The 10 Commandments of SEO and Content Marketing

  1.       Thou shalt not have any search engines before Google.

There are literally dozens of search engines out there, but which one does everyone know of? Google.  Don’t focus on trying to rank on other search engines. If you rank on Google, you’ll rank everywhere else too.

        2.       Thou shalt not take the name of Google in vain.

This is to say, don’t slander Google or begrudging dismiss Google as too difficult to rank on and therefore you give up.  As long as you’re actually writing and distributing quality content then Google will reward you eventually!  They just have to filter through all the spam first.

        3.       Remember to keep religiously Blog posting day.

One of the keys to effective content marketing through blog posting is being consistent with your posting.  Have a set time either once or twice a week that you post a piece of content every time.  Not only does Google recognize the consistency, but users will appreciate it as well when they can expect and look forward to your next post.

        4.       Honor Google and online users.

Don’t post cheap or spammy content!  Don’t add to the garbage that black hat SEO companies spill all over the internet.  This makes more work for Google and users as they must sift through page after page of useless gibberish to find the quality content they are looking for.

        5.       Thou shalt not use Negative SEO against a URL.

Using the negative SEO tactic against another site is very inefficient and could backfire.  For example, if you target a competing website to overtake them in the ranks, you may succeed in dragging them down, but you and all of your other competitors will all move up to fill the gap.  You could have used that time to promote your own authority and overtake all of your competitors.

        6.       Thou shalt not backlink to other websites.

Of course there are times where linking to another website is required and the ethical thing to do.  Try to create as much original content as you can so that you have other sites linking to you instead.  Also, linking to a bunch of other sites does in theory lower your authority since you’re giving authority to others by linking to them.

        7.       Thou shalt not steal/plagiarize content.

Yes, if you quote someone else or copy their content without your own perspective changing the content, then you are stealing and plagiarizing their work.  Treat others well and most of the time they will return the favor.

        8.       Thou shalt not bear false content.

If you don’t know about something you’re writing about, there is this great tool that is quite amazing that is essentially a free database of the sum of human knowledge called “the internet.”  Educate yourself on what you’re writing about instead of making low quality content that is for the most part wrong and any fact checker could call you out on.

        9.       Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s website.

A colorful and shiny website, maybe made using flash, does look great, but it is a very poor platform for SEO purposes.  Having a great looking and optimized SEO website is possible with the right digital marketing agency.  Find a good company that can give you the best of both worlds!

        10.   Thou shalt not covet they neighbor’s backlinks.

With the current state of the Google algorithm, backlinks have become not as important as they were in the past.  Focus on creating good content that you can be proud to have your name attached and that will carry more weight with Google then a bunch of random and spammy backlinks.