Search Engine Optimization (SEO) used to be easy. I mean really easy. I mean ridiculously easy! You played some tricks or followed some tactics and (bam!) you started ranking well for the keywords you wanted to rank well for. Off-shore companies charged almost nothing for SEO services and you were making a ton of money! Life was good! Search results sucked and were filled with spammy results, but you didn't care…you were making money! Then, in 2012, everything changed. SEO today is hard and continues to get more complicated and confusing every day. Things that were OK yesterday are now hurting your rankings and Google is getting more and more obscure as to what factors affect their search algorithm. Are there ways for a small/medium business to compete online without running the risk of getting hit with a Google update? I’m so glad you asked!

1. SEO today and
into the future:
How you can avoid the Google
dance
By Mike Davis

2. What the hell is this SEO and how
can I get me some!
Matt Cutts (Google Web Spam God) puts it best:

3. SEO Tactics from the Past
• SEO’s were the hired guns of the web
• Their entire job was to trick search engines
• TERRIBLE reputation

5. Black Hat vs. White Hat
• Black Hat
• Quantity over quality
• Short cuts
• Considered cheating by everyone else
• Quick results (used to)
• White Hat
• Hard work
• Focuses on content and organic growth
• Takes a LONG $%$#ing time!!

6. SEO Tactics From the Past
Unnatural link building
• Why?
• Unnatural anchor text
• Types
• Article Submissions
• Reciprocal Linking & Link Exchanges
• Press Releases Without News
• Forum Marketing

7. SEO Tactics Cont.
Link Farms, Directories, etc.

8. SEO Tactics Cont.
Garbage content
• Hundreds of pages all discussing one or two specific
keywords
• Making sure that every page mentions a single specific
keyword or phrase
• Duplicate content

9. SEO Tactics Cont.
Keyword stuffing
• Let’s say you wanted to rank well for the search
term “White”.

10. SEO IS DEAD!!!
LONG LIVE SEO!!!

11. SEO Today
• Black hat is dying/dead
• None of the old tactics work (well) today and will continue to
be risky into the future
• The dreaded algorithm update!
• Penguin
• The update is aimed at decreasing search engine rankings of websites
that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines (keyword
stuffing, cloaking, participating in link schemes, deliberate creation of
duplicate content, and others.)
• Panda
• The change aimed to lower the rank of "low-quality sites" or "thin
sites", and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results.

12. Why the hell did Google do this to
me!
• Spam sucks and Google’s algorithm doesn’t care
that it isn’t your fault or if you’re a good person.
• It makes the internet a better place
This SUCKS!

13. Now what?
• Google is one smart Mofo!
• Doing SEO well has become about offering value.
• You need to start offering value.
• Valuable = Easy to use and navigate
• Valuable = Original content that people
read/like/share

14. The Google Algorithm

15. Content and UX are $%#&ing
EVERYTHING!
• Google’s web spam team is obsessed UX and
quality content.

16. But, I don’t have time or money to
create good content?!
Tough!
Content

17. CREATE CREATE CREATE
• Blog (Good & Original)
• Articles (Good & Original)
• Videos (Good & Original)
• How to’s? (Good & Original)

18. Content Sources
• Consultants (Elance, etc.)
• Content Agencies (Brafton, Text
Brokers, Ezdia, etc.)
• A Friend

19. UX
• Mobile
• Non-responsive design
• Page load time (across different devices)
• Server errors
• Poor navigation
• Rich Snippets! (Authorship mark-up, etc.)
• Bad copy (CONTENT!!!)

20. SEO is everyone’s role
• Design
• Copywriting
• Onsite
• Relationship
• Social
• Your uncle Marty!