On the surface, SEO tactics are constantly changing: Google makes minor changes to its algorithms daily, with several major changes, which they call Core Updates, coming every year. There are also the infrequent named changes, sometimes with clear names, like Page Layout or Exact Match Domain, and sometimes with cryptic ones like Panda, Penguin, or Hummingbird. Each of these changes is accompanied by headlines bombarding you.
Deep down, SEO strategy doesn’t change much.
Most of Google’s money comes from selling ad space around search results. In order to keep the lights on, Google needs to have good search results to keep people coming in and looking at ads. As a result, Google is always going to try to show people the most relevant, helpful, results. As long as you act as a partner to Google in this regard, you’ll come out ahead. You might get hit by a change here or there, but over time, the trend will be to your advantage.
If you compare articles about how to address Panda in 2011, and how to address the Core update from August 2018, you’ll see an astounding similarity, and all of it boils down to “have content that is relevant and makes search users happy Google showed it to them.”
There is no field where you’ll more easily see the difference in results between having a strategy, and having a set of tactics used sequentially based on current chatter.
Sure, you still have to stay on top of the changes in tactics, but that doesn’t mean you have to go whole-hog on every bright idea that gets mentioned. Adding authorship tagging and setting up Google+ accounts for your content generators and more visible staff wasn’t too much work, and it helped for a while. Adding authorship tagging and setting up Google+ accounts for everyone at the company was mistaking a fad for a trend.
Should you consider how Google currently uses answer cards in results when making new content, or what the current visible length of title and description tags are when optimizing it? Absolutely. Should you go back and revamp every piece of content on your site every time Google changes one of these things? Probably not.
Don’t get caught out chasing the wrong fad, or ignoring the right trend. We can help you put together a strategy for long-term SEO success that takes advantage of the right tactics at the right time.