Keeping Up – The Ever Changing Job Of An SEO

As an SEO, one of the most challenging tasks you face is keeping up with the many changes that Google rolls out on a continual basis. Not all changes are as big as the highly publicized Panda updates, many are small tweaks to those updates that go largely unnoticed. In order to stay on top of the search ranking mountain, there are some steps that can be taken to create content that will admirably withstand almost any Google algorithm change. As is always the case with SEO, content is king and linking is queen. Together, they are an almost unbeatable pair.

The key to withstanding any algorithm change that Google comes up with is to create high quality content in the first. Strong reader friendly content that supplies relevant information is never going to be penalized on that basis. That is the type of content that every SERP wants to champion in the first place. Content should always be written clearly, well edited, and stay on topic. If you do that, your content will always have value.

One of the things to avoid, now especially, is over optimizing your content. What this basically means is that you do not want to engage in keyword stuffing your content. A keyword density of around 2% seems to be what Google currently favors the most. Keyword density is being stressed far less than keyword placement in your content. As always, try to get your keywords in the first and last paragraph. Don’t jam your keywords in paragraphs more than once if possible, and don’t create awkward phrases to work them in.

Linking is always a good thing and will help you gain favor with Google. It is perfectly fine to include one or two contextual links in your articles. Ideally, you want these contextual links to lead to another one of your articles that is relevant to what you are crafting. If not, try to make sure you link out to the highest PR, most relevant page possible. This is favored by Google and could lead to a reciprocal link, although that is not guaranteed. Quality content with relevant links tends to lead to more incoming links. This axiom is very simple and true over time.

Avoid having too much advertising on your pages – especially advertising above the fold. Google will penalize you for having too high a ratio of ads to content. How much that penalty is remains their secret, but it is enough that you definitely want to avoid it when possible. Try to keep your ads to as low a level as possible, and then try to focus them to the lower half of your webpage whenever possible. Also, it is believed by some, although there is no agreement on this, that it is better to keep embedded video below the fold when possible as well.

If you follow these evergreen steps for better SEO, you should withstand any Google algorithm changes with minimal impact. It is far easier to make minor adjustments as needed than totally revamp your website. For the best success, employ these practices from the start and use only a reputable SEO firm to ensure you get the best results.