Above all, the search engines love high-quality writing. The folks at Google explicitly state that their goal is to connect users with "useful, information-rich site(s)" containing pages that "clearly and accurately describe your content." And, in fact, most of the advancements in search over the … [Read more...] about Search Engines Love Great Writing
How Search Engines Actually Work
Like high school, search is primarily a popularity contest. Google's inventors, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, built Google around a single insight -- that the search engine didn't have to determine what a website was about or if it was any good. People would do that for them. People would describe … [Read more...] about How Search Engines Actually Work
What Actually Affects Search Results
What affects search results? It's an interesting question, because no one knows for sure. A site called Moz does a survey every year among the major SEO consultants in an attempt to create a snapshot of what matters right now in search. (It speaks to the squishiness of the field that the most … [Read more...] about What Actually Affects Search Results
The Only Four Things You Need For Great SEO
Conversations about search engine optimization can be confusing, but all the expert knowledge boils down to four fundamental necessities: You need great content -- useful, clear writing on subjects that actually interest readers. You need to identify the words, phrases and questions that … [Read more...] about The Only Four Things You Need For Great SEO
How to Input Content For Search Optimization
Great writing is the silver bullet of search, but if you want people to be able to find your content, it needs to be properly set up in your content management system. It's relatively simple, just identify your content's key terms and don't cut corners when you fill out the input screens. It's … [Read more...] about How to Input Content For Search Optimization
Building A Search-Friendly Site
The search engine's job is to match visitors with sites worth visiting. They prefer the same things that people like: compelling content from credible sources. From a SEO perspective (which, of course, is a limited view), all a site developer has to do is get out of the way of the content. Here … [Read more...] about Building A Search-Friendly Site
Favorite SEO Resources
Here's my go-to list of Search Engine Optimization Resources Moz's Free Beginner’s Guide to SEO and A Beginner’s Checklist For Learning SEO More Moz: 101 Free SEO Resources Yahoo’s SEO Basics Google's SEO Report Card Matt Cutts (Google Search Product Guy) Search Engine Land … [Read more...] about Favorite SEO Resources
Using Search Tools to Help Decide What Content to Feature
Search tools aren't just for SEO, they can also be useful in getting a sense of what content your audience might be interested in. There is a big caveat with this approach: it is backward-looking, focusing on previous performance. However, it's handy -- if you don't over-rely on it. Here's an … [Read more...] about Using Search Tools to Help Decide What Content to Feature