Homebuilders.com

SEO Trends to Stick With In 2012

It’s no secret that SEO is a perpetually evolving field. Most of us know that Google changes its algorithm between 375 – 500+ times each year.  That’s an average or more than one change each day. What may be considered relevant today can soon be regarded as yesterday’s news. To stay successful, the key is to stay in the loop on what is working and be prepared to change your strategies accordingly. Currently, the following SEO trends are working well for ranking on search engine results pages:

1. Varied Backlinks

Backlinks have been known to be helpful for SEO reasons for some time now, but it’s important to remember to make sure your backlinks come from a variety of sources. don’t just rely on article sites/directory sites; remember to include social bookmarking sites and relevant, quality sites belonging to your blog commenters too.

2. Outbound Links

Inbound links are often hailed as magic makers, but outbound links tend to receive less praise. But adding a link to an “authority” site on your topic or niche can often help you rank better, because it has already earned a good reputation with search engines. Be sure to link to authority sites in your blog posts.

3. Link Frequency

The rate at which you build links can be a red flag for search engines. If you focus on 5 links per day, search engines are likely to see this as simulated manipulation and penalize you with lower rankings. To avoid this, build your links consistently, but not at the same rate every day. Randomize the number of backlinks to keep your link building organic.

4. Multi-tier Backlinks

A backlink to your site that has multiple backlinks from other sources is the nature of the multi-tier backlink. These can help your search engine results quite a bit. If desired, search for mass blog posting tools that can help you build them.

5. Social Media

Social networking can now boost your SEO. The more Facebook shares, Facebook likes, Tweets (from Twitter) and Plus Ones (from Google Plus) you get, the better reputation you have in the eyes of search engines. Build a profile on any or all of these sites for your business or blog, amass friends and followers and make the content relevant. The results just may amaze you.

6. Increased Content

Speaking of content, one thing that hasn’t changed is that updating your content can help you rank better in search engines over time. Refreshing content that contains your target keywords can do wonders, so be sure to add content regularly and include the keywords you want to be found for.

These current SEO trends are what you need to focus on this fall. What comes around the corner may be similar, or it may not. Time will tell; but for now, stick to the ones listed here to see your results improve.

Happy SEO-ing

Jim Adams – Search Analyst