It’s time to start listening to the good folks at Google when it comes to getting your site listed on the search engine.
Over the years an entire industry has evolved around Search Engine Optimization. And as the web has grown in importance many small and medium size businesses have spent a lot of money to firms that specialize in getting their sites onto the home page for specific keyword results.
It’s been a constant game of cat and mouse as tactics evolved to outsmart the Big G and game the results. Some of these tactics have been effective and some of them less so. If you’re still keyword stuffing or spamming directories and forums to get backlinks – just stop.
But Google’s Matt Cutts, Head of Google’s Webspam Team, has been very clear – content is king. If you create fresh, interesting, and engaging content that people want to read you will eventually find success on Google.
Just as important as Google is social media sharing. If you create content that your target audience wants to share because THEY find it valuable and worth sharing you can build credibility and drive traffic without having to resort to SEO trickery.
It’s a long game
Getting great results on Google is a long game. You won’t find success overnight, and anyone who promises you results is telling you a story. The truth is you can do everything right and you still might not see a bump in your Google positioning.
What can you do?
The first thing you need to do is make sure your site is properly set up so that Google knows you’re there and has a reason to come back and view your content. Using Google Plus, Google Analytics and make sure you have a proper XML site map that is automatically updated and uploaded to a Google Webmasters account.
The next thing to do is to stop thinking about your site as something that strictly promotes your services and as tool that promotes your brand by giving your target audience what they need.
This post is an example of that. I’m a marketing guy. But I’m not writing about the work I do. If you find this article helpful – you’ll find out more about me. If not, you might share it on Twitter or LinkedIn and somebody you know might track me down. It’s not that I don’t care if I get more business. I’m just not going to make this about me. And you shouldn’t make your content about you.