The "NEW" SEO

The New SEO: Marketing

The following formula is the foundation for SEO in the new marketing environment:

1. Do actual marketing – not SEO
   • You have to be the best at marketing – Google is the ultimate marketplace for the best marketers
   • Write blogs, articles, ebooks, and press releases.
   • Avoid all forms of traditional SEO and link building practices.
   • Abide by Google’s webmaster guidelines.
2. Market leadership is the aim
   • Its about becoming the thought leader in your industry online – pick a niche and become the thought leader and eventual market leader.
   • Its about becoming a publisher in your niche online – you must publish the best content and show that you are a thought leader and trusted source for innovative and current content.
3. Human engagement is the driver
   • Inbound marketing is about human engagement and the viral nature of human interaction and less about platforms and algorithms.
4. Your message is your brand
   • Brands have to differentiate to survive.
   • Your voice has to be unique and creative.
     • Combine or remove repetitive content from page to page – change it up A LOT.
     • Use pronouns and speak as you would speak to your family member about the subject.
     • Your voice (in your content) is your brand.
     • Don’t say anything everyone else is saying.
5. Conversion rate trumps
   • Goal is to get clicks and conversions
   • Conversions are inherent leverage for anyone who has traffic.
   • Your message and psychology in connecting with your target market is critical.
   • Traffic should be optimized only after conversion has been analyzed.
6. Givers gain opens doors
   • Serve the industry by creating good content – serve the market.
   • Creation of relationships online akin to offline – sometimes just because.
7. Know, like, and trust always wins
   • Creating this awareness and trust online is through content marketing
   • A learn, serve, grow mentality is key to developing a content marketing strategy

Important Tips:

1. SEO remains one of the best strategies for traffic generation and the centerpiece to inbound marketing
2. Social is not the best strategy for traffic but continues to impact brands across the web
3. What is the human reason for all of this? Focus on humans not Google.
4. Real marketing is the RULE – don’t do SEO, do marketing
5. Its not about Google, its about YOU
6. Social is a way to get to SEO
7. Don’t chase.  Position.
8. People only know you by what is on the web – doesn’t matter about what is not on the web
9. Address and phone, spiderable contact email, Privacy Policy, Clear WhoIS

Google Algorithm Details: The Inside Track

1. Punishments exist – even after your issue is fixed.  Its a “time out”.
2. Webmaster Tools is Crucial
3. Get rid of SEO-based footer links
4. Get rid of building backlinks campaigns
5. No asking for links from anyone
6. Any automated approach is not safe
7. Google knows more about your  links than you do
8. Don’t try to get backlinks – If you are thinking about the links – then you are a slippery slope.
9. Guest blogging is good.
10. Guest Blogging networks are not safe.
11. Blog networks are not safe.
12. Everything has to look NATURAL.
13. Google frowns on Ads – especially ones above the fold.
14. Calls to action are more important than keyword based anchor text.
15. You can’t do anything wrong or you have to do A LOT more right.

19. If you are on page 2 then stop doing keyword based anchor text.

What works today:

1. Same ol webmaster guidelines
2. Checking webmaster tools
3. The old theories are now practices in algorithm
4. Its still all about links
5. Still about the old ways of SEO
6. Today everyone can creates links to things with their mobile devices
7. Teenage girls will create more natural links on accident than most webmasters in the past
8. Natural linking actually works now because of social and mobile
9. Its just that we have barbed wire fences in front of the castle now
10. No link schemes
11. No link requests – should be a surprise
12. No spinning on content multiple times
13. ADD Author attributions to ALL of the content you create – announce that your content is yours

On-site Verbiage Tips:

1. Combine or remove repetitive content from page to page – change it up A LOT
2. Use pronouns and speak as you would speak to your family member about the subject.  It needs to pass the red pen test
3. Don’t say anything everyone else is saying
4. If you are saying the SAME THING that all your competitors are saying, then you will not have success.

Tips on Niches:

1. Pick one NICHE and LEAD it.
2. Engagement of the audience goes up as the size of the niche does DOWN
3. Your messaging becomes more attractive and hot for the users
4. Long tail get more important and longer as time goes by
5. Don’t worry about the size of the niche – Google favors the niche
6. Information sites in niches around your commerce site.  Mini info sites.
7. Google doesn’t prefer brands but you have to be really really niche. Google prefers niches but you have to be very very niche in order to kill it.

Likely Coming from Google:

1. More filters
2. Impossible to track rankings
3. Blurring of search and Social
4. Splintering of traffic sources
5. Market Leadership is the only opportunity – There is great opportunity still
6. LEADS will be the only metric eventually
7. Destination sites are done

Courtesy – Sean Kenney

In the words of Google…

Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management of online business development campaigns
• Keyword research
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies

If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:

• Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
• Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
• Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
• What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
• What’s your experience in my industry?
• What’s your experience in my country/city?
• What are your most important SEO techniques?
• How long have you been in business?

Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site’s presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to consider:

• Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.

  Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:

  "Dear google.com,
  I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…"

  Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

• No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

  Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

More from Google

For more information on Google webmaster tools, visit Google’s website on webmaster guidelines.

SEOMoz: SEO Predictions for 2013

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