Jason Wersits, September 27, 2012
It's an error in judgment that is often made by many business owners over the course of their careers. All too often a person is quick to dismiss a lack of results from a new initiative as being representative of a no-win battle. Before new strategies can be proven one way or the other, these operations end up being dropped in favor of tried-and-true tactics that yield consistent but altogether few results. Although there is certainly something to be said for cutting losses before they go spiraling out of control, most people poorly assess the potential strength of their advertising and miss out on the rewards they could reap with the right approach.
The same can easily be said about many businesses trying to tackle organic SEO marketing. After the recent developments with Google's Panda and Penguin algorithms, increasingly more companies are coming to the realization that the same old tactics that were once used to climb up search engine result pages (SERPs) have become antiquated or even completely useless. Now some companies are turning almost exclusively to pay-per-click and other forms of inorganic for the bulk of their internet advertising efforts. However, by eschewing full SEO campaigns, they too end up significant SERP presence.
Having the Right Response to the New Environment
While we've already covered how to work within the new constraints set by Google over at Penguin Watch, what is really going to matter most for companies looking to maintain or improve their standings is the approach itself. Yes, duplicate content, hidden links, and other unethical SEO development methods have fallen by the wayside (rightly so), but it's the mentality that's being applied to the new content that will ultimately determine how the future unfolds.
When in doubt, business owners should be producing websites that follow a strict set of guidelines:
- All new content made, be they blogs or additional webpages, should be interesting and useful to readers. This will encourage shares on social media and help give the content real web presence.
- All content should be original in both copy and purpose. This keeps pages from getting de-ranked by Google and also improves the likelihood of certain keyword groups leading to immediate search results.
- The end user is your focus, not a site crawler. When all is said and done, Google's algorithms are intended to get its users to get to pages they want in as little time as possible. If you can get these users to find your page and then stay on it, you've succeeded in your efforts.
Finally, it's important that companies new to the world of SEO and online marketing turn to experts in the field instead of going it alone. While there is a wealth of advice and general tips out there for how to run your own organic campaigns, the best methods and techniques change constantly. Always seek out the aid of a SEO company with years of experience for the results you want.
