SEO boils down to two things

Improve your SEO and you’ll improve your rankings. That’s a given, but SEO isn’t just fiddling with H1 headers and links. It can be broken down into two areas: configuration and publication.

Configuration is everything you naturally think of when you picture SEO. It’s using keywords in H1 titles, making sure your links aren’t spammy or broken, having your site map updated, and even making sure there is no duplication of pages. It’s everything you do to make Google look at your site and view it favourably. It’s not the most important part of SEO, but without configuration, you’ll never step onto the playing field. It’s the framework on which you put the content of your site.

Publication, on the other hand, is the content on your site and the sharing you do with it. You can have a basic site with two links, but if you’ve got fantastic content the readers will seek our your site and share it with their friends. This is where the real skill comes in when it comes to SEO. The best thing you can do to increase your ranking is to write awesome posts (or hire a great writer to do it), make fantastic video, or create some other incredible content that people want to see. After that, share it where your ideal readers are hanging out. If they’re on Facebook, post it there. The same with Twitter, Snapchat, or any other platform your readers are looking for content on. The idea is to hook new readers by sharing content on social media, then convince them to seek out your content on their own the next time you post.

Do you need many back-links to rank high with your site? You really don’t need many, if any. The key is great content, not links, if you want to move up the ranks and increase your impressions.

For more information, visit the StewArt Media website.

Jim Stewart is a leading expert in search engine optimisation. His business  StewArt Media  has worked with clients including Mars, M2 and the City of Melbourne.