What’s Working Now: SEO Strategies For 2012
Everyone knows that SEO is constantly evolving. It’s not the same as it was a few months ago and it wasn’t even the same yesterday. Google has no plan to stop changing the algorithm and they definitely aren’t going to stop fighting spam. So right now more than ever before; you need to focus on creating high quality content and you need to focus on white hat-ish SEO strategies.
I’ve had a few of my guys testing different SEO strategies to see what’s working now, and I can tell you, these strategies are:
1. Syndication
Syndication is fundamentally taking a piece of content (an article, video, blog post) and re-posting it elsewhere or sharing it. Press release sites technically syndicate content. They all have more or less the exact same press release. One PR on one site is just syndicated onto another. You can syndicate content by taking it, putting it on another site and linking back to the original source.
Some call this curating, where they take someone’s article, write about it, and link back to it. Essentially it’s syndicating. You can also syndicate content by spinning it and re-posting similar variations onto different websites.
Generally, when people syndicate content, they limit the amount of text they re-publish. I don’t know why, it’s just what people do. When you or other people syndicate your content, it’s seen as sort of social link building. Google thinks people are talking and writing about your content – so they boost your rankings because it’s the original source.
2. Social Signals
Social signals have been very important since Google first announced they officially incorporated them into their search algorithm. As time has gone on, it seems social signals have become increasingly more important. I would go as far as saying they are essential. Out of all the sites that got penalized, de-indexed or just punished from the Penguin/Panda updates – the sites with the most social signals got hit the least.
Social signals signify your content is the bee’s knees. It’s so damn good that people have to share it with their friends. Now honestly, how many articles or videos do you share on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus? I’m guessing a tiny percentage of the ones you see or read.
You can buy social signals and while you should definitely do that, there are other steps you must first take. Start by making your site more social. Add social sharing buttons to all of your pages and posts, strategically position them so people see them after they engage (read/watch) your content.
3. Press Releases
Press releases have also worked since the very beginning, as far as I’m aware. PRs are just news sites. They are where companies and individuals go to announce things, like the launch of a new website, product, or even a new blog post, page, or video.
PRs aren’t like articles, they have a very specific structure i.e. introduction, news, time of news, description of news, link to news. Whenever you publish something new, write a press release about it and distribute it to all of the top PR sites. It will boost your rankings and maybe even gain you some publicity.
4. Carefully Spun Article Submissions
Personally, I wouldn’t touch any spun article submissions unless you’ve got a real authority site. Spinning articles and mass submitting them to hundreds or even thousands of sites is so 2011. It’s a thing of the past, something that will never work the way it did a year or two ago.
Automatically spinning articles that is. Something I still advise people to do from time to time is carefully spin and submit articles. Just never use a spinner to instantly enter a load of bad synonyms to create “unique” articles.
Submitting that “unique” content will get you in trouble. What you can do is handwrite an article (500+ words) and carefully hand spin the sentences. Once you’ve hand spun the sentences each 3+ times, you can carefully spin the words.
If you do this, each spun variation should make total sense. So carefully spin, or otherwise there’s no point. Once you’ve hand spun your article, test some variations and make sure they read well. Once they do, you should submit them to 100-300 websites maximum.
You could play it even safer and only submit to 10-30 high Page Rank sites. But doing that is pretty wasteful. It does take 5+ hours to create one of these handwritten and spun articles.
5. Your Own Blog Network
As you should already know, blog networks came crashing down towards the end of 2011. Google de-indexed most of them and penalized a lot of their users. Blog networks are, as the name suggests, networks of blogs. Usually, you pay a fee like $75/month and gain access to the network.
Once you have access, you’re allowed to submit spun articles into the system which then get distributed to some of the blogs. Blog networks lasted for a long time and were probably the most popular way of ranking in the search engines.
Unfortunately, there was a crackdown where Google decided to get rid of them all. The blog networks weren’t hard to find at all. All Google had to do was sign up to them, use them, and look at all their incoming backlinks.
After the big Blog Network Crash, SEOs and webmasters have been terrified of using them. Really, they still work, just don’t use public ones. Instead, build your own! Buy high Page Rank domains, privately register them and host each one on its own IP address.
Then start posting articles to them linking to all of your sites. It works and probably always will. What Google can’t find, they can’t penalize.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions below.
Comments
webbroi
Hi David, great post. I would agree that these strategies work with Google’s current algorithm. I definitely agree that spinning articles must be carefully done. What is your take on Guest Posting?
Merle Gibbins
Great article, thanks for sharing.
Mustapha Barki
Great Empower Network.
Kate
Ah yes, I was also curious about the different IP addresses… does that mean you shouldn’t use a hosting account where you can put unlimited multiple websites on the same hosting account? (I’m just getting ready to start a second blog related to my first and I guess I should really understand this!)
Also – does the training inside of the Empower Network go into things like this in detail? I’m not clear if it’s primarily for network marketers, or just for anyone interested in making money from blogging…
Thank-you!
Mike
Very informative post. You always have the greatest SEO advice and I appreciate you sharing it! I have a question. How do I get different IP addresses?
Micah
That’s what makes TribePro so powerful 🙂
I’ve been spinning articles for a while, and I always do it by hand with an assisted spinner. None of that auto-spin crap; my articles are all readable. I also don’t link them straight to my blog. I link them to my front-line handwritten and submitted article directories and Web 2.0s.
Honestly, I was kinda surprised you didn’t mention this method.
davidmwood
Yeah, I wanted to keep this article as white-hat as possible. Manually building high-quality 2.0’s, article directory links, and guest blog posts works very well. And generally works a lot better when you blast links at them.
Jasmine T.
I absolutely loved this post! The way you broke down the SEO strategies for 2012 is incredibly helpful. I’ve been struggling to figure out which strategies still work in today’s constantly evolving SEO world, and your insights on syndication and social signals really hit the mark. It makes me feel more confident about implementing these methods. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and helping all of us who are trying to improve our online presence!
Leo H.
I have to say, I’m a bit skeptical about some of the strategies mentioned, especially the idea of building your own blog network. With Google’s crackdown on blog networks, isn’t this risky? Could you provide any case studies or examples where this has been successful recently? I’d like to see some evidence that this is still a viable option in 2012. Thanks in advance!
Claire M.
This was a fantastic read! One thing I’m curious about is the social signals. You mentioned that they are essential, but I’m wondering, do you think it’s better to focus on organic social sharing, or is it okay to buy social signals as you suggested? How do I ensure that the social signals I buy don’t get flagged as spam by Google? I’d love to hear more about this!
Samuel P.
I appreciate the effort that went into this post, but I have to disagree with the part about carefully spun articles. From my experience, even hand-spun content often doesn’t hold up under scrutiny by Google’s latest algorithms. Wouldn’t it be better to just focus on high-quality, original content rather than trying to spin articles? I’d love to know if you have seen good results with this technique in recent times.
Michelle R.
This post brought back so many memories from when I first started learning about SEO. I remember trying out some of these strategies like syndication and press releases, and they did wonders for my traffic. It’s great to see that some of these methods still hold value. By the way, David, how have you been? It’s been a while since we caught up. Let’s grab a coffee sometime soon!
Ethan G.
Reading this post reminded me of a time when I was building my first blog network. I used a similar strategy to what you mentioned, and it worked wonders for my rankings! I was able to boost my website’s traffic by building strong backlinks from my network. It’s interesting to see that even after Google’s crackdown, the concept still has potential if done carefully. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Patricia S.
I found this tool called SEOMoz that offers a lot of insight into keyword rankings and backlinks. It’s similar to what you mentioned about tracking social signals, but it also provides some great data for syndication efforts. I highly recommend giving it a try if you’re serious about SEO. Keep up the great work, David!
Olivia B.
David, thank you so much for this comprehensive breakdown of SEO strategies. I learned a lot, especially about the importance of social signals and how to use syndication effectively. I feel like I have a better understanding of how to implement these strategies on my own blog. Your advice on spinning articles was also very eye-opening. I’ll definitely be more careful when using this technique in the future. Keep up the amazing work!
