The Most Effective Search Engine Optimization Strategies in 2009

Feb 172010

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is without doubt the most important thing any website can invest in, and every year the methods of effective SEO become more advanced and more specific. The search engines are constantly reinventing themselves, moving forward to become pickier about sites that may be spam, and far more accurate in matching the content they deliver to the specifics of user queries. Every website owner needs to review SEO strategies every year to make sure they are still the best available.

Once upon a time, in the’90′s, SEO was very simple. You built your website. You added some meta tags. You chose keywords, probably repeating them over and over, hoping to draw traffic. Ten years ago and more, spider technology was relatively new, and users were easier to please. The Internet was sufficiently new that users were satisfied with simple matches that were just “kind of close” to what they were seeking.

Up to and into 2009, search engines have worked tirelessly to make their searches much more accurate, and Google is the best example of that. Their original algorithm gave much more weight to back-link counting and prioritizing. That means that you would get more credit for a link to your website from a well respected website than one that was just created, and that the more links you had of high value, the better you?d perform in search results. Additionally, keyword anchor text for those links would optimize your site for specific keywords through links.

Keyword-rich links from high-value external sites is still the most effective way to raise your page rankings on Google. Nowadays, however, content also counts. Google and the other search engines have been working hard to discern quality content from content that may not be spam, but isn’t original and informative and really worth a visitor’s time. To a certain extent, your website still has to win a popularity contest, because back-links continue to count. But the new natural language filters don’t just differentiate between natural language and spam. They give you increasing credit for increasing readability and originality of your content.

The speech patterns Google and others have started extracting from literature, news reports, and online sources have been incorporated into their algorithm. The new algorithms will exact a heavy penalty on your sites if you stuff keywords. Page rankings can disappear if you add too many keywords. Website owners once would stuff a page with 7% keywords, but in 2009, 3 to 4% keyword content is optimal. More than 3 to 4% keywords looks unnatural to the search engine, even if the content is not spam, in fact, even if it is original and unique on the net.

The top strategy for search engine optimization in 2009 is still to write useful copy with keyword optimization, combined with back-links to high page-rank sites with carefully chosen anchor text. Just avoid getting greedy. Keyword optimization that does not overreach with great user-friendly content will be the way to keep your page rankings high in 2009.

Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands including Amazon, BBC, MasterCard and many others.

The Success Zone

The Most Effective Search Engine Optimization Strategies in 2009

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