A few weeks back some colleagues of mine attended the Inbound 2012 Conference in Boston. As expected, there were a plethora of great speakers, such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Rand Fishkin, who left everyone that took the time to listen with some great takeaways. For this post, I’m going to discuss the topic of SEO in relation to Rand Fishkins presentation.
If you are unfamiliar with SEO (aka: search engine optimization) here is a description courtesy of me:
– SEO is the practice is organically (i.e. nonpaid) getting your website to be positioned closer to the top of Google search results for a given keyword (i.e “shoes” or “athletic running shoes”).
Now SEO is straight forward in terms of concepts, however, it is still an extremely difficult practice from a technical standpoint. If you are new to SEO, this post may be difficult to comprehend. I encourage you to read my previous post getting your website found on Google and/or search around the web yourself to see what you uncover (hint: SEOMoz). But if you are familiar with SEO then you will find the 10 tips below extremely eye opening.
Read on to see the light provided courtesy of Rand Fishkin….
- Ranking Isn’t All That Matters
The ranking of your website is extremely important, especially for keywords you are looking to target. However, there are a variety of other key metrics that are extremely important, such as time on site, click-through-rate (CTR), impressions, etc. - Active Link Building Isn’t Required (Not a big fan of this one)
Links are the meat, potatoes, plate, silverware, napkin, glass…(you get the point) of SEO. They are extremely important, but the key is to be creative and provide value to your community. If you provide value, people will naturally want to link to your content. - There Can Be More Than One Topic
Many people think that focusing primarily on one topic will yield the best results. When realistically, focusing on broader topics will cast a wider net to pull in an audience. - The Only Social Networks That Matter Are Facebook And Twitter
This is both true and false. It really comes down to where your audience resides. If they tend to lean more towards an obscure network, like Pintrest (it isn’t obscure, I’m just not a fan), you need to be there to engage them. - Viral Content Is Your Only Chance
Getting content to go viral is extremely difficult. Sure a couple friends share it on Twitter and Facebook, but so what? It is critical to remain focused and keep trying. Either way, content is being created whether it goes viral or not and that is a great thing! - Don’t Just Target Highly Searched Keywords
Sure going after highly searched keywords seems like the best option. And yes, it is important to go after these words but it has to be done so with words that are searched a medium and low amount. It is like diversifying your investment portfolio (think of that damn baby…). - Your Site Is Not The Only Place To Do SEO
The practice of SEO should be exercised on your website…obviously. But people tend to overlook that SEO can incorporate infographics, videos, photos, etc. So make the most of what is available out there. - Social Media Sharing Is All About Timing
That is about as straight forward as it gets. Statistics shows that content posted between 7-9 pm get the most sharing. So plan accordingly. - Search Engines Don’t Just Prefer Text
Yes search engines loooooove text. Text is the nails that hold together the foundation of your websites SEO. However, don’t forget that images, videos, etc. can be set up for SEO as well. - You Shouldn’t Just Go After Competitor Links
The links your competitors have will be helpful for you, but there are a ton of uncovered links to target that will be extremely critical to your SEO strategy.
I hope these 10 tips about SEO are helpful. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments. I would be more than happy to explain/discuss things further.
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