and a fair few thousand reciprocal links. The algorithms of Yahoo and Google simply weren’t effective enough at sniffing out bad practices, which meant that spammers could get any site into the top spaces.
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This recent clampdown on content farms has thrown up a lot of debate within the SEO industry. Some see is as a death knell for article marketing, others believe that scrapers will find it increasingly difficult to rank; however, the overriding issue for me is that Google has clearly highlight the fallibility the Google algorithm and its reliance on links and content.

What do links really indicate these days? So many people are buying and selling them, that telling a natural link from an ‘illegally’ sourced one is increasingly difficult. JC Penney get the boot for having a few dodgy ones, whilst thousands of others carry on regardless. There’s a disparity that rightly irks many SEOs and site owners.
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Even seasoned marketers tend to refer to ‘Google’ as the generic search engine. Many people focus huge attention on getting to the top of Google and treat the others as also-rans. But is this attitude out-dated?

Here in the UK, Google commands a huge percentage of the overall search market. Recent figures suggest that they receive 9 out of every 10 searches. This puts them in a commanding position and, in many respects, justifies why they receive so much attention from SEO types.

But whilst they remain the safe bet and the most likely to deliver high quantities of traffic to your site, it isn’t fair to simply dismiss the likes of Yahoo, Bing and even Ask. After all, between them they do still command 10% of the search market.
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Plenty of people have tried, but almost all have failed to get around Google’s pretty strict rules. All search engines hate to be made to look stupid, they dislike even the notion of another individual profiting from breaking their rules. Therefore they work doubly hard to detect such issues and are inclined to punish suitably.

So how might you consider gaming the system?

How about getting a few sites ranking for the same phrase? Clever in principle, horribly transparent in reality.
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Whenever people ask about SEO, they tend to just refer to improving their Google ranking. This isn’t a huge surprise, particularly as Google have a 90% grip on the UK search market, but it might be a little short sighted.

Of course SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, not just Google Optimisation. This means you are looking to increase your site’s strength in the eyes of all search engines, not just a select few, or even just one. However, each different engine employs a unique algorithm. There are numerous similarities, but there are also subtle differences.

You might get only a trickle of visitors from the likes of Bing and Yahoo, but every little counts. The danger with being entirely Google-centric is that you can often find yourself falling foul of major algorithm updates, perfectly demonstrated by the recent Mayday issue.
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There have been murmurings for some time that Google are planning to enter the world of SEO. These murmurings have recently turned into shouts, with many seeing the move as imminent.

So what threat does this pose to your rankings and to SEO professionals like myself? Well, initially not a great deal. For a start the service is likely to cost thousands of dollars each month (initial claims suggest $25,000), so it will be well out of reach for most websites.

This is a service set up for the super rich. It is supposed to help the big brands achieve the rankings they ‘deserve’ and keep them out of the clutches of companies who leach off of them. For Google, the major advantage is that they can have a better control over their rankings and ensure that they aren’t getting gamed.
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I won’t need to tell you how important content is to search engine rankings. As one of the two major factors, alongside links, content gives your site focus and it also provides vital contextualisation.

Whilst having content on every page of a site is ideal, it can become tired and worn over time. This is noticed not only by frequent visitors but by the search engines too. If there is nothing new on a site to index, the search engine spiders won’t visit. If you don’t get the search engine spiders crawling your pages, then what hope for improved rankings?

Of course you don’t want to be chopping and changing your content constantly. This would be impractical and wouldn’t necessarily have the desired result. But the occasional spruce up can always pay dividends.
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The work of an SEO is never over. Not only does a site require continual development in order to stay competitive, but the techniques and best practices update with equally frequent regularity.

It isn’t something that you need to be nervous of, but awareness is certainly a benefit. Search engine optimisation isn’t a linear story. Whilst there is a beginning, the middle and end are elusive. This is why it is so important to keep your SEO fresh.

By fresh, I mean you can’t get stuck in a groove. Yes, you might have been doing some great SEO work that has always gotten you results in the past, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll have the same good fortune going forwards.

Search engines and their algorithms are changing, which in turn influences how we optimise them. Most adjustments are only very slight and won’t make a jot of difference to how you perform SEO. However occasionally these small alterations build up and create something more substantial. This is where keeping an eye on industry commentary can be a real benefit.
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If you’ve been reading an old SEO manual, it’s probably best to discard much of what you’ve read. This is an evolutionary industry. It is also very much in its infancy. Therefore what worked a decade ago, might well be surplus to requirements today.

Fundamentals like a strong linking structure and good quality keyword optimised content will always endure. They are the foundations on which almost everything else is built. But the algorithms don’t stand still. What was once accepted is now frowned upon.
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Many of us are inclined to prioritise our work. This is particularly true when we are snowed under with work and don’t have the time or resources to cope. A situation that many website owners find themselves in at one time or another.

So where does everything fit in then? What should be first and what can wait? You’ve got to plan time for designing the architecture of the site as well as the on-site aesthetics. You have to consider marketing your site, perhaps with SEO, PPC, social media or a combination of the three. You also have to fill the pages with content at some point. But which of these is most important? Well, there isn’t one simple answer sadly.

Each component is essential. You can’t have a great design and no architecture to base it one for example. But I’m here to make the case for content.
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