Over the last few weeks I’ve been amazed by all the announcements coming out by Google and the industry commentary. Amazed not because Google’s making changes, rather because it’s the same thing I’ve been saying for years.
You see, often I talk to companies and they tell me about how other SEO professionals have told them they need high PR back links and keyword loaded pages to rank. When I hear this I immediately cringe and grow angry with the people they’ve been talking to.
Sure these kind of tactics will work for a little while as you game the system but in the long term the site will get slapped and rankings will drop. Then the website owner will come and ask us why they got penalized, the answer is because they were stupid.
I saw this with the deepest respect, but it’s foolish to think that you can beat Google. Let me explain, in Australia it’s illegal to drive with an Alcohol Blood Limit above 0.05 so if you have more than 2 beers you need to take a taxi home.
Now I know some people who think they are invincible so they drink more then they should and then drive home. Maybe the first time they do this they don’t get caught, or even the second time they slip by unnoticed, but the more they do it the more likely they are to get caught.
It’s ignorant to believe that you can break the law and get away with it forever, at some point you’re going to get caught, fined or even have your license suspended. This same thing applies to Google, while for some time you may get away with it ultimately you are going to get caught.
When you get caught you’re not going to like the consequences so you need to be smart about your SEO. Make sure you are doing the right things, and not trying to game the system.
Seriously, do you think that you’re smarter than the whole engineering team at Google? If you do then you need a reality check.
If you want good rankings in Google consistently then present a quality website with a quality user experience. It’s the same thing I’ve been doing since I started online marketing and it’s never failed to work.
Put out good content regularly and promote the content to relevant markets, it’s that simple.
