3 Prongs To Your SEO Tuning Fork

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 Comments (2)

When it comes to search engine optimization, it used to be about 2 things: Keywords and Links. Well, there’s really a lot more to it today than there used to be, but in some fashion SEO can be boiled down – as can Internet marketing – to 3 things. We can call them the 3 prongs to your SEO tuning fork.

What are those prongs? Glad you asked.

Keywords

Links

Traffic

Keywords are the basic currency of search engine marketing. You don’t have to count out strict density patterns. But how you manage your keywords – placement, quantity, the specific phrase you choose, etc. – determines how well you have optimized your on-page content and even, to some degree, your off-page content.

If keywords are the currency of search engine marketing, links are the currency of traffic authority. Specifically, I’m talking about inbound links. But your link management should consist of outbound and internal links as well. And when you manage your linking well, you’ll be judicious in how you use your links. If you use them the right way you can channel traffic to the pages you want it and increase your search engine benefits through the use of anchor text, and placement on authority sites of relevance to yours. Links are the glue that hold the other two prongs in place, the center prong, if you will.

Traffic. A lot could be said for that. It isn’t often thought of as an element of SEO even though every webmaster knows its importance. Without traffic you don’t have a Web business. You won’t make money. Who’s going to buy what you have to offer if they can’t see the offer? Still, conversions aside, traffic does affect your search engine rankings in some way. Though it’s not known just how much, stats like bounce rate, time on site, time on page, and other such relevant metrics could give you SEO points in some search engine algorithms.

How well do you manage the three prongs of your SEO tuning fork?

Comments (2) Category: SEO

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2 Comments

Comment by Susan

Made Tuesday, 7 of July , 2009 at 10:36 am

Hi Nick

Yes, I used to spend a lot of time thinking about building links to my properties and being overly strict on links out. I can still say I am some what still strick about what I link to but not with the same degree as before. I think you shouldnt link ou too much unless you feel the resource adds much more value that your can provide to your readers on your site.

Keywords and definite must but I now focus more on natural relevance for most of my sites that are broad but focus on about 5 for more niche sites. Of course their feeder sites would target other related keywords to channel traffic back

I havent come accross any definite info about stats but i believe they matter or the big-g wouldnt be tracking them with their analytics. I feel its an extension on google wanting to provide site visitors with relevant info that relates to the keyword that got them there in the first place. If that kw gets them there only for them to leave in a second, then that kw may be miss-representing what’s on that page. In so thinking, I believe google may stop sending traffic from that kw to that page. Just my theory

Thanks for the post

Susan

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Tuesday, 7 of July , 2009 at 11:31 am

@Susan – Thanks Susan for reading and your comment…it is a great theory for sure!