I focus on what is ranking and see what they are doing that I am not.

The only problem is I'm working on a newer site (1 year old) and I'm trying to break into a niche that has sites with 6 to 10 years under their belts. Page 2 at best so far.

My content is 10x better; what users tell me, yet I can't get the needle to move much yet.

I stay out of over-saturated niches. Life is too short.

Review competitor strategies and assets, and identify which metrics they are beating me on... then work to improve those metrics for my site. E.g. user engagement, social engagement, link volume, link value (MR passed), quantity/quality of anchor text links, site speed, authority citations, etc..

Basically, build up a huge list of everything you think Google could consider a ranking metric, then identify those values for those ranking in the top 10, average those values, and identify those you can "control" and meet/exceed competitor metrics.

you can't do anything if google has the power to slap you up with a manual penalty randomly....

and you can't escape that - once you get the manual penalty they will give you one hell of a nightmare inventing excuses for leaving your website with the penalty

@ goodroi:

"I do hear a good bit of warning from Google about links, so I make sure a good amount of my SEO strategy deals with links."

could you elaborate on this?

Googlers often make noise about different link schemes and how webmasters are risking penalties if they pursue them. Most recently Google warned about the links in advertorials.

Because Google is making so much noise about links, I look into why these different link issues worry Google so much. Then I use that knowledge to develop SEO strategies. Sometimes it is as simple as fixing the internal link structure, other times I need to devise link development campaigns or adjust the anchor text or clean up a client's old paid links. Links are very complicated and there are many different ways to address them in a SEO strategy.

I am not seeking to copy blackhat link techniques. They do work but I prefer long term projects instead of the short term churn & burn business model. For people that are looking for safe link techniques, you can learn alot about the algorithm by reverse engineering blackhat linking.

how can you devise strategies when what ranks today doesn't rank tomorrow?

There doesn't seem to be any stability at all except if you are a mega brand.

I have a site that is something of a long term project. It picks up random fairly low value links without any effort, but I try to make sure that it gets at least one healthy link a week. A year from now it will have at least 50 healthy links along with maybe 4-5 times that amount of totally natural links. My goal isn't stability, but an ever increasing user base in a niche where I already exist. No monetization, that will come when the user base hits my concept of critical mass.

@goodroi
I note that you said "meta keyword stuffing" but I've lately been looking at how much, or little, text is actually necessary on a page. Keyphrase in page title, description and H1, all other content as images.

If I'm looking at a new niche, I feel better if I have an "A" site and a "B" site both geared to that niche. "A" site gets more time and resources, "B" site explores what options might be of benefit in that niche.

Do it in Greek! That will rise to the top since it is not English!

A kind of joke...

Seriously, G has been up, down and sideways on ways to game the system almost since day one. While content is king (still is), getting eyeballs is getting more difficult simply because there are so many more begging for the eyeballs.

In most cases (my recent sites) a clean, clear, on topic approach has shown good traction. Sites I'm running these days are immediate (social, political, products, not all in one, just those types) and each is good for THE MOMENT. None of them trend forever. Be prepared to keep offering new, unless the legacy info is just THAT DANG GOOD.

No silver bullet. Never has been.

I contact Anon and have them take down my competitors...

I see sites created a year ago ranked #1 for impossible terms right now. I also see sites that looked awesome but the owner quit after 6-9 months of getting no traffic. It takes time and quality to hold top 3 rankings, the human raters won't give your site an all-star rating right out of the gate and when they are ready to hand down your verdict they require quality. Patience and hard work is thus what works best.

Links are the foundation of the web... Wouldn't be called WWW otherwise..

The problem IMO is that spammers do get through Google thresholds on the algorithm by aquiring links volume enough to fool the algo that this is a legitimate site with strong links where in fact most are from garbage profiles, unrelated blog comments and forum spam - I mean they are obviously manipulative links.

Google is still so prone to these methods, while I have to admit they've indeed targeted spammers with Penguin 2.0, they've certainly done harm to legitimate websites along the way.

What differentiates you and makes you rank in the long-term is still good quality links, particularly ones that can not be reproduced by your competitors.

In terms of overall linking strategy I always opt for a fine blend of a handful of high quality web directories (topical ones are key here), a carefully crafted press release on a related publication, suppliers/distributors/others in the product/service lifecycle and ultimately authoritative industry sites.

None of my clients have suffered anything via Penguin or Panda, even those who still resist to enrich and improve on-page and on-other-page content.

For people that are looking for safe link techniques, you can learn alot about the algorithm by reverse engineering blackhat linking.

@GoodROI, IMHO you don't need to care at all about what schemes blackhatters use and how it works. I reckon a very insightfull research into the broader market or industry (online of course) your business belongs to, even via some Google queries only can get you exciting linking opportunities that your competition will find hard to copy (for which I don't care either, as Google won't reward them for this IMO).

Maybe adapting your content strategy to provide quality stuff your market needs, can get you tons of good links, including many local ones that will make a difference and withstand any Google animal... Penguin or Panda or Florida or whatever.

I consider Matt Cutts (as the voice of Google) to be the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the internet world.

Obi-Wan: So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view.
Luke: "A certain point of view"?
Obi-Wan: Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

I personally don't worry about links - at all. But I do pay attention to what Matt says and then send it through the point of view translator of what Google as a business must accomplish. It has worked well for me over the years.

[edited by: hannamyluv at 9:52 pm (utc) on Jul 10, 2013]

I have changed focus from link building to digital footprints. Maintaining a high level of control over a clients digital presence and encouraging interaction.

The digital footprint is made up of:
1.Onsite factors, page speed, semantic structure, responsive design, interaction through reviews ,blogs and embedded social media.
2.Social Media across platforms such as twitter, pinterest, facebook, google+. Concentrating on interaction with users and building a solid following for the business through related contacts.
3.Press Release and Blogs focussing on unique selling factors and stories of interest related to the business.
4.Interaction through specialist forums and presence in quality specialist associations and directories that provide authority in the given industry.
5.Encouraging social bookmarking and discussion on quality social bookmark sites.

So far so good although this last update has seen a very slight drop on sites I look after.(2 -3 places).

bluntforce (I would re-read) what he said, many many times. This is the way IMO a site will rank and beat the scrapers. In effect he is branding his domain. Nice post bluntforce.

What method(s) do you use to formulate your SEO strategy?

Actually the first two points Google says SEO Practitioners do do:

[support.google.com...]

1. Review of your site content or structure
   
2. Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript

Redirecting expired domains don't endanger the integrity of the serps either nor does editing your own navigation.

In fact, Matt Cutts worse comments on the subject was...

[sempdx.org...]

By the way, I’d argue that some expired domains are closer to a bank at one location that goes out of business and becomes a coffee shop. That coffee shop can build up its reputation on its own, but shouldn’t automatically get the customers that were showing up hoping to do their banking.

And yes, I do know a Starbucks that used to be a bank. It still has the vault! :)

I agree to some extent but the failure of the bank meant it couldn't make that reputation thing work but maybe the coffee shop can with an ATM.

Googlers often make noise about different link schemes and how webmasters are risking penalties if they pursue them. Most recently Google warned about the links in advertorials.

Because Google is making so much noise about links, I look into why these different link issues worry Google so much. Then I use that knowledge to develop SEO strategies. Sometimes it is as simple as fixing the internal link structure, other times I need to devise link development campaigns or adjust the anchor text or clean up a client's old paid links. Links are very complicated and there are many different ways to address them in a SEO strategy.

I agree in your opening post you noted (paraphrasing) "don't add webspam to Google"... in this post you point out links on pages indexed in Google which means adding webspam... but simply redirecting links already included in Google and if you do have a problem with a website where you cannot fix the structure adding a new site structure that isn't problematic for breadcrumbs is where you redirect the domains.

I am not seeking to copy blackhat link techniques. They do work but I prefer long term projects instead of the short term churn & burn business model. For people that are looking for safe link techniques, you can learn alot about the algorithm by reverse engineering blackhat linking.

Yes I agree.

Blackhat isn't sustainable but no one said you need to leave it there forever. The science of SEO is knowing what to do to get ahead... the art of SEO is knowing when to change and reinvest in the stuff you couldn't afford in the beginning so you can wean yourself off of the scientific solutions.

Don't forget to consider the "human raters" wildcard. They may like your competitors best pages more than your best pages even if your site is better overall.

The best way to rank your website is to find and analytic your Competitor Website:

First:Find Who Your SEO Competitors Are

Second:Visit Your Competitors' Sites and Analyze Them.including The Keywords Your Competitors Use\How your competitors arrange this keywords\Check the Competition's Backlinks\What social marketing they use\Does they Using PPC Ads

Third:How can i use this data for my own site.

I have changed focus from link building to digital footprints. Maintaining a high level of control over a clients digital presence and encouraging interaction.

^^^This is the answer to pretty much everything (and the steps you laid out are awesome, and everyone should print them out and stick them on a wall they look at frequently).

What you call a "digital footprint" is not only what Google is looking for (which may change in a year or so anyway). It's also how you become a brand, and you don't just become a brand to rank better in Google - you do it because that's how you'll survive outside of and beyond Google. Getting "branded" was a marketing concept before the internet even existed, and there are reasons for that.

I know a lot of people hate to hear it, but *some* level of social media participation is becoming a requirement for many sites. Even if you're selling plumbing supplies, it's on your FB page or Yelp that people will expect to find bargains and deals, like they once might have found in your Yellow Pages ad.

I start with the basics.. Fix the On-Page, Getting active on social platforms. Then I integrate a blog and keep the site updated with new and relevant content. I try to get improve social signals, then I start with the Off-Page.

What I've noticed is that you You need links, but after you've got some good content on your site.. Even with low quantity (but qualitative) links seem to do the job for me because of Quality Content

Pick a competive keyword topic that is not saturated by big brands and see what they are doing - pharma is a good place to start - links are still king.

Apparently, you can rank well by using spun content and social bookmarking... at least for the first 6 months...

"My Website Traffic Dropped 95%"
[webmasterworld.com ]

~~~

_{(Note To Self: why do I bother trying to write helpful, compelling content TO RANK WELL? Oh, yeah, now I remember, because I'M AN IDIOT!)}

Well, I'd stick with fresh content rather than using spun content