Everyone knows that Search Engine Optimization is not as easy as it was even 6 months ago. The Jagger update did prove to many of us that Google has become smarter and needs more than just keywords, links, and PageRank. SEO is also more time consuming and more advanced. Content has to updated frequently, navigation has to be easier, inner pages now need to get stronger incoming links.
Regarding links, you have to forget the idea of “the more, the better”. But instead, prefer the idea of “the most relevant, the better”. You don’t need hundreds of links to rank well, I recently noticed that one of my clients competitor ranks very well on Google for a very competitive search phrase and has only 100 links, while pages behind him have 500, or 1000 backlinks. During your link campaigns, target only those related directly to you. Even if it takes more time, don’t give up, keep contacting webmasters and let them know that your website exists and that it could be a great resource for their visitors. If you do ask kindly, there is no reason they should say no. Because that’s what all webmasters want, right? Provide useful information to their visitors.
One other thing that you should focus on is to make your website “visitor friendly”. Your website should be easy to use, provides comprehensive information and updated frequently. By focusing more on the user, you are more likely to have them revisit your website again. Also, a user friendly website makes a site more “linkable”. Online discussions and social bookmarking is booming: by having a great website, that sets you apart of the crowd, you will increase your chances of getting links from your visitors and your clients. For example, forums is a great example: you ofen see people recommending companies to other members who are looking for advices. They do that naturally, because they liked your website, the services you provide, or your customer service. It shows again that to improve your presence online and your sales, you need more than just search engine rankings.