bangbai79: SEO Strategy for 2013: Common Sense

The Thinker, thinking about logical SEO When it comes to ranking well in Google (or any search engine), it is important for web masters to evolve with the search engines as the algorithms evolve. Even better however, is to stay ahead of the curve and have common-sense methods in place before the algorithm adjusts and your rankings are affected.

SEO: A Common Sense Approach

There are many examples of how a common-sense-approach to search engine optimization works, always has worked, and will continue to work in the future. For example, every SEO guru writes of ?good content? being the key to good SEO.

Well, of course! Because that actually makes sense.

Getting to be number one in Google is pretty easy right? You should just have the best content for the search phrase that you are targeting and you win.

So why are there still so many search engine losers?

To answer simply: Most people don?t know what ?good content? is and they don?t implement it until their competition passes them by.

Staying Ahead of The Google Curve

If the following items aren?t a crucial part of the algorithm now, I strongly believe that one day, they will be.

Do you want to scramble every time algorithm changes go into effect, or do you want to have this stuff in place now?

1. Well-written copy: Although I don?t believe it influences search engine results right now, it is logical to believe that proper grammar and punctuation will be rewarded, while bad grammar and punctuation will be penalized. Poorly constructed sentences, improper use of italics, and spelling errors will all likely affect rankings one day- as they should.

Personally, I find it difficult to read poorly punctuated copy. This makes my user experience less pleasant and thus, sites with better punctuation should, and eventually will, rank higher (based on Google?s webmaster guidelines.) good content

2. Be accessible to every living person and every device: Some people believe that this is already in effect, but I?ve not seen any direct evidence personally. But regardless of whether or not it?s currently affecting search engine rankings, it is logical to believe that websites which are accessible on every device would perform better in the SERPs. In other words, your website needs to adjust when it is visited by a mobile device.

Following the same logic, your website should be visible in every browser (including browsers for the blind) and available in every language. It is easy to add a translation module to a website, but I think having- at minimum- an?indexed?Spanish version of your website will eventually be a factor in SEO strategies. Again, this is simply logical and based on population growth.

3. ?Good Content? means more than just words. Too many people worry too much about the words- but only the words- on their websites. Words are great, and I recommend having lots of them, but good content includes media files- such as video, podcasts and images.

If you want to attract Google with the best content, include images and info-graphics whenever possible. Especially with Pinterest and Google+ gaining in popularity, people are much more likely to share pictures than they are links to articles. Put a great picture in your article and get the best of both worlds.

Video is almost always considered ?good SEO.? Adding videos to your posts will increase the value of your content dramatically. Even if the video is simply you, standing in front of a camera and reading your article, it adds to quality of your content. If nothing else, it says, ?Hey, we have a version of this content for blind people.? Or illiterate people for that matter.

Going forward into 2013, when thinking about your SEO strategy, I highly recommend a common-sense approach. In my next post, I?ll write about some common sense SEO mistakes that you can avoid.