For Long Term SEO Success Stick To Your Knitting

by Darren McLaughlin

There are certain techniques that work consistently when it comes to SEO. Once you find what works, it’s up to you to keep on doing it until it falls out of favor. Some things probably won’t fail for years. If what you’re doing is enduring, and actually adds value, then chances are it should work forever. Making your page as relevant as possible is one such example.

Signals of Quality Should Always Work

Of course Google has never officially outline what the “Signals of Quality” are, but you can guess. If you examine top ranking websites in competitive keyword categories, you’ll find plenty of examples on why they’re considered “high quality” websites. In general, you can assume these signals are related to on-page content and incoming links, and to a lesser degree outgoing links.

Google, and the other search engines, are constantly trying to refine how they look at these signals, and how they decide what quality really is.

Finding which factors count is your job

It’s your job to decipher what factors are enduring classics, and which ones are temporary fads. If you can do this successfully, you can limit your time to working on the things that really matter, and steering clear of potentially troublesome ranking fads.

I have a rough idea of what quality signals Google seems to look for, but I have no way of proving it. I guess you can say my findings fit in the realm of common sense, but wouldn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny. That’s the way the search engines want it, I think.

What do you think the important signals of quality are?