Search Engine Optimization Tips Blog

There are two types of SEO. There are the tactics that you have to keep implementing just to play with the big boys, which involves a lot of research, wheeling and dealing, and keeping up with the latest trends and quirks and changes to algorithms the search engines invariably subject us to.

There is a reason for all the switcheroos, we understand that. Keep it static, and the black hatters will ultimately game the system, so watch for gambits and optimize as per the latest news that comes down the pike.

One day that might be keyword density. 3%, 5%, 10% …it all depends what makes the top sites pop at the time. The next day it’s links - as many as possible, or maybe it’s just certain links. PageRank, quality scores, page load time; all of these factors are subject to change and have to be constantly monitored and adjusted for.

This is where the black hatters concentrate their efforts and the grey hats lurk around the edges, flirting with danger. The elusive top of the SERPs seems at times to be awarded willy-nilly with no rhyme or reason. We bravely soldier on, white hats struggling valiantly to compete against those more devious, ’gutsy’ and adrenaline driven than we.

We can always reign supreme on the flip side of SEO, however. This is where the white hatters shine, and search engines do take note, albeit at a slower pace. This is where optimization meets utilization, and I like to call it UO.

UO stands for User Optimization. It can be done at any time, at any stage of website development, and the results can last forever. It is simple enough that any half decent webmaster can pull it off, and powerful enough to make the most jaded customer sit up and take notice.

UO means optimizing your site for the user’s experience, for ease of navigability, functionality, friendliness, openness and informational quality. You aren’t trying to make the search engine think you have the best website, you are BEING the best, and offering your visitors the most up to date useful information possible to give them what they need when they need it in an easy to use practical format.

This is simple web mastering 101, really - you want conversions? Without some solid user optimization you will be lucky to get more than five seconds of a visitors time. However, if you make your site appealing and user friendly, you can keep your customers coming back again and again. This is the core of white hattery. You are the good wizard, not the trickster, you offer solid content, not illusions of grandeur.

You can rise to the tops of the SERPs with black hat SEO, and try to trick the search engines with your schemes and the users with glitz and the influence of top rank. Without UO, however, you really can’t convert, and you success will be short lived as the search engine find your Achilles heel. With white hat UO, however, not only will you gradually climb, your visitors will stay to become clients and over the long haul you will be the true winner of the Game.

 Subscribe in a reader

• Email Subscription by Feedburner