Key components of a successful SEO campaign keep changing as search engines update their algorithms.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a set of activities that website owners can do to improve the ranking of their websites in Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines. Being placed higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords means more traffic and more business. This is why trying to make Google and others pick up the right signals about your site is so important.
Changing ecosystem
SEO
is a living ecosystem now. An entire industry of SEO companies has come to life
offering their search engine optimization services to online businesses. It can
be roughly split into legitimate players who stick to the rules of the game set
by Google (and the rest) and fringe agencies that bend the rules to trick
search engines to their advantage. For both groups, it has been a race against ongoing changes that
Google and others introduce to their algorithms to keep their results as
relevant and objective as possible.
What influences
your Google ranking
The
trick for every SEO company is to structure
their efforts in such a way that they produce the best effects. It is not easy
considering search algorithms become cleverer and cleverer. Google and others
have no interest in sharing their methodology secrets, which is another
complication. So, what are the key success factors at the moment?
SEOMoz, a
consultancy, publishes an annual industry survey that investigates the state of
the trade. Here is the top three in 2011:
1. Links that lead
up to specific pages
SEO experts still
consider the quality and quantity of links that point to specific pages as a
major impact on your website's search engine rankings. This might account for
as much as 21% of the overall success. However, it is increasingly important
that links come from unique domains rather than the same location. Search
engines seem to appreciate links with a partial anchor text more and more, so it
is a good idea to look beyond deploying links with an exact match only.
2. Links that lead
up to the domain
Another major
factor influencing your website's position in SERPs is the quality and quantity
of links that lead to your domain rather than individual pages. SEO experts
estimate the weight of this component at 21%, which puts it on equal footing
with links to individual pages. Again, your site's authority improves more if
links come from URLs of importance, quality and topical relevance. To achieve
success, SEO campaigns must be creative and broad – linking from a single
source or poor quality sources is becoming less of a boost.
3. Keyword use and
internal on the site
Your website needs
to drop signals for Google and others to pick up as they search analyze it. SEO
experts continue to believe that a reasonable combination of keyword themed
title and description tags, content and internal linking have an impact on your
ranking in SERPs. The 2011 survey gave it 15% relevance for the final success.