Sandor's Online Marketing

As Caffeine Takes Effect, Best Practices Rule

Caffeine allows Google to index more pages in more languages than ever before to produce the most relevant results for the online user. So what does that mean for rankings and long-term health of websites? In this case, SEO best practices continue to shine:

• Ensure the site uses siloing (theming) best practices, so the search engine and the online user can navigate it with ease to find what they’re looking for. And remember, Meta data is an important part of communicating what the pages are about. Internal linking strategies also aid in telling the search engine what pages are important throughout the site.
• Assess the website’s design to make sure it’s as SEO friendly as possible. This includes action items like cleaning up unnecessary code and truncating images. And since site speed was recently announced separately as a factor in Google’s algorithm, make sure servers are also up to par.
• Keep site content fresh. Revisit old pages and update them as new developments occur. Making a 20 percent or more change to content tells the search engines there’s updated content and invites them to come back to that page for indexing.
• Ensure the company whether big or small is participating in important social media communities online, as Google’s increased focus on relevance includes results in real time, including conversations from sites like Twitter.
• Continue to focus on targeted, long-tail keyword optimization, as those phrases will produce the most relevant results for the online user.
• Make quality link strategy a priority. Your site will continue to be rewarded for seeming like an expert in your space.

Source: Bruce Clay, Inc: SEO Newsletter Vol. 80.