Topping a search engine isn't always easy. Sometimes, grabbing that top spot can be extremely difficult. But, if you know where to start, your journey to the top of the SERPs could be far shorter than you first thought...
You just need to find out what it takes to be the best. You need advice from 2011, not the past, and if you follow it, you'll find claiming your top ranking on a search engine easy. Far easier than you first thought.
Get up to speed with what you need to know if you're planning on doing any SEO in 2011. These five steps won't teach you everything you'll need to know, but they'll help you get started.
1) Meta Tags are Old Hat
If you had your ear to the ground in 2010, you'd know that Google and Yahoo both disowned the former powerhouse of SEO, the meta keywords tag. They're always likely to change their minds, but you shouldn't think meta tags will magically cure poor listings. Put twenty words in the keywords tag, make sure your description carries your main phrase and move on.
2) Content is for Customers
The days of keyword stuffing are also at an end. That's not to say that content isn't vitally important. It is. But it's important for your customers. If you're worried that you'll be promoting a website filled to bursting with repetitive keywords and dull copy, contact an SEO copywriter and ask for help. Otherwise, make sure your key words are where your clients want them - page titles, headers and scattered liberally across the copy to help skim readers glean context.
3) Links are your SEO Lifeblood
Links and anchor text. If you've not thought about where to get the former and how to write the latter, then you're not going to rank well in 2011. If you're serious about SEO, you need to get serious about links. Write linkbait, track down dofollow blogs and start networking.
4) Social Media isn't the Future. It's the Present.
Ignore all those people out there saying "Twitter will" or "Facebook could". Twitter has. Facebook is. Major search engines are incorporating information from social media sites. Canny SEOs are building up a good rep on Sphinn and Digg. Anyone with half an idea is promoting it on Twitter. These aren't spam email generators. They're link generators. Enquiry generators. Used properly, they will get you rankings and make you money.
If topping a search engine is easy, then using social media to help your SEO is child's play.
5) This List will be Useless in 2012
Ok, it might not, but don't take that chance. SEO is moving faster than ever before. With more and more of the world's population going on line, the Internet will be flooded with new ideas. If Twitter changed SEO in 2009 and led to real time search, what could change the game in 2011? Keep your finger on the pulse and make sure you're using the most up to date information. Because if you try hard enough, it's really easy to keep up with search engine developments.
So remember, keeping up to date is the most important thing you can do. So make sure you read the right SEO blogs, such as Search Engine Journal, SEOMoz and (in the UK) The FirstFound Blog.
That way you'll learn everything you need to do.
You just need to find out what it takes to be the best. You need advice from 2011, not the past, and if you follow it, you'll find claiming your top ranking on a search engine easy. Far easier than you first thought.
Get up to speed with what you need to know if you're planning on doing any SEO in 2011. These five steps won't teach you everything you'll need to know, but they'll help you get started.
1) Meta Tags are Old Hat
If you had your ear to the ground in 2010, you'd know that Google and Yahoo both disowned the former powerhouse of SEO, the meta keywords tag. They're always likely to change their minds, but you shouldn't think meta tags will magically cure poor listings. Put twenty words in the keywords tag, make sure your description carries your main phrase and move on.
2) Content is for Customers
The days of keyword stuffing are also at an end. That's not to say that content isn't vitally important. It is. But it's important for your customers. If you're worried that you'll be promoting a website filled to bursting with repetitive keywords and dull copy, contact an SEO copywriter and ask for help. Otherwise, make sure your key words are where your clients want them - page titles, headers and scattered liberally across the copy to help skim readers glean context.
3) Links are your SEO Lifeblood
Links and anchor text. If you've not thought about where to get the former and how to write the latter, then you're not going to rank well in 2011. If you're serious about SEO, you need to get serious about links. Write linkbait, track down dofollow blogs and start networking.
4) Social Media isn't the Future. It's the Present.
Ignore all those people out there saying "Twitter will" or "Facebook could". Twitter has. Facebook is. Major search engines are incorporating information from social media sites. Canny SEOs are building up a good rep on Sphinn and Digg. Anyone with half an idea is promoting it on Twitter. These aren't spam email generators. They're link generators. Enquiry generators. Used properly, they will get you rankings and make you money.
If topping a search engine is easy, then using social media to help your SEO is child's play.
5) This List will be Useless in 2012
Ok, it might not, but don't take that chance. SEO is moving faster than ever before. With more and more of the world's population going on line, the Internet will be flooded with new ideas. If Twitter changed SEO in 2009 and led to real time search, what could change the game in 2011? Keep your finger on the pulse and make sure you're using the most up to date information. Because if you try hard enough, it's really easy to keep up with search engine developments.
So remember, keeping up to date is the most important thing you can do. So make sure you read the right SEO blogs, such as Search Engine Journal, SEOMoz and (in the UK) The FirstFound Blog.
That way you'll learn everything you need to do.
Andrew Nattan is Communications manager at FirstFound, the UK's leading Search Engine Consultancy. He's also involved with FirstFound's Optimise Magazine.
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