7 replies to this topic

[Webseeker]

Hello Friends!

I haven't been here in a quite a while, but it is you guys/gals who helped me cut my teeth on some serious SEO stuff. This site was/is so valuable to me.

I recall that many things are not written in stone when it comes to SEO, but in the last couple of years, what things appeared to have changed? I have not been studying SEO in the last 2 years, but I do have some good CD's and books about it I use to study. I got the book ideas from here.

I'm guessing basic fundamentals are still the foundation of good SEO. It does intrigue me though to know what things have changed a bit in the last 2 years. I'm going to be building a few new sites again and if I did no studying at all about the changes that have appeared to be made in the last 2 years, what would I be missing? How/why would I be hurt if I didn't know the new changes?

I would appreciate your feedback and input about this please!

Webseeker

[Randy]

Not much has changed. The same basic good SEO practices that worked two years ago, or 10 years ago for that matter, are still the core fundamentals.

About the only things I can think of off the top of my head is that Google specifically has become a bit more stringent about links they trust and don't trust. For instance, they try really hard to devalue any paid links these days, and in some cases have devalued sites that are known link sellers. Low quality directories have also taken a hit, as they should have honestly.

Of course most of us never used any of those for an SEO benefit, which is why there really haven't been any major changes. It's still about building sites that are helpful and useful to visitors. And approaching link building from a user point of view too. In other words, linking out to things your users will find helpful and getting links from places your target audience is already hanging out.

[Jill]

On page SEO has been and probably always will be pretty similar to how it's always been. Link building is the one thing that changes constantly since everyone's out to game it.

Social media is playing a more important role in gaining links, but they are indirect links. The days of emailing others to link to you and even of buying links are pretty much over.

The days of having something unique and great and wonderful are upon us more than ever.

[Webseeker]

Hello Jill and Randy!

Like the sun rising in the east, I can rely on your consistency to help me out... yet again.

I guess I'm not too surprised by the answers. On page factors have always been a mainstay in my SEO development and by the looks of it, will continue along those same lines. I work in a very unique niche' industry, so getting top results is easy for me, but am now delving into different areas where the competition will test my SEO prowess. I will continue on with my edumacation by doing much reading and studying I've missed since not being here for a long while!

Thank you very much for your replies. I appreciate it.

Webseeker

[Randy]

The sun rises in the east?

[MtraX]

My question is just, with all the changes that are happening (and more things staying the same), how do you respond to clients that are more concerned about ranking than conversion? I'm trying my best to educate and show how well conversions are increasing, but some clients are misinformed and just worried about being number one for arbitrary phrases that won't necessarily bring in the conversions...

[Jill]

Perhaps you can show them some of the words they are ranking well for and show them that the traffic leaves quickly and/or doesn't convert or something like that?

[immanuel ruby]

Last year Google algo has changed to index scanned documents. This mean for SEO, if we have got any scanned documents on our site, for e.g press releases, newspaper articles or white papers, this now gives our business more chances to appear in Google’s search results.By giving more content for Google to index, you’ll improve your chances in coming up for queries related to these documents!