Search engine optimization – SEO – is a moving target. What worked well last month in search engine marketing may not work for you today. Once upon a time it was thought that stuffing any copy with keywords was the trick. But when new Google algorithms took effect awhile back, sites were penalized for weak or duplicated content.
Google didn’t want content farming or spam blogs messing up its quality metrics. So the end result was a greater focus on quality, as in unique blogs, images and video.
So here’s what to do and watch out for today. If someone links to you from a spammy website, you need to get rid of those links. Bing has the tool, Webmaster Tools, that will let you “disavow” links from such places.
When linking, be sure to form strong links with sites with quality content. Engagement with bloggers, other websites and users on social media networks is encouraged – just be sure they’re producing quality copy.
Google is also interested in where the copy comes from. Many significant websites have content from many different authors. Google is looking at how to trust links from each other, and is weighing them differently. So don’t be afraid to claim authorship for quality content.
