Alt attributes are the text alternatives to your image which will appear if your image fails to load, or if the user is accessing your site with an assistive device such as a screenreader. Because web crawlers don’t have eyes, they’re also what search engines “see” instead of an image, making them important for both accessibility and SEO. Instead of writing on-page copy for the sole purpose of repeating a keyword multiple times, you should write about your product or service or idea naturally, and let your keyword variations naturally fall into place. If that doesn’t happen, go back and spring in some variations into the content so that the same message gets across, just optimized! You may not be familiar with Schema mark-up, however it’s increasingly important and can do wonders for certain site’s visibility. How you’ve worked in the past won’t be how you work in the future. That’s because the SEO practices that have long been the norm are now being seen in a very different light. From the threat of Google de-indexing sites to legislation breaches leading to criminal charges, the search practices of brands, agencies and bloggers are in the spotlight.

Make your content much more linkable and much more likable

If you’re not blessed with excellent writing skills, outsource this job to somebody who is. With 75 percent of companies currently increasing their content marketing budget, it’s apparent that content can no longer be treated as a part-time job. Outsourcing content creation to dedicated writers allows for consistent, high quality publishing, fresh perspectives, insight into best practices and better leveraging of resources. Strategically written website copy includes well-thought-out internal links and calls to action. Whether we like it or not, SEO isn’t simply “plug n’ play”, and it won’t automatically look after itself. You’d be surprised, however, at the ROI you can achieve with a few hours of focused outreach every month. Every website has its own issues, but all websites benefit from optimizing the conversion rate. It really doesn’t matter if your goal is more sales, more Facebook likes or more newsletter subscribers.

Clearly stipulate what SEO cannot achieve

Using keywords in your content allows you to reach better more diverse audiences, including niche audiences. The key to this is using keywords naturally within your content. Maybe the most fascinating thing about search is how quickly and regularly it changes. What we’ve covered here today may be replaced by something entirely different a few years or a few months from now as technology continues to evolve. Although word count doesn’t rule the SEO world – nobody will read your stuff if it’s not helpful to them. Putting your individuality and personality across throughout the off-site SEO process (outreach emails, guest posts, social shares, etc.) makes others more likely to engage with you. Craft your unique selling proposition (USP) based on your own personality and the way you can best solve your customers’ problems.

How to approach content from an SEO perspective

Companies that repeatedly add links to directories are also more likely to be seen as spamming, which raises automatic red flags with the search engines. To be successful in SEO, you need to know a site's mission, brand, target audience, and operations--and know those factors intimately. The only way to do that is to have agencies and clients work closely together throughout the process. A website redesign presents the perfect opportunity for you to analyze your backlinks and remove the shady ones. If you use Google Webmaster Tools, you’ll see a “manual penalty” appear if Google detects one of these low-quality links. You’ll then have the option to make such links “no follows” so Google stops paying attention to them. Gaz Hall, an SEO Expert from the UK, said: "The biggest mistake I find search engine optimization (SEO) copywriters making is attempting to substitute a generic term for a specific keyphrase."

Entirely too genius SEO

You already know that a considerable amount of Internet traffic these days comes from mobile operating systems. SEO criteria frequently changes and becomes more difficult, so many website owners (and so-called SEO professionals) fall out of their practice claiming that SEO is dead. Panda has ensured that publishing poor quality content to earn rankings simply isn't effective anymore. And Penguin ensures that traditional link building can be risky and dangerous to search engine visibility. Caffeine's Freshness update has obfuscated large swaths of keyword data used to measure SEO success. If you’ve been producing content in a haphazard manner, hoping and praying that some of it eventually ranks, it’s time to buckle down and commit to a more methodical SEO content strategy for the web.