I suppose there’s a certain allure to algorithm chasing, really. You’re on the bleeding edge of search engine optimization; an expert that all other marketing professionals look to for advice on how they can game the system created by Google. You’re constantly adapting, modifying, and re-working your strategies to adapt to the latest algorithmic change.
Thing is…that’s kind of an uphill battle. The fact that no one outside Google actually knows how its algorithms function aside, the state of constant flux that search engines tend towards generally means that any new tactics one comes up with will soon be rendered obsolete. As a result, what often ends up happening is search engine traffic for a site takes a form akin to a rollercoaster.
“This SEO methodology is not proactive – it’s reactive,” writes ClickZ’s Shari Thurow. “The great thing about short-term SEO is that the SEO firm will always make money. It’s the one that truly benefits from the cat-and-mouse games. Search engines and searchers certainly don’t benefit from this exploitation.”
“Search results aren’t as accurate as they can be,” she continues. “As a result, searchers must work harder to find the sites that contain the information they desire.”
In other words, taking a shortsighted, reactionary approach to search engine optimization is likely to harm your site just as much as help it – particularly if you focus entirely on optimization without even bothering to see to content. True SEO is no longer a matter of how many links you can accrue, or how well you can manipulate a few variables of Google’s latest algorithm. It’s a long-term, organic pursuit, one which enriches your website and makes it more valuable for the people who find it.
So…what’s involved in making SEO more organic?
Simple – you need to focus more on the user and how you’re meeting their needs than you do on what’s going on with Google’s latest algorithm. You need to design each page on your website so that it perfectly provides for its related query, and craft the layout of your site so as to guide users through whatever process you desire. You need to consider the efficacy of a particular keyword or keyphrase and work it into your content without being too obvious or spammy.
Everything on a page – headers, HTML tags, anchor text; etc. – comes into play here. Even abstract elements such as load speed, usability, and mobile functionality should be taken into account. Basically, you want to create the sort of page you would want to see if you were the user.
The rest should sort itself out.
“Implemented correctly, a keyword-focused, search-friendly, user-friendly Web site tends to receive qualified search engine traffic over time in spite of all algorithm changes and all new search engines that come onto the horizon,” explains Thurow. “Link development isn’t a difficult process because people genuinely want to link to easily accessible, unique content.”
So basically, if you want to succeed with your site’s SEO, stop chasing algorithms and looking only at short-term gains. Look instead at more stable, tried-and-true methods. Optimization should be a process that involves careful cultivation – not one that involves making changes to your website every time Google so much as sneezes.