Why SEO alone is not enough to market your website and get it to rank high.

Here’s what we’ve known for some time now: SEO is not enough. Not long ago, we lost sleep over updating meta tags, adding a few keywords here and there, and interlinking pages to shoot our website to the first page, if not the tip-top of the search results. We went through all that trimming and grooming to make our website attractive to major search engines like Google. But now, looking good for Google isn’t enough to get your website to rank high. Now is the time to expand your horizons, and focus on the other important details that could get your website to that coveted spot on Google.

Google favours brands

It’s not only Google that favours brands. The truth is, everyone favours brands. When you do a search, you’ll see that Google puts the big brands higher up in the search results. Google has the right to do this since they have access to user behaviour data, which tells them that users click more often on brand websites they recognize. If you want to compete on a specific keyword that all the other big brands are going for, this means you’ll have to work extra hard to prove that your small business website content is relevant and worthy of users’ time and attention.

Increasing focus on content

Many old SEO techniques and tricks to boost your website’s ranking in search results are no longer applicable. More and more people are realizing that they want quality, relevant content above anything else. Google is a nitpicker at recognizing quality content and pushing those who don’t meet the mark further down the rabbit hole. What makes the mark? Most likely websites with a master combination of the following:

• Excellent relevant content
• Fresh and frequently updated content
• Significant social media presence
• Emphasis on popular Google properties like Youtube or Google+

Search engine innovations continue to change the playing field

Yes, there was a time when search engines all wanted the same thing, and SEO was predictable and static. That was barely a decade ago when focus was on headache-inducing, massive keyword lists, ranking reports, and directory or social bookmarking style link building.

Then came Google algorithm changes (Panda and Penguin). And it didn’t stop there. Google came up with new, useful features like Google Place, Google+ and the like to give us better quality search results that’s personalized, local, mobile, and even geo-specific. This doesn’t spell death for SEO.

In fact, optimization is adaptable and continuing to evolve along with search engine innovations. It’s just a matter of being able to go with the flow. In your case, it’s maintaining quality, relevant content that’s able to keep up with search engine innovations.  

People are hungry for quality “social content”

Even online, people are still social creatures. We find meaningful connections through social media. We hail some awesome bloggers as “the authority” on all content they put out. People aren’t only finding your website through traditional searches. They also find you through blogs, and social media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Investing time and sharing quality content via your social media accounts could get you noticed much faster than the traditional channels.