Been away for a while is SEO really dead ? I don't think so...

[onlinemediadirect]

I have been struggling with the google updates but recently we started a new project and by using guest blog posts we were able to achieve a top 3 ranking. It delivered traffic and sales so SEO still works.

This is my understanding of the current situation -

1. Generic Keywords (forget it)

2. Go niche and long tail (but thats been the case for a while right)

3. Using related searches

4. Incoming links using brands and a wider range of phrases and urls.

5. Content thats sharable

6. Google plus buttons etc

This is my current understanding I would love to hear your thoughts.

[ReferralCandy]

Hi Garry,

You are certainly right - SEO is far from being dead and it has only started getting more interesting. Despite all the buzz about social media marketing and content marketing, search engines still bring in the bulk of the traffic for most sites and is responsible for many of the conversions.

If I may add on to the list, the recent introduction of Google Authorship has certainly changed the SEO landscape. It shows that Google is focused on recognising authors for their content. By linking up your articles with your Google+ profile, you would be able to have a snippet of your profile picture and a link to your profile underneath search results that correspond to your articles.

Studies have shown that these rich snippets improves the click-through rate, which is why content marketers need to work on setting up their Google Authorship now.