Don't Depend On Seo - The Only Constant Is Change!

In the past few months I decided to re-dedicate myself to increasing my SEO
on several of my web sites. Most have been around quite some time and have
good page rankings but have slipped in position on many of my most effective
keywords.

Like many, I have Google Adwords campaigns running that produce sales so
it's been easy to ignore my basic Search Engine Optimization and keyword
positions. Plus, Google has been up to it's favorite pastime of making
changes to its ranking algorithms, which has had an impact. And right now
Google is the big dog so you have little choice but to listen to the music.

Now if you have the basics covered (good content, relevant keywords, H1
tags, etc.) that will take you so far. But in the last few Google updates,
the linking (quality of links, not necessarily quantity) has become the
dominant factor. Do links increase the value of the site to the searcher?
I'm not going there, it's Google's playground so you have to abide by their
rules.

Web site promotion is an ongoing battle, especially with the search engines.
Web site search engine traffic has a habit of ebbing and weaving due to
natural cycles. In fact the Internet cycles are starting to look more like
retail cycles every year.
Then throw in the different algorithms that each of the big three use and it
becomes quite a challenge.

And besides paid advertising, search engine traffic is the only other good
source of targeted visitors, and hopefully buyers. So although I don't
depend on search engine traffic, it's still a big source of daily traffic
and provides potential buyers. So doing your basic SEO chores is not very
exciting but is definitely necessary.

SEO is also a moving, constantly changing target. And thanks to Google's
Adsense program, there are 1,000s, if not 100 times that, new web sites
created every day. New web sites are like rain drops during a cloudburst.

For those of you who have never heard of it, Adsense refers to publishing
Google's Adword client advertisements on a web site.
When someone clicks on one of the displayed ads, the web site owner is paid
a fee or commission. Now that sounds easy to do but there's the small item
of getting traffic to click the ads, and hence, all the new competition for
traffic.

Just the other day I was doing some research on one of my keywords for a
website that had fallen on hard times in rankings. In the area above the
search results on Google, there is a blue line that shows info on how many
results came up out of how many possible results. I keep good records and
the last time I did some checking that figure was a possible 5,344,882 web
sites that have my keywords.

Now 5 million is a lot, but now the info showed 61 million possible web site
results. Whoa, no wonder my position has changed. I now have 12 times the
number of competitors. I have records back to 2003 on this web site so I
went back and took a look, and in 2003 I had a mere 950,000. So in three
years it went from 950,000 to over 61 million.

Holy Cow Batman, that's incredible. But I have a feeling that's just the
beginning. The competition is going to continue to grow. And this is not a
major product area, this is a sub niche web site. Thank you Google Adsense.
I have to believe that many of these web sites are Adsense oriented without
even looking.

Ok, it's time to do some serious resuscitation on this poor downtrodden web
site. The fastest way I know of to breath some new life (or initially launch
a new web site) is content and links. I've already done the basic on page
optimization so more content, and off page linking is my best bet. Content
will be easy, I have a ton of new stuff I can add from multiple sources.

I can write a few new articles and post them on some popular article sites
too. I could also do some new interviews with industry experts but my niche
is pretty limited, so that my not apply to this web site. Google likes both
of those methods and neither will take too much time. I can also do some new
links (the text on the link is important too - use keywords in the actual
link) on my other related sites.

Now links outside of my other sites are going to be an issue.
Links always seem to be a problem. Your web site link partners should have
both a good page ranking and very relevant content.
Then you also have to have something of value to the web site that will be
linking to you.

You can join one of the link web sites, although I usually don't since there
is an outside chance of trouble. Or you can do the Google search on your
keywords and email to like web sites. My web site has a good page rank so I
should be able to pick up a few that way.

I can also buy some links on some directory sites. There are some good ones
at reasonable prices. Look for a good interior ranking (on the category page
you will be putting your link).
The going rate is anywhere from $10 to $50 per year.

And always keep in mind it's the quality of links, not quantity. They need
to be PR4/5 and above with matching content. I figure 10 new outside links
and maybe another 10 pages of new content each month for the next 90 days
will help my rankings quite a bit.

So you really should keep an eye on your organic search engine listings. And
even though you may not depend on it for all your traffic, it should be a
part of your ongoing web site promotion plan. Just getting 10 new links and
10 new pages of viable content a month can have a big impact.

SEO involves a lot more than just content and links but that is a good
starting point. And both these are very easy to do for anyone. There are
more sophisticated SEO tactics which I'll cover in another article soon.

About The Author: John Dow owns
http://www.WebSiteBluePrints.com, a website that specializes in web site
tools and marketing. Check out a great software tool by clicking here Web
Site Blue Prints