Here is a question that was posed to me recently by a client:
“If I only had five bullets in my (theoretical SEO) gun, what do I fire at with those 5 shots?”
Almost by accident, this client forced me to be tactical on the spot (while also creating illusions of old Clint Eastwood or John Wayne cowboy flicks). The client’s question got me thinking. If I had only five things that I could do for a site to enhance it’s SEO, what would I do?
I mean really – what are the top 5 core tactics (as they stand now in 2010) that are likely to drive higher traffic and rankings to your website quickly?
Luckily, I realized (and since SEO is a copycat industry as much as any other) the answers were already out there for me. SEOMoz recently did a study in which they tried to identify the Top 5 Positive/Negative Search Engine Ranking Factors as well as the current structure of most search algorithms.
Based off of their list (and using some good old-fashioned know-how), here’s what I’d do (in order):
- Start building links to increase your link popularity. You want to acquire inbound links from a diverse set of link sources. Remember, when building links it is not just about quantity – but quality! So while you should have a high quantity of inbound links, focus on getting them from high-quality sources – meaning other high-authority websites. Also, no link farms!!!
- Work to be an “authority” and create trustworthiness with your users and search engines. What does this mean? This means creating a website that is valuable to users, be link-worthy, and eliminate any on-site nonsense (black & grey-hat SEO) that may effect your site’s user experience and searchability.
- Edit your title tags to ensure that they’re descriptive and include target keywords. In terms of on-site optimization work, title tags are easily to thing that will have the most immediate impact (if done to SEO best practices using solid keyword research).
- Create a solid base of HTML content that is valuable to readers, descriptive, and using target keyword phrases. It is this content that will be the hallmark of everything you’re able to do SEO-wise (now and in the future).
All other tactics serve as support systems that serve to reinforce the content – which is why they say “Content is King”. Focus on delivering valuable content that is well thought out and descriptive, and you’ll be setting yourself up for SEO success down the road.
- Work on creating solid Meta Descriptions that reinforce your Titles and HTML content. Although these tags aren’t the big pieces of the puzzle that they used to be, they still often appear underneath the listings in the SERP’s – making them a prime spot to use descriptive text and to target keywords.
Again, there are many other pieces of the puzzle that will eventually go into an SEO campaign. However, when posed with the question of what I’d do if I only had 5 bullets in the gun I think this strategy would give me a fighting chance of getting out of any scrape with at least my life (and hopefully my wits too)!
Hope this helps. Happy optimizing!
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