SEO, once the end all be all of ranking is now drifting from the head of the pack. Tactics that were once the forefront of marketing efforts should now be avoided. Here are techniques and tactics for today that show you how you can drive SEO positively.

First we must look at how SEO has changed over time. With how often search engines change their algorithm, it is no surprise that perpetual change goes hand-in-hand with SEO techniques and its best practices.

Google is the most popular search engine for a reason and we can certainly say that it strives to deliver the most useful and relevant search results related to user queries. Thus, great content has become essential to good website performance. In order to do this, you need a multifaceted and unified SEO strategy that focuses on 4 things: content creation, content promotion, conversion optimization and user experience.

Ultimately, Google ranks content over company. It’s as simple as finding the most useful answer to a Google user’s question and you find that in the content. Make your content relevant and it will be sent to the front of the line. In order for that content to make an impact, you need to gain exposure. Exposure is the result of promotion. The best methods to promote your content are via social media, outreach, public relations and paid advertising. With social media you can encourage social sharing, commenting and engagement. By reaching out to bloggers and influencers in your industry, it promotes word-of-mouth sharing. PR puts your content in public placements. Paid advertising provides a variety of options on many different platforms.

Conversion optimization helps increase your ROI, which is much more budget friendly than just attracting more visitors. The focus is to capitalize on current traffic through clear messaging, eliminating problematic features, easy sales funnel, the right content at the right time and measuring for the right insights.

The user-friendly experience is essential to any great website. Google detects how people interact with websites and it paints a picture of the website’s quality. The usability and quality indirectly influence search engine ranking. The more likely a user is to share or revisit a site, the better the rank.

So take this advice and build your website to be easy to use, with great content. Understanding the end goal of search engines can help us best determine the optimal SEO strategy.