Online search is a murky world for those looking to be found at the top of Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Google is a very smart company. The sophistication of the algorithms they write is incredible; bear in mind that there are currently cars driving themselves around Silicon Valley powered by Google’s algorithms. Creating content on a consistent basis not only builds links internally (by linking out from your posts), but also gives you the ability to naturally attract links to your content. A blog is essential to many strategies I list below, such as linking out. Google Webmaster Tools will inform you when there are technical problems with your website, if Google is having issues crawling your website, which keywords are bringing people to your website, page load times, and other highly important information.

Competitor Analysis

When deciding which keywords to go after, you could also use a tool, but simply googling your keywords will also give you insight into the difficulty to rank for a certain search term. Website crawl-ability and making a website searchable goes beyond making sure Google can “crawl” the website. Understanding how a website’s users (including Google) are navigating a website is key to building an information architecture. Building the information architecture in a way that mirrors their thought processes will help both user types discover information on a website. Build a list of other niche blogs in your field. Start commenting on their blogs with insightful comments, and then reach out to them and ask if you can write one guest post for them. If they accept, write NEW content for their blog (don’t just copy and paste something already existing on your blog). Remember to include a couple links within your post linking back to your site, using anchor text with your relevant keywords. Long-form content is a magnet for long tail searches. The more searchers and visitors you attract, the more you can ‘satisfy’ and the better chance you can rank higher in the long run.

Advanced link building SEO principles

Google crawls most popular pages several times per day, but they don’t want you manipulating them, so they update their index pretty slowly. There’s no getting around it. Keyword research is a vitally important aspect of your search engine optimization campaign. Many people fixate on "on-page SEO" in their marketing efforts. They make sure their keywords are jammed in the copy and the internal links and silos are set up correctly. For a typical WordPress site this might take an hour or two to knock out the easy stuff. Increase visibility to new content you create by sharing it on social networks and building links to your content (both internally and from external sites).

The person with the most useful content that can generate the highest quality links will win

Strategically written website copy includes well-thought-out internal links and calls to action. SEO isn’t an inherently spammy or unethical form of marketing. In fact, SEO strategies are more effective if you follow the guidelines set out by search engines. SEO and positioning your website to rank top spots in the search engines require some careful planning. Just like setting up a business or going to war, it requires strategizing for optimal results. Gaz Hall, an SEO Expert from the UK, said: "Compelling and unique images have always been at the forefront of link building strategies. Search engines, website owners, and their audiences find these types of assets helpful to the overall online experience."

Invest in a third-party monitoring service

Even if the social search playing field hasn’t been completely defined yet, one of the key takeaways from the early actions of Google, Bing, and Facebook is that as marketers, we need to start seeing our search engine optimization strategy and our social media strategy as utterly intertwined. Any link to another part of the same site is called an internal link. As well as links you'd expect to find (within a site menu bar, for example) you can also create internal links by linking to past posts within newer ones. Don’t just stuff your keywords in willy-nilly and then tack on your city and state (or region or county) at the end. Remember that in addition to conveying to Google the terms for which you want your business to be relevant, these are the phrases that your prospective customers will see when they’re searching. All Javascript and CSS files on your site must be unblocked. That means Google must be able to access those files so that it can see the site as a normal visitor does.