Four Commandments of SEO

"Search engine optimization is extremely simple," says Luke Matthews in a guest post at The Responsible Marketing Blog, "but the waters are constantly muddied by misinformation spread by wannabe experts and noobs who want to garner authority and respect."

 To help you navigate the SEO waters—and avoid the frequent riptides—Matthews created his own 10 Commandments of SEO.

 Here are a few:

• Thou Shalt Reciprocate Link Love. Inbound links are good; they tell search engines that your content is valuable. But it's not polite to take without giving. When you receive links from high-quality sites, return the favor.

• Thou Shalt Not Beg for Links. You've just gotten an email from someone you don't know asking for a link. Do you acquiesce? Probably not. But what if someone who leaves insightful comments at your blog, and links to your site, makes a similar request? In that scenario, you'll probably oblige. And vice-versa.

• Thou Shalt Find the Best Keywords. Keywords that generate the most traffic aren't your "best" keywords if that traffic doesn't convert. Look instead for less competitive terms used by your target audience. It is "relatively easy to rank for these terms and 30 keywords each getting 50 searches per month adds to up to a lot of traffic," notes Matthews.

• Thou Shalt Not Write for Search Engines. Google and Bing want content written for humans; you'll impress search engines with a focus on readability and value.

 

Thus, if you want to avoid the wrath of a vengeful search engine, take serious heed of SEO best practices.

Source: MarketingProfs