If Not PageRank, Then What?

I am sorry if I shot down some dreams in the last two posts when I talked about Google PageRank not being the end all be all of your SEO efforts. Trust me, I am not merely sour graping – I have been quite open about the PageRank of some of my personal blogs being slapped. It’s just that in every forum that I have posted about PageRank, I got the same answers from the more seasoned members. PageRank is good, but it is not everything. So if we’re not supposed to be obsessing about PageRank, what else can we do to step up our SEO efforts?

My answer is simple and complex at the same time – you can do everything! From linking to keywords to networking – all these things and more can help you go up the ranks in search engines. For this post, I’d like to go back to keywords. I know that many SEO experts say that keywords are a thing of the past but I believe that they still have weight. Just like PageRank, though, keywords are not the end all be all – they are merely a part of the larger (much larger) picture.

Darren Rowse wrote something about this many years ago, when keywords were still the “in” thing. He proposed asking yourself some questions when thinking about keywords:

• How do I want people to find this post in Search Engines?
• What will they type into Google if they want information on the topic you’re writing?
• How would I find information on this topic in the Search Engines?
• What results come up when I do plug these keywords into Google?
• What other keywords are other sites using?

These are very good questions to consider when thinking of the keywords to use in your blog. And remember, do not fall for stuffing your posts with keywords. Google is wise to this and you will be better off leaving it alone.

By Sparky in Basics, Blogs, Keywords, PageRank

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