What your SEO efforts need to focus on right now

With search engine optimization being so important to your business success these days, it can often get a bit confusing with regard to what will work and what won’t. Google, of course, dictates search and any SEO strategies you might wish to develop. Google, right now, has over 200 search parameters it searches for, and links to its algorithms. So, what exactly are those things that need heavy concentration? What should you be focused on right now before Google releases another of its whims?

The latest word out of their strategic operations team, as well as from their senior search strategist, is that links at other sites that lead back to you and, of course, the quality and quantity of your overall content. Links have become crucial to Google’s ranking of sites and there seems to be rumbling that links don’t really matter in your SEO strategy. Anyone giving you that advice needs to be fired because links now carry as much weight as content actually does.

Many SEO firms ad strategists work hard at establishing the links because their is a direct correlation between effective keywords, links and getting ranked on the first page of a SERP. The keywords and the content need to be as near a perfect match for the context in which the link is displayed and the more links you can get, the better it will be for your SEO.

Also, you must be careful with regard to the sites you approach to offer a link to your site. Reputable sites must take precedence over all else. It is easy to get excited about some no name blog who will link to you but the unknown quality of that site will hurt you in a SERP. Your SEO success is also closely linked to your content because your SEO wants potential customers to be interested in their content and it is the content that must deliver and drive that traffic.

The key to SEO success this year is to stay loose and be ready to pivot on Google’s next whim because there will surely be one soon. Keep using those tried and true strategies that have been effective for you and remember Google’s recent emphasis on mobile search.

-Written by Kevin Sawyer