SEO – Search Engine Optimization – Even the name sounds as though you are about to commit a criminal act. In order to take a stab at the competition, we must overcome the many challenges of the world of SEO to succeed online. Navigating through over sixty trillion pages filled with content, blogs, information, data, whatever your poison, we must use SEO for more than a quick appearance in a vast online lineup.
Much like a good MO (Modus of Operandi), a well laid plan is the secret to getting killer rankings on search engines. Let’s take a look at how some of our favorite villains (and one superhero) would conquer this daunting task:
The Flash – The fastest man alive would have a few things to say about the importance of speed on the internet. This may go without saying, but one of the key ranking aspects of SEO is how quickly your page will load and if it doesn’t happen within the blink of an eye, that’s too much time according to The New York Times. Barry Allen (his real identity) would also tell us to drop keyword(s) quickly, into the first 100 words of content, for the best search results. Don’t annihilate your placement with a slow-go approach, beat them to the punch with quicker download times and better placement of keywords.
The Riddler – This evil genius has Batman constantly second guessing himself, and it would appear that Google is doing the very same thing with it’s ever changing algorithms. To get answers to Google’s many algorithms, consider the source and go there to find the information on these queries. Take it from The Riddler, it is better to know the answer, before asking the question, when it comes to butchering the web crawling search engine giant.
Lex Luthor – A self-proclaimed expert on practically everything, Mr. Luthor would advise us to examine our content carefully. More data from SearchMetrics research shows us that SEO is looking for these aspects within our content, that can help us gain more recognition, without any bloodshed.
- Number of internal links
- HTML length
- Word count
- Keywords in body
- Keywords in external links
- Text character length
- Internal links are self-referential
- Image count
Catwoman – This pretty little mynx knows how important image, beauty and style can be for social interaction. According to SearchMetrics, results from a ranking correlation study showed that some interactions act more like catnip than others. In other words, if you think Facebook would be number one on this list, oh contraire. In order of importance, these factors are given the most relevance and weight with Google’s SEO results:
- Google +1 scores
- Facebook shares
- Number of backlinks
- Facebook total (all metrics combined)
- Facebook comments
- Facebook likes
- Tweets
Darwin – A lesser known villain, Darwin, was a mutant who involuntarily adapted and evolved to survive any threat. He came out of retirement to share the importance of employing a responsive code that will adapt to whatever mobile device is attempting access. When a site isn’t responsive from attempts at access from a non-desktop user, this lack of connection will increase bounce rates and is a sign of poor user integration, slaying your potential SEO rankings.
The Joker – Often called the greatest villain of all time, this dark, psychological force has only one objective and mission in life — to destroy Batman. Given the inordinate amount of time he spends planning, plotting and executing his dastardly deeds, this unfunny culprit would highlight some often overlooked aspects that we need to include in our perfect, master plan to successfully complete our online massacre of the search giant:
- Use a higher word count for content – more recognizable for SEO
- Add all the relevant social sharing icons – increases engagement
- Optimize image file names and ALT tags – better search traffic
One final note from Batman – One of the reasons for the overall appeal and popularity of Batman is that he doesn’t actually possess any superpowers, he is ordinary just like you and me, but with a much bigger bank account. Still, he conquers his opponents with the use of his intellect and the many futuristic, mind-blowing gadgets available at his disposal (and of his own creation).
You can be the Dark Knight and rule the online digital universe in 2015, slaughter the mighty SEO by utilizing the power of your brain and the many tools you have available.
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Nick Rojas is a business consultant and writer who lives in Los Angeles and Chicago. He has consulted small and medium-sized enterprises for over twenty years. He has contributed articles to Visual.ly, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter @NickARojas.