A SEO Strategy You Shouldn’t Ignore: Be Helpful.
Are Webmasters Working for the Search Engines?
It’s sickening.
No, really. It’s pathetic, and we all know it. Most of us have been at that point, or we’re still hanging around that point where we think we can Trick search engines into listing us above our competition. We actually go to great lengths to design our sites for the search engines instead of our readers.
Many webmasters will put creativity aside, and hire cheap writers to put together hundreds of (worthless) posts for their blogs. Others ignore content altogether, and spend most of their time trying to develop inbound links to their valueless sites.
Well, it’s the only way to get noticed in the ever-growing blogosphere… it’s our only choice. Right?
An Alternative That Makes Sense
There is an alternative you know, and it makes a lot of sense. What happens when you put away all your dirty tricks, get-rich-fast schemes, etc. and focus on making your blog as helpful as possible to your viewers?
What I am proposing, is that rather than spending time finding popular niches where you can trick search engines into sending you lots of traffic — you spend time working, researching, discussing, and writing valuable content, which you are passionate about, for your users.
Let’s take a look at some advantages of this approach:
One Time Visitors Become Repeat Viewers
If folks come to your blog, don’t find what they need, and don’t feel like your site is catered to them in the first place, chances are they won’t be stopping by again anytime soon. Sure, you may get your rankings up there for a short while, but you’re viewership and user loyalty won’t sustain itself.
When you focus your efforts on making your blog as useful as possible to the viewer, you’re much more likely to see that viewer return in the future – perhaps even on a day to day basis. You might not see that immediate boost of traffic, but you’ll be creating a base to build upon. A strong foundation leads to a larger, longer lasting blog over time.
Others Start to Link To you
When you have helpful posts, and a website that looks more friendly to a viewer, other sites tend to be more interested in linking to you. Sure – you may not get quite as many visitors from Google or the likes, but you’ll make up for those with the referrals you’ll start to see from other websites.
Chances are, if a user clicks a link on a website, there is some form of trust between that user and the webmaster/editor/developer of that site. By extension, that loyalty may carry over in part to your own blog — something a search engine can’t do just yet. So to close this point — you’re gaining more quality links to your blog, and at the same time, building a loyal userbase.
You Start Linking To Others
Wait a minute! How does that help me? Remember, this isn’t about helping yourself. We’re aiming to please our viewers. If you notice something that your viewers might enjoy on another blog or website, it really won’t hurt your own blog to send a link their way.
Actually, linking to others can be quite a good way to show how in-tune you are with your niche as a whole. It could lead more people to your blog in the long run – so this could end up being helpful to you after all.
Pageviews Go Up, Bounces Go Down
It’s common sense. When you’ve got a website that’s simply awesome, folks stick around longer. Granted, usability will play a factor into just how long they stick around, but overall, your content will keep readers interested in what else you have to offer.Pageviews are a great way to measure the usefulness and usability of your blog. If you’re playing tricks on the search engines, you probably won’t see a stunning Pageview/Visitor ratio.
For more on Usability, see our 9 Easy Usability Improvements for Blogs.
Google is Smarter Than You or I Will Ever Be
The job of a search engine is to find the most accurate results for a question input by a user (a search). Can you really convince yourself that in the long run, you’re going to outwit some of the brightest minds in this day and age who are programming these search engines?I didn’t think so.Fact is, you might actually be able to get a great search engine ranking really quick using some tactful strategies, but unless there is substance behind your blog, it’s going to be short-lived. And when you drop in the rankings, your viewership will take a very hard hit.
When you build for the user though, you won’t take a hard hit if you suffer in rankings thanks to your strong foundation. You’ll see improvements in the long run actually, and a lot of the new viewers you see from Search Engines will probably stick around, and perhaps even bookmark you.
What Works Best For You?
Are you an experienced webmaster? What have you found to be the best ways of finding (and sustaining) traffic?
113 Comments
Great topic and job. Keep Up…
Flag as inappropriateI found your site being bookmarked in one of the social sites. I’m glad I visited it. Interesting articles you have here.
Flag as inappropriateI think I learn it but for most people it is currently too inaccessible for a quick website.Thank you.
Flag as inappropriateI was once involved in a user testing where they actually have some kind of camera that was able to track movement of the eye and plot the heat map on the screen shot in question. That sort of technology should be able to add empirical data.
Flag as inappropriatenice try… but you have to be honest -> the higher is your PR the more comments will be left (the same about traffic)
gl
Flag as inappropriateThanks you for share. I’ll bookmark this article.
Flag as inappropriateThank you for share.This is a great information.
Flag as inappropriateThis is the way everybody should think about SEO. But I think the relationship between website creation and getting the best ranking out of a website is something a bit treacherous. Although great content will get you in good position, tweaking a website is still possible to some extent with great results. And maybe that’s the real problem.
Flag as inappropriateShould we not tweak at all ?
Thank you very much .
Flag as inappropriateVery good post to start thinking about SEO. We have many other important things, but I imagine it would be too big a post. It would be nice to do another post with more advanced content. Thanks!
Flag as inappropriateI think it would be nice to do another post with more advanced content. Thank you very much.
Flag as inappropriategreat post on seo! I’ll look forward to see your next post.
Flag as inappropriateOh, this article impressed me so much! Thank u!
I wanted to ask if i could translate it into russian and post on my SEO blog with all the property rights saved.
Answer me please by e-mail : work2alex@gmail.com
Flag as inappropriateThank you for all the great articles here on blogging. I’m starting my own blog and they’re just what I needed to read before I launch.
Flag as inappropriateVery good post to start thinking about SEO. We have many other important things, but I imagine it would be too big a post. It would be nice to do another post with more advanced content. Thanks!
Flag as inappropriateSEO is a nightmare and I wish Google didnt make it so difficult for new sites to go up against old competition!
Flag as inappropriateThanks this will help!
Flag as inappropriateThanks for the Explorer tip
Flag as inappropriatewow Cool tip thank for sharing.148
Flag as inappropriatewow Cool tip thank for sharing.134
Flag as inappropriatewow Great article, thanks!151
Flag as inappropriateGreat reading! Thanks for sharing
Flag as inappropriateThank you for the post. Really helpful. :)
Flag as inappropriateWork hard and total effort bring benefits for someone who is serious in playing their role.
Flag as inappropriateI could not agree more, I feel exactly as you have described in the post. Not only do people spend entirely too much time worrying about search engines, they also tend to know nothing about the niche they are trying to offer information about. One thing I believe all bloggers should be doing is focusing a lot more about content and not worrying about how fast they can get visitors. If they do that, then the traffic will come in by itself, slowly but surely.
Personally, I like to link to as many sites as I feel like because the more resources my readers have, the happier they will be that I’m offering a list of ALL of the sources right on my site. That will make them come back right there, to get links to other places as well.
I even put in my about page on my blog saying:
“I am a big fan of Abduzeedo, another design inspiration blog. Although me giving out links to competitors blogs doesn’t seem very smart because it’s competition, but I don’t really care. It’s not about the visitors, or how much money I make off the blog, as long as I get to keep posting beautiful designs I’ll be happy.”
Also, commenting like this for example and actually contributing to the conversation is a great way to get respect for your site. I’m not saying I’m doing it for that purpose right now though, I just feel that people need to understand that it’s not about money, it’s about getting people interested.
Flag as inappropriateGreat to see a post on SEO. At the end of the day what is good for the reader is more or less what is good for the search engines …. after all, that is how the search engines try to design their algorithms, around working out what is great content with authority. Good SEO just makes it possible for you to reach the widest possible audience.
But it’s always good to see someone reminding us all that it’s the visitor who it’s ultimately all about!
Flag as inappropriateanother good article about SEO
Flag as inappropriatethanks
i have started thinking. Thanks
Flag as inappropriatethanks for this awesome post it will help, i’m sure!
Flag as inappropriateand thanks a second time cause you’re sharing your experience with us =)
Great article. So helpful
Flag as inappropriateHmmm, if there’s anything I learned while blogging it’s that without hard work you can’t achieve anything.
I, for example, was very active in my blog 1-2 yrs ago and after that i abandoned it, but i still hold first page on google for some good keywords related to web design and development.
I will for sure start working on my blog and I found this article really inspirational.
Thanks bro!
Flag as inappropriateGreat post david will take your words of wisdom in to consideration, it is hard thou not to think about the ad’s side of it.
Flag as inappropriateI need you to talk to some of my customers… :) Great article.
Flag as inappropriateAs I have read so many interesting articles on “SEO”, “Web Site Optimization”, “The Secret To Linking”, etc., this was not what I was expecting at all…it was far better, more reliable information and worth the read! In fact, the information presented here actually shed a lot of light on what my peers and I speak about continuously concerning content and how it should be perceived. If utilizing “get rich quick schemes” is how you plan on continuing your career online, this is not the article for you.
This is the much needed “eye opener” that other Developers, Designers, Web Marketers, etc., should pay close attention to. Grant it, there are some valid points from several readers within this blog (and I honestly respect their concerns), but overall the message here makes great Common Sense.
David, GREAT JOB on relaying pertinent information to the public as well as giving us the opportunity to learn from the outstanding tutorials you have available. You have a Web site full of great content and knowledge that I will gladly bookmark and pass along.
Regards,
Flag as inappropriateRob Busby
I really appreciate your feedback Rob, glad that you found the information useful. There’s always more to be said, but this is my attempt to take back ground the “schemers” have stolen: There is no silver bullet to success online, or to top search results, etc. The only way to really ensure success is to have a strong and valuable foundation.
Hope to see you stop by some more mate! Thanks again!
Flag as inappropriateseo insight new are always good
Flag as inappropriateLove this post! Great insights and reminders.
Flag as inappropriatethanks for sharing, effective article:)
Flag as inappropriateGreat strategy David, I always tell people that they should focus on writing better content.
Of course there are other factors as well. If tutorial9 had a terrible layout, would it still have as much unique visitors a day? Would so many places have linked-back?
If tutorial9 had not conducted some of its on-page SEO, would it still get as many visits from google?
Did tutorial9 and friends work hard on getting high marks on digg, stumbleupon, etc? Or did high-marking diggers and stumblers pick tutorial9 as one of their favorite sites?
Every little thing can make a difference, even the style in which you write your articles. But really tutorial9′s biggest success is the quality of articles, they are all actually quite useful.
Flag as inappropriateI will not ignore it now you mentioned it.
Flag as inappropriateIt needs to be a balance. You must have both:
1. Good quality content
2. Spread the word of your site.
You can have great content on your site, BUT if no one knows that your site exists, you won’t get visitors.
Best way is to write good content and be active on other sites. Plug your site when/where you can. You’d be amazed the traffic you can get by simply putting your link on a forum signature. At least that covers the ‘advertising’ side of things. Then its all down to writing the content.
Good post though!
Flag as inappropriateGreat read David,
I face this struggle a lot as I work for a search marketing company, and often finding myself pushing for us to value our content more.
Driving traffic doesn’t guarantee conversion, or reader growth. Leading people to a page that is crammed with key phrases, and “Seo’ed” jargon doesn’t show value.
I definitely agree with what you said…
“You might not see that immediate boost of traffic, but you’ll be creating a base to build upon.”
thanks again man,
~ Aaron I
Flag as inappropriateThanks Aaron. It would be great to get more insight into how you handle those kinds of situations in a more corporate environment. I’m sure there are tons of people in your situation who would love to hear what works well, and what doesn’t seem to work.
Appreciate you stopping by :)
Flag as inappropriateThis is a great post, and you’ve hit the nail on the head, that’s for sure. I’ve been a web designer / developer / webmaster for just over 9 years and I can certainly vouch for the saying “Content is King”.
Flag as inappropriateGreat blog guys. Thanks for this.
Flag as inappropriateGood on your
Flag as inappropriategood articles !! Thanks for sharing .
Flag as inappropriateI am working on setting up my own blog for my website and and I have read a lot of SEO articles, but this one really is IMPORTANT. You hear content, content, content, but if you area really there for the people… they will be there for you!
Thanks for the article!
Flag as inappropriateYou made a great point about the “job of a search engine.” Google’s mission is to provide the best possible service/most relevant content to its users. They will never stop improving their algorithms and, ultimately, the most relevant content will work its way up to the top.
Flag as inappropriategreat article! great website.. it’s full of smart content.. that’s why I bookmarked it now and I will visit it again and again.. and this is exactly how things work..
Flag as inappropriatekeep up…
The way you reply, the way your tutorial goes is just perfect.
Flag as inappropriateI really don’t have words to express. I’m from Sri Lanka. Willing to do a site. Ur site gave me tones of ideas and new thoughts….Thank you very much…
” Imagination is more important than knowledge ” Albert Einstein____U got them both….All the Best ***
Great stuff my friend! When is the betterblogger.net going up?
Flag as inappropriateKeep me posted. I think you guys need to create an ad that can be placed other bloggers blog to help promote your site to a new level…Maybe even your own products with affiliate promotions. I’m sure you have many plans and tricks up your sleeves…Keep up the good work…
Sal Stabler
nice tutorial. thanks a lot
Flag as inappropriateGreat blog guys, really interesting. I will be taking alot of this on board.
Flag as inappropriateinteresting post… thanks and keep up the good work
Flag as inappropriateWatch out man, this reminds me of the scene in Jerry Maguire where he suggests less clients and more personal attention, then gets fired. You suggest we make sites for the visitor? Totally unheard of, lol!
Seriously though, I have tried to pound the point home that we must give them (the visitor) what they want, but the corporate bigwigs can’t see past their deadlines and want everything fast and now.
Good post.
Flag as inappropriateFast, Now, and with “tons of SEO”.
I spoke with a friend working for a client the other day interested in optimizing their Search Engine Optimization, and I’m pretty sure I made them pull a 180 on a choice they were going to make based on myths the SEO-”Experts ” spread.
Flag as inappropriateGreat blog guys, really interesting. I will be taking alot of this on board.
Flag as inappropriateI agree with Sandeep, it is not always about content 100%. You need good content which people will enjoy reading and linking to. But you also need to blog about it as well, show others about it and get some quality links back to it. Although you can’t have good quality links without good quality content. It makes the process so much easier if you are creating something that makes others WANT to link to.
Flag as inappropriateAbsolutely Claire, content is not the only important thing about a website. Without content, nothing else falls into place. With content though, a website will naturally grow (and much faster if you’re a helpful person in the online community).
Flag as inappropriateI learned more from this post than all the research I’ve been doing on how to increase blog traffic.
Thank you sincerely.
Flag as inappropriateThank you Michael :)
Flag as inappropriatereally helpful advice!
Flag as inappropriateHi David intresting Post your recomendation is important regarding content but SEO is not all about content( I accept content is major) there are other ways aswell socialize your website or blog to people talk about the offers, promotions , information etc on social media.Tell people that your site is unique and prove it.
Cheers
Sandeep
Flag as inappropriateI wouldn’t call promotion via marketing, or social media a form a Search Engine Optimization. It’s promotion/marketing.
And I think it’s an important part of building a successful site as you suggest. Social Media is a great way to build a loyal following by constantly staying in touch with your viewers.
Flag as inappropriateyes I do agree with david wht he is suggesting about SEO it is important to make the contnet according to the SEO standards so we get gud rankings in search engine
Flag as inappropriategood resource for seo
Flag as inappropriateYou have a great website! Can you mail me? I have so many questions in my mind about how you made this site…
Flag as inappropriatethanks! cool info.
Flag as inappropriateAwesome tutorial and WEBSITE! It’s amazing how young you are and the work you are able to produce. Keep up the great work.
Flag as inappropriateThanks Paul :) Happy to hear you enjoyed the tutorial and Tutorial9!
Flag as inappropriateI bookmarked your blog because you have submitted very useful tutorials in this web blog. So,I will visit again your web site because this site has a good content and provides useful information for the readers,for people. Original good content is mostly important for Search Engines also. If you have a good content,the visitor comes again and again .Of course,other Seo techniques als should be applied with ppc.
Flag as inappropriate“Google is Smarter Than You or I Will Ever Be”
So very true. :D
Flag as inappropriateGreat post! book marked!
Flag as inappropriateSo very true! Great post BTW! I’ve implemented some of these same principles on my blog from the beginning. It is a very specific and hot niche, it’s not as crowded and getting in early really Organically secured top Google rankings. My key formula, “Content is King!” The more useful and relavant content posted makes humans, search engines and other websites notice… and follow. I regard this higher than any other and proves useful.
Flag as inappropriateSo very true! Content needs to be relevant to the users, helping increase user satisfaction, create return visits and so on.
Loved this post, easy and fun to read :)
Flag as inappropriateHi! David, this Web Bloging Tutorial is gold. You have a easy, and casual way to present facts that make you a great teacher… and this is a talent.
Flag as inappropriateThanks
Michey
Thank you Michey for the kind words :) Always makes me happy to hear!
Flag as inappropriateI thought I read somewhere that google partly ranks your site based on how many other sites link to it. Am I wrong?
Flag as inappropriateNo, you’re partly correct. But consider this: Google and other search engines are constantly trying to modify their code to make it return the most accurate result as a human would see it. Humans would care more about correctness, the validity of something, accuracy, whether or not the result is related, etc. Therefore, in the long run it’s much more important to take these into consideration and let the links come in naturally (which they tend to do if it is high quality content).
Flag as inappropriateNice article, I try to link to as many website as i can.
Flag as inappropriateThat’s right, we, the perfunctory and so called webmasters think too much of the search engines instead of the people actually whom the site is made for and the funniest thing is we sometime try to outwit geniuses like google which should be ruled out. Thanks a lot for pointing out the flaws and reminding us the things we should actually do. Issue of back links do really divert people like us from our main job and concentrate to the blogs to add their links. But here I’m writing this for appreciating this nice post and nothing else. Thanks again
Flag as inappropriateGreat post. I think that helping others is the key to success. Having the right solution to the visitors problem, they will come again next time they have another problem. It’s simple. But what most webmasters can’t stand is the time it takes before you see results from all the SEO.
Flag as inappropriateGreat points, people all too often design web sites around the search engines and not the users. You will notice that sites appearing in top rankings for Extremely Popular terms provide relevant content and user experiences.
Flag as inappropriateI’m currently working on my portfolio and after reading your articles on blog posting and creation I’m going to have to take another good look at my design and see what I can do to improve it. I should add something to the top like an about me short version and a services paragraph as I’ll be offering webdesign services and coding of it as well (as in PHP and Mysql CMS style coding). I know a real surprise and really new on the net but I’m not really a orginial person. Have a look at my design if you find the time to (it’s under construction and the placeholder posts are in Dutch) and maybe you could give me a few pointers.
Flag as inappropriateGreat post, SEO and PPC are the only good ways to advertise anymore
Flag as inappropriateGreat article. It always seems the most obvious solutions are not looked upon
Flag as inappropriate@Greten: Which sort of reflects what Emily contributed to the discussion earlier. Content is the most important, but presenting it in a way that is accessible to all viewers and Search Engines shouldn’t be put aside.
Flag as inappropriateExcellent article. I’ve seen people go crazy over stuff like this, going to big seminars trying to find the real “secret” to getting up in the rankings. I don’t even think about search engines because there is no way I’m going to get the top place in a phrase like “Photoshop Tutorials” or something like that. I just design and code the way I think that the W3C wanted.
Shouldn’t it be “A SEO Strategy” as opposed to “An SEO Strategy”?
Flag as inappropriateGood post! Good content is key to attracting loyal visitors in the long term.
Flag as inappropriateI fully agree with you in that instead of putting time and effort trying to “work the system” , rather invest your time in developing good content and usability.
I agree, people should be writing for human visitors rather than search engines. The objective of search engines is to emulate human users. Hence writing for humans is a good search engine optimization technique.
However, we also need to consider how search engine works. At least, we should avoid some of the biggest SEO mistakes like using frames and pure flash websites.
Flag as inappropriateHi,
Nice post here, a very interesting one aswell, and one that I totally agree with, I definately think this is the way forward to keep visitors coming back to your website, and with that they are most likely to spread the word, and build up your visitor count.
Flag as inappropriategreat article. And yes you must catered what your viewers need so they will come back everytime. Good quality post is the main key.
Flag as inappropriateHuh, I know there is no one right way to do something. But of course if You enjoy what You are writing – You will got better results than any other. It makes sense. Yeah, maybe too many people get worried about SEO more than just the one basic rule – write good content. Thanks!
Flag as inappropriateAs far as I’m concerned, what you’ve detailed here (good content) IS SEO by the very definition. Good content, targeted at what your given audience is interested in and searches for, is “optimized” for search engines because it’s optimized for your users. Taking it another level (a just as important level) is “wrapping” that good content in clean, valid and semantic (X)HTML. For example, headings (hx) and bullets (ul) aid the reader in scanning, but Google and other search engines give greater weight to the text in those headings and lists. And staying away from tables and “tag soup” in your markup makes it easier for SEs to spider your content (faster), which can help with search engine rankings. Lightweight, semantic code — coupled with great content — on my employer’s sites (not to mention my own) has done wonders for our SERs.
Flag as inappropriateYes! great article. It’s so common sense but I’m glad it’s being said. So many spend time gaming the system that they don’t focus on the content. Even if you do everything else to drive traffic it doesn’t matter if the content is useless. Thanks.
Flag as inappropriateI’m trying a little sneaky trick will let you know if it has any success ;)
But seriously good material is the key!
Flag as inappropriate@Nick | Resource Pile: It’s a vastly different approach to SEO than what’s common. Spending time on content for optimal search engine results over the long-term :)
Flag as inappropriate@John: Well, taking into account WHAT kind of site it is definitely has a lot to do with Bounce Rate. There are lots of factors really: Where is the traffic coming from? How targeted is the traffic? What percentage of the audience coming in does the content target? How well does the page convey the points to the audience? etc
A page about selling cars is not going to interest someone looking for cat pictures. A page in “StumbleUpon” is likely to have a much higher bounce rate because of the high number of come-and-goers. A page selling services will have a higher bounce rate than a page offering free services.
But really, I would not say 50% is a high bounce rate — especially if that is for your whole site (given that it is a portfolio site, even more-so). I’d say you should focus on individual pages, and monitor each of those pages bounce rates. Make tweaks and see if you can improve the individual rates for those pages ;)
Flag as inappropriateGreat post. However, I wouldn’t call this an SEO strategy, since it’s not really SEO, in fact, it’s more anti-SEO. But it’s this anti-method that actually brings long term gain ;)
Flag as inappropriateI wish I could get our bounce rate down. It hovers at 50%. I’ve worked really hard at putting the most important content as the focal point (portfolio). It’s been very successful in terms of getting people to those pages and we have seen an increase in form submissions but the dang bounce rate never changes.
Interestingly enough, our client sites do not suffer from this same problem, just ours.
Flag as inappropriateGreat post David! The key to getting traffic and loyal subscribers is offering useful content.
Flag as inappropriate@liam: Definitely — I mean, of course you should be apply standards in your web work (you know, pages should be titled so that folks and SE’s know where they are, and all that jazz) Search Engines WILL index you properly in the long run.
It’s there job.
Too often, I think webmasters try to do the job FOR the search engine — which as I stated in my article is really only a short term solution.
Flag as inappropriateSo very true, I much prefer reading blogs of people who are nice, helpful easy to talk to etc. Also, for me its not important where I am on Google etc. I do fine with traffic without even bothering about search engines.
I think my focus is on making sure that people who would want to see my content get the chance to see my content, so that means people sharing or promoting posts which they find useful to other people who might find it useful. If your content was good enough to be at the top of the search engine then it will creep its way up there surely?
I’m no expert in this area by any means, but i do think like you that people can get a little carried away with it.
Flag as inappropriate