We are all well aware that SEO is not static. The goal posts move consistently as the game evolves. Sometimes its hard to keep up, sometimes you feel like your the only person who missed out on the 2010 newsletter. There has been a lot of chatter in our office this summer about how much SEO has evolved this year. The information below is a brief summary of some changes I have noted that could help you improve your sites rankings.

1. Review the loading speed of your site, this came about early in 2010 and is a fairly minor ranking parameter, however searchers like speed. That is why we turned to the internet in the first place. It saved us from having to wonder through crowded streets avoiding pushchairs and people stopping in front of you at shop windows, best of all you get to avoid queuing. If a user decides from a set of results that they are going to visit your site, make damn sure that your site loads quickly. Else you might just find that they are very similar to the annoying people who stop at shop windows and then do not bother going in.

2. Natural linking and domain authority. Over time you will notice fewer poor quality sites appearing at the top of the results with poor quality links or one type of linkage. Search engines "assume" that a link from another website indicates that someone believes your site has useful information. Which in all fairness should have. One rule that has stood the test of time and always will is "content is king". To ensure your link building looks natural you need to make sure you vary your anchor text, build links to all the pages within your site and build links to strengthen your domain. How are you going to achieve this … news websites, follow links, no follow links, new websites and old websites, social networking sites, social book marking sites ….

3. Social networking is going to get bigger in 2011. "Conversational Marketing" and as far as I can see brand awareness is going to become increasingly more important businesses again. Building relationships, building trust and increasing awareness of your business is going to be in focus for 2011.

4. Google Instant: I reserve judgment at the moment. I think if you have a strong, sound well rounded SEO campaign in place, you should have taken into consideration long tail keywords. If you have not now is the time to start.

In summary I think 2010 has brought about changes for the better. Its to easy to be complacent and assume you know what is best, Google Caffeine brought about a big shake up, Google instant will no doubt throw up its own challenges, but somethings remain consistent. I think the future of successful SEO campaigns will not differ for those who respect and abide by best practices, well built websites and quality content will always win. In my opinion Aesop's Fables The Hare and the Tortoise would sum SEO up well …

Source by Holly Earp