How To Set Your Company Up For Long-Term Success With SEO

By Yosef Martin

When I started, I was a one-man show with a lot on my plate.

Before long, however, I started receiving phone calls from people wanting to know how I got so big so quickly. (They had no idea I was operating from my house rather than a big office with several employees.)

My answer was easy: search engine optimization.

Thanks to SEO, my company appeared in Google Google’s search rankings, bringing me far more business than I could have gathered on my own.What’s more, my competitors had no idea what SEO was, and they didn’t care to learn.

Not that I minded. Their myopic view worked in my favor.

For a new business, SEO can seem intimidating, but it merely ensures that your website shows up in Google’s rankings. When companies searched for an outlet to move their inventory, for example, my business popped up in Google’s search results, not my competitors’.

You can see how this would be hugely valuable, but one key thing to remember is that SEO is dynamic — it changes. You have to move with it.

SEO 101

To be successful, businesses have to adjust to Google’s changes. Otherwise, their SEO success could be cut short.

For example, while you used to be able to “stuff” keywords across your site and garner high search rankings, Google’s Panda and Penguin updates changed that.

Keywords and phrases, however, are still important. Google is simply trying to understand more than just keywords. Slowly, the search engine is beginning to understand whole subjects — de-emphasizing keywords/phrases and stressing high-quality content.

These changes actually make things easier for you because with Google focusing on quality content over spammy, keyword-stuffed sites, it shouldn’t be hard to stand out.

Bottom line: Produce good content for your audience, and you’ll reap the SEO benefits.

Apply It

Still a little overwhelmed by the thought of SEO? That’s normal, but you don’t need to worry. Here are five tips to keep up with Google’s updates and maximize your SEO strategy:

1. Design: Pay attention to every detail — even the way your site looks and acts. Invest in a mobile-responsive site to guarantee your audience will find you on their phones.
2. Content marketing: This might seem intimidating as well, but take baby steps. A high-quality blog that attracts your target market will bring you leads and give Google more content to index, as well as more ranking opportunities.
3. Quality content: This point is so important that it bears repeating. Do not publish spammy, keyword-filled content. Google penalizes and possibly de-indexes sites that do this, and if you don’t show up on Google, you might as well not exist.
4. Social media: Search and social used to be two completely different things. Now, an active social media presence contributes to high rankings in Google, so take advantage of your social platforms.
5. Back links: The last link in the SEO chain is back links. When quality sites link to you, Google interprets that as heightened credibility. Thanks to a recent crackdown on spammy “guest posts,” it’s important that you build out the other aspects of your strategy. However, links from quality sites are enormously beneficial.

New business owners can be overwhelmed by all the tasks at hand when starting up. SEO may seem like a huge project to tackle — especially as Google tweaks its algorithm — but the most important thing to remember is that Google (and your customers) are looking for good, quality content.

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2014/10/13/how-to-set-your-company-up-for-long-term-success-with-googles-changing-algorithm/