For the past few years, everyone has been wondering why their Google rankings have collapsed, because as far as they knew they were some of the best at optimizing web pages (and that was often times correct).

I know for a fact what has happened and why it is so much harder to succeed on Google nowadays, and I can almost guarantee some of the things that were said at Google. I bet several executives and employees of Google said: “How can we make sure that all the websites appearing in our results are valuable resources?”. Which makes complete sense because without valuable results in their search engines; they lose their stance as the best search engine on the internet. I also bet someone came up with a simple, yet, extremely bright idea and said something like this “Why don’t we just change the algorithm so that it takes true hard work; or true popularity for people to get to the top of our search engine?”, or something of that nature.

In essence Google saw blasted all over every Search Engine Optimization Blog world a new fad called link building; and that people were exchanging links left and right, which in all reality was creating illegitimate links (because there was no genuine interest in the web site through this link, to begin with). So I can only (once more) assume they talked to one another and said, “We should give very little value to links where websites exchanged links in both directions”.

Then another issue that had to arise during this algorithm change was Google needed to make sure they could not be thwarted by all SEO gurus, and they did something else to help perpetuate that. In order for your hundreds of links you obtain to be most effective, your links must have unique hypertext or surrounding text to have high-quality value. For example, if someone had the exact same link to their website posted on 1,000 websites saying “click here for quality dog food”; This would easily alert Google that this site does not have actual quality inbound links and that someone either manually or automatically posted the same link to every related site they could find. Common sense of almost every webmaster would tell them to post a link over and over to as many places related websites, but many didn’t consider the need for unique hypertext and descriptions to the website. Therefore; once again, I can assume that Google decided the more unique the hypertext wording; the higher the chance that the link is authentic.

Another issue that arises is that many webmasters will create a website that does not have any content change at all. You can have tons of great links, but I am positive that Google admires sites with fresh content. You need to update your site every few months (at least) and tweak some things regularly; you should also always add new fresh content.

Others have also realized that Google does value websites that have been on the internet for extended periods of time. So if you are starting a new website you need to be able to trench down for a long fight, however, the rewards are great to the person that doesn’t falter and is persistent until the end.

Google isn’t prejudiced if you had as many unique links to your website as yahoo.com Google would value you as an equal resource. Know that you are just another search optimizer against hundreds of thousands of others. How will you set yourself apart?

So to recap, Google decided that they needed to make sure that your website is legitimately linked to. Unfortunately, there are only a few ways to do that, and guarantee it withstands the tests of time. Here are some of my own personal ideas:

It comes down to the simple fact that nowadays in order to make sure you secure a long lasting high search engine ranking, you have to actually create content that markets itself. Also, you must create enough interest in your website that people are willing to take enough time to link to you without expecting a link back. All that said, here are my ideas that will help you to gain long-lasting valuable links to your website which will help make sure your long-term search optimization goals are worthwhile.

Let’s start by getting our website listed into directories related to your topic; however don’t use the same title and description for each posting – constantly switch it up. Something I do personally in my spare time to help my site is going to other peoples blog’s talking about a subject that your website is similar to and write genuine posts with your link attached. Don’t just flood their website with links, you won’t get far and your posts will not be accepted. Publishing of articles online is great; be creative – that is what will set you apart. You can also host or sponsor events that will be talked about online. Offer incentives for people in your field to link to you, freebies, services, etc.

I tell you the absolute truth, whoever has a good work ethic and more creative bone in their body will succeed. This is because you will always have to find ways to create a constant flow of links to your website without trying to manipulate a search engines perspective. Hard work is the easiest way to beat everyone else. Here is a quote I love from an unknown author: Some People Dream Of Success While Others Wake Up And Work Hard At It.

Guest Author

Joel McLaughlin http://www.dataflurry.com
I am a 23 year old search optimization specialist from Phoenix Arizona. I also enjoy web design and some programming on the side.