What’s it going to take to get SEO traffic in 2010?
I know I’m getting asked this by clients, I’m having friends and co-workers ask me this… It’s not an easy answer and it’s not something someone can easily just say… It’s one simple strategy…. Do this and you will be successful…
Fact is everything’s going Pink… (No-Follow), and everything’s getting censored and all the old white-hats and blackhat’s aren’t working the way they used to… To re-cap here’s a few strategies that won’t work well for you in 2010…
- Article Marketing (unless you plan to become the guru of the topic)
- Social Bookmarking (a few sites help, but unless your content is fantastic… this is dead)
- Paid Links (Google has ways of figuring these out even if it’s not ever published…)
- Blog Comments (yes, even the do follows don’t do much)
- Wikipedia Links (For SEO? Nope.. But for click traffic it’s still good)
- Social Profiles (for link building no, for ranking for niche phrases.. maybe..)
- Parasite hosting (not very ethical… and they do get deleted, then what?)
- Directory Submissions (the main directories and niche topic ones.. will help, but the smaller ones wont.)
- Hub page creation (for niche phrases, short term strategy perhaps but not long term as competitors creep in)
- Guestbook Signing (hello 2003, I was finding this effective for a bit, but now they’re so heavily monitored…)
- Online classifieds (45 days worth of link juice… if it doesn’t get deleted…)
So what do you have to do to get rankings and long term traffic?
Fact is that one of my favorite things to say for the last 6 years has been this… If it makes good business sense to get advertising from a certain site or join partners with a certain site, then it makes good SEO sense too. The best strategy that existed before modern SEO strategy is to get people talking. Write about topics people want to hear about… I think this will be the age of Real time search, where believe it or not… Tools like the Google keyword tool, Wordtracker and those others will be completely obsolete…
Your new keyword research tools are:
- Twitter (search “I want to know…” – “I can’t find..”)
- Yahoo Answers
- Google Answers
- Forums around niche topics
By the time 30 days rolls around and the search volume data is available to Wordtracker and Google, it’s 30 days old. It’s ancient news. It may not even *BE* In demand anymore. Oh yes, you’re going to see that real time answers are the next big thing. If you’re not on top of your game, your niche. If your finger isn’t on the pulse of your customer’s wants, needs and desires, you’re dead in 2010.
Am I being unfair? Nope.
Update from Wordtracker:
“The only point I’d like to raise is that Wordtracker’s data isn’t just 30 days old. While the US dataset goes back 365 days, new data is added every day, and this new data is between 16 and 30 hours old when it hits the servers.”
Hey Dan
I like the way you always tell it like it is.
Straight and to the point.
Keep up the great work
Scott
PS Yes, we are buddies, have worked on projects together, and had dinner just last week. Anything else I should disclose to be in compliance with the new FTC rules? :^)
Hi Daniel,
I’m Mal, and I work for Wordtracker Customer Support. I read your article with interest, you’ve got some good points about the way that methods of attracting traffic that previously worked well may not be so effective in the coming years, and in some niches, real time search is going to be very important – many brands are now well engaged with their markets via social media (Twitter, Facebook – the list can go on…) which gives fantastic opportunity to respond in real time – I’ve found this myself while talking with Wordtracker customers on Twitter.
The only point I’d like to raise is that Wordtracker’s data isn’t just 30 days old. While the US dataset goes back 365 days, new data is added every day, and this new data is between 16 and 30 hours old when it hits the servers.
Many businesses can’t depend on something that trends for 24 hrs and then drops off the radar – for example, people selling sledges (or snowshoes, or even skis) in the UK, due to the sudden massive glut of snow related issues here will have had a great window of about 48 hrs or so to capitalise on snow related searches.
One of the good things with Wordtracker is that you get a form of input from reasonably fresh data, but you also get the opportunity to follow keywords and see seasonal trends, and prepare strategies accordingly, as well as the ability to see the longer tail.
Like I said, though – you raise some good points there. All the best with your endeavours in 2010,
Mal
Hey Mal,
When I used to use Wordtracker as my daily tool and my only source of keyword data, they added new content every Wednesday… So I had thought it was actually weekly, not 30 days.. But Google is every 30 days litterally.
My appologies tho, WT truly is a great tool and I had no idea the data was that fresh!
Scott, should we tell our viewers about that hotel we own in maui? Haha. Thanks Scott.