Now you are all probaby aware that Google did a ‘major’ update called Panda not so long ago. Well, Panda’s are soft and coudly, but they can also destroy a bamboo plantation (ie a ‘farm’) exceptionally quickly if unchecked.

Anyway, I thought I would post an update on what it takes to rank these days. Even getting your webpage to page 1 of Google SERPs is tough, and only gets harder for more lucrative verticals like life insurance, investment etc.

Here is an AWESOME table from Search Engine Land

Check it out and tell us what you think!

In a nutshell, the SEO basics are the same

• Page Title Tag
• Page Headers (H1, H2)
• Page Content – fresh, and at least 400 or more words long
• Page Images – Alt Tags, your primary keyword you are focussing on should be in the higher up images
• Links – Titles – should also contain your primary keyword – and there is no harm linking back to the topic 
• Back Links – these are still incredibly important people. You can have gorgeous content but if you have no links, no one will find you – its like a hotel built in the desert with no roads to it. 

These are just the fundamentals. Link Building and Content Writing are still the major points when it comes to ranking a webpage. Note that I say webpage and not a website, because you optimise a web page at a time, not the whole site.

Sources for Back Links / Link Building

• Directories – find ones that at the least have captcha requirements. Page Rank might not matter much, but you can still use it as a basic guide for the value of that directory at that point of time. Do yourself a favor though, dig into the directory site to your category and find what the PR is there. But again, its just a  Guide. If the PR is 1 and your page your are optimising is 0, then its still worth it.
• Blogs – Blog Commenting still works (IMO) – but tread carefully. Dont annoy the blog owners.
• Partners / Current Clients – often overlooked, but get your partners or clients to link to you. Especially if they leave a testimonial or if you deal with them often
• Paid Links – Often frowned upon, but no harm doing this in moderation – ie Yahoo’s Directory Listing is a paid listing. Other sites that have historical value and keep their value for months or even years on end can also be approcahed.
• Associations and Organisations in your field. You would have to do some digging here though
• Social Media Profiles – these are a Gem for links. Also every post that has a link matters. But please dont go spamming Twitter or Facebook now.

There are probably many other sources of Back Links but these are the absics and the good ones (IMO). Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

Chris out!

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