In a few of my previous posts I rambled about the importance of title tags, h1,2,3 tags, and meta data. Correct html content only makes up about 30% of a website’s score. Off page optimization, mostly link building, is the primary trump card for appearing naturally in search. On page optimization will only allow a site to rank on a SERP if the market is not saturated with competitors (10 active sites pursuing seo)

If there are less than ten active competitors using best practices seo then a focus on content building will be very rewarding. In both cut throat, and mom and pop markets content building is important. Publishing content that your customers will find useful and informative is critical to search engine optimization. Follow this publishing effort up with some basic linking strategy and you will win even in competitive markets.

In order for Google to display your site, instead of a competing site, you must have good neighbors. If high quality, authoritative websites link to your website, that counts as a vote for you. When these websites link to your competitors it is a vote for them. OK, so now we have it. More links, More votes, Better page rank right?

Not really. Since hackers, spammers, and the like have been developing sneaky tactics to rig the Google elections that would make Boss Tweed say, “at a boy” Google has to look at much more than the sheer numbers of links. Google has advanced tactics which help it combat, and remove from it’s search results websites which use spammy techniques to build low quality links. For more on how Google combats spammy links check out Matt Cutt’s Blog.

Carefully consider where links to your site will appear. Google has been known to assume guilt by association, so when in doubt get your link elsewhere. If your website is not linked to other pages on the Internet including professional associations, business directories, client’s sites and blogs, it is much less likely that Google will display your content very often in it’s search results.

There are many more issues involved with linking such as dynamic/java links, nofollow links and others which can frustrate the link building efforts of the underprepared. Those business websites which would like to appear in front of their customers on Google in competitive markets will plan for extensive, expertly executed linkbuilding, or find themselves rarely on the SERP, and often well in the red.

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