Long Term Search Engine Optimization Strategies

When it comes to what works in the search engines, a lot of advice you read is the latest flavor of the week or loophole that someone's uncovered that will help you get great search engine rankings… for about a week.

It's also true that little things change on a monthly or weekly basis. These little changes can be almost impossible to keep up with.

So what's a person supposed to do to get great search engine rankings?

Simple. Stop focusing on the little things, like tweaking your keyword density, or changing your meta tags, and focus on the factors that are going to matter long term.

Fortunately, there are some basic principles that you can apply that can help you weather the storm of constantly fluctuating search engine algorithms. These are methods that have worked for years, and will work for the foreseeable future.

1) Write Great Content

Make the focus of your site on having really good content. I know that if you've read some of my previous articles, you'll know that I continually harp on the importance of having great content. Well, the reason is that the search engines want to rank the sites that have the best content the highest. Also, people will naturally link to great content. Give the search engines and people what they want – quality content. Avoid quickly thrown together crap, and if you hire writers, make sure they know the subject matter they're writing about.

2) Update Frequently

Your website should be updated frequently. This means not just going in and tweaking what's already on your site, but having a steady stream of new content flowing into the site. I like to use blogs for this purpose since they're really easy to use and maintain.

3) Get Links

Build up your links. You should always be seeking out quality one way links. Whether you're using article marketing, directories, or press releases, be proactive in getting new links to your website.

Once you start focusing on long term optimization methods, you'll find that your rankings will improve without you having to go in and make little changes every time you read about what the search engines are favoring that month. Your content will rise to the top over time without you needing to constantly mess with it.