Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Advent of Search Engine Optimization


Search Engine Optimization underwent major changes in 2011 and has adapted more dignified methods than before. SEO has changed its focus from using tricks to using content and audience development for improving websites’ rankings. Optimizers have learned to avoid tricks such as using CSS image replacement, injecting keyword text, hiding links from search engines to control the flow of PageRank, etc. With search engines getting better at crawling and indexing, SEOs are expected to advance too. You need to follow the search engine’s terms of service if you want your ranking to improve.

Previously, websites used poor quality content and generic articles for long-tail keyword optimization. However, since the Google Panda Update, websites have majorly stopped using content which will not serve to be purposeful for users. Three important points for effective search engine optimization are: code, design and content.

Though Google claims to understand imperfect codes, it is advisable to keep codes as simple as possible. A simple and minimal use of code is easy for analyzing. If you use more codes, there are higher chances of not getting your page indexed or browser incompatibility. You should validate HTML and CSS to prevent crawl errors. Avoid ambiguous naming structures and use the most obvious CSS class and ID names.

Websites designing is very important for SEO. Websites should have clean vertical internal linking meaning every page should not link to all pages on the website. Do not put unnecessary links which people do not use. Look at your website’s analytics report to find out the least used links and eradicate such links. You should try and merge various sections whenever possible. Take a look at all the categories and sub-categories on your website and eliminate whole categories by merging or reassigning content. This is useful to eliminate distraction and to increase the internal flow of authority.

You should create content which people want to read and share. You should use it as a medium to communicate with potential clients and customers. You should have a continuous flow of link worthy content and build strong relationships with people who create links. Update content frequently and completely get rid of low-quality content. If the Panda update has already affected you, start rebuilding high quality and link worthy content. Have a look at the image below to learn how people use content to generate links.