I wish I could get back the hours I’ve spent studying (and obsessing over) SEO. Search Engine Optimization is the practice of formatting and publishing content with the intention of attracting organic traffic via Google, Bing and Yahoo. Prominent placement in results for popular search terms can generate incredible activity for any website. A healthy organic profile can mean fewer ad dollars that need to be spent as it is essentially free marketing. How great does that sound? Google sending countless potential customers your way on a daily basis without having to spend a dime. Well, that’s the dream anyway…

Forget about SEO

The importance of SEO has quickly become a mainstream topic for online entrepreneurs and small business owners alike. With this comes numerous “experts” claiming to get your website to the top of page one results. In addition, there are literally millions of articles highlighting tips, tricks and tactics for tailoring your content to better attract search engine bots. Before you spend the next six months of your life brushing up on the latest trends in SEO or shelling out stacks of cash for sketchy black-hat services, consider these three facts:

  1. If someone offers you better SEO, it is a scam.
  2. The harder you try to impress Google, the more you upset it.
  3. It’s time for you to never think about SEO again.

Did I just tell you to forget about SEO in an SEO article? Yes! I’ll bet you’re breathing easier already. Allow me to further support my stance. Major search engines operate on a proprietary algorithm – a complex equation that determines the results of any particular query. These algorithms are constantly changing to better adapt to the evolution of the web and online behavior. Why would someone spend their time, energy and money catering to a particular release of Google when they release over 300 versions per year?

Many webmasters become obsessed with tweaking their content to please the latest algorithm release. The details of which are almost entirely speculation, by the way. This is an insane way to live, folks. As a website owner, your effort is better spent producing quality content. At the core of every search engine is a common, universal goal: to serve the best results for a search term. In a hundred years and a million releases this will never change. Google, Bing and Yahoo are on your side. Their whole business is displaying links to other people’s websites and you just happen to have a website!

Become an Authority

For years, internet marketers were able to scam the search engine game by creating ad-based websites stuffed to the brim with high-ticket keywords. These pages were dominating search results but providing very little value to the visitor. Not only have these sites since dropped from page one but many are penalized or removed (“sandboxed”) entirely from Google, Bing and Yahoo. The Wild, Wild West is over. It’s a more civilized environment now; a world that embraces authority, legitimacy and reputation. There’s only one way to climb the rankings these days: great content, and a lot of it.

Speak to your audience in an authentic, genuine and knowledgeable manner. Don’t over-write just to elongate a blog post and don’t deliver articles stuffed unnaturally with keywords and phrases. Be real with your readers. Write something you’d like to read – make it an enjoyable experience. Publish as much and as often as possible. At first, it will feel like you’re writing to nobody (and you are). This is where most websites die. Not yours, though. You will persevere and type away until one monthly visitor turns to three weekly visitors and so on. Your so-called “search engine ranking” will naturally grow as you continue to provide superb material for your loyal fans. The further SEO is from your conscious, the more organic success you’ll inherit.

Enough with the Backlinks

Check your spam inbox. Surely, it’s littered with dozens of empty promises to boost your SEO with backlinking pyramids, strategies and courses. It’s no secret that search engines use a URL’s backlink count as a general barometer of its popularity and usefulness. My issue is with seeking those backlinks in an unnatural way. Stay away from directories, don’t waste your time with guest blogging and ignore link exchanges. When it comes to getting organic links to your site, being proactive is counterproductive. Simply stop worrying about it – stop obsessing over it. Yes, backlinks are important but they will happen naturally over time if you offer the world premium information, products and services.

Be Social

I suppose in many ways, this can be considered an SEO tactic, which I have mixed feelings about. Notably, the prominent search engines are starting to put a lot of stock in a website’s social graph. What this means and how much it matters is anyone’s guess. However, your social activity should be a huge priority regardless. This is how you connect with your existing audience while attracting new followers every day. Ignore the SEO benefits of posting on Facebook or Google+ and just speak to your people!

I get excited easily, I know. Now that I’m coming down from my passionate diatribe, I should note the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization still stand. Obviously, include META descriptions for every page, ALT tags for images and adhere to universal page structure conventions when possible. It’s just common sense and often helpful to your visitors, regardless of the SEO impact. Your website should look good, feel great and be easy to navigate. Give your audience something worth coming back to and stop trying to appease the Google gods.