As we know, when it comes to SEO there have traditionally been two distinct camps – those who practice white-hat SEO and those who venture on to the “dark side” with the implementation of black-hat SEO, sometimes called attempting to game the system. In reality it could be claimed that all SEO is designed to manipulate the system to gain higher rankings, whether your preferred means of doing so is by submitting genuinely newsworthy press releases to a wide range of media outlets (white hat) or blasting your site with spammy links (black hat) using one of the automated tools available.
Now that the dust has settled it appears clear to most observers that SEO is not dead, but the rules of the game have changed significantly. Or have they? What do we mean by this? Google has always claimed that in order to have your site rank highly in the SERPs all that was required was to ensure that it contained lots of valuable content, the type which internet users would like to link to naturally, without the need for artificial manipulation. Ignoring for the moment whether you agree with this or not, it appears clear that content – that is, original, thought-provoking comments likely to engender a response among readers – is once again pivotal. Good content is more likely to be shared via social media, one of the reasons many believe that social signals are beginning to play a more important role than ever in rankings. Even here, however, there is little consensus. Some observers have claimed to notice ranking improvements as a result of increased Tweets rather than Facebook likes, while others claim the reverse is the case.
What appears clear is that with the industry in its current state of flux, there are opportunities for those who know what they are doing. You can of course choose to do your own SEO or else commission UK SEO services from a local expert, like SuperbSearch, whose logo is featured above. There are many agencies to choose from. If you decide to outsource your SEO, be sure that the company you select is able to supply you with appropriate social proof of its achievements in ranking other sites. Also make sure that you receive a report from them on the work they have done and are doing for you.