We’ve written time and time again about Matt Cutts on this blog, and with good reason. He is the de facto leader of Google’s SEO program, and the company’s face (and mouth) on all SEO related issues. Usually all we get from him are the weekly webmaster help videos, which are pretty good, but not quite enough for those of us hungry for SEO news. Luckily, this week Matt Cutts sat down with Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting and gave us an in-depth look on the current state of search engine optimization SEO as he sees it.
Let’s review some of the finer points of the interview with Matt Cutts.
As an overview, lets look at the overarching philosophy that Cutts projected through the interview. He feels that SEO companies would have more success if they stopped trying to get links. Instead, what they should be trying to do is create content that is worthy of being linked to. Any strategy that is overtly trying to get cheap links WILL be penalized. This isn’t a new idea, but it’s useful to know that it’s the mantra driving the algorithm updates we’ve been seeing lately.
Apart from link building, here are some of the other highlights.
-Press releases: In and of themselves, press releases don’t offer much in the way of SEO benefit. If you use them without actually doing anything newsworthy, they will eventually get you penalized. Where they are successful is when you have real news that then gets picked up by other editorial sources. The press release itself may not be valuable, but as it spreads organically, the value grows.
-Syndicating your Content: Content syndication is still a good way to go, but you need to make sure you are protecting yourself. Assign your content as canonical and try and wait a day or so before syndicating it to other sources so Google can be sure the content originated with you.
-Guest Posting: Guest posts are good if they are to an authoritative website in your niche, but they’re quickly becoming the modern version of article directories. Keep your guest posts to a handful on quality sites, and don’t let anyone you don’t trust post on your site.