10 Must-Implement SEO Tactics For 2010

2009 is finally over, and it has been one busy year in the field of search engine optimization. We are no longer in the predictable era of search engine optimization. Google, Bing, and other top search engines are jumping on the latest trends and changing the way we all search. Personalized Search is going to be the big thing in 2010, so will be mobile, local, and real-time search. If you are a business owner who have no idea about SEO, the sooner you start the better.

A lot of people assume that it’s too late to catch up as many have already optimized their websites for the search engines. That can’t be further from the truth. There are a lot of people who don’t even implement the most basic search engine optimization tactics, and those who do often give up before seeing any tangible results. If you are looking to enhance your website’s reach in 2010, here are 10 simple tactics you should implement in the new year:

1. Listen: if you want to create high quality content, you need to keep your ears more open than ever before. There are plenty of new channels that you can take advantage of to gather valuable information about your post, but you have to keep listening to what people have to say about your products and brands in your niche, and more importantly things people say about you and your business.
2. Keywords: there is never a bad time to expand your keyword set and target new phrases. Targeting long-tail keywords and phrases that you have not targeted yet is a good way to start the new year.
3. Title: I can’t tell you how many times I see people who talk about search engine optimization but still have not taken time to optimize their title tags. It’s the no-brainer move of the next year if you haven’t already optimized your title tags.
4. Link building: links do matter. The more relevant, quality links you get to your pages, the better chance you have of getting your pages ranked high on top search engines. Search engine algorithms differ on how they treat incoming links, but in general if your content is good enough for people to link to, you are on the right track.
5. Social Media: more people get Twitter and Facebook these days. If you have taken time to secure your presence on Twitter and Facebook and have your business pages set up as well, you should focus on upcoming web 2.0 services such as Posterous and niche social networks in your industry. Social media could be a game changer, especially for those who jump on board quickly.
6. Link Structure: so you are building all these links and sending people to your website from social networking sites such as Facebook. Don’t forget to fix your internal link structure to make sure you get the best treatment from search engines. You should not hesitate to link to your relevant internal pages, address duplicate content issue (e.g. using canonical property), and avoid those nasty parameters in your URLs when possible.
7. Hacker-proof your site: as your website becomes more popular and gains more exposure on the search engines, you can expect hackers to come after you and what you have worked for. No site is 100% hacker proof, so you should back up your data, follow online security tips, and install security scripts to protect yourself and your business against hackers. At least make life difficult for them if you can’t avoid being hacked.
8. Content management system: content is king, and if you want to have success with your SEO campaigns, you are going to need a decent amount of content. Do yourself a favor and pick up a CMS such as WordPress or Drupal already.
9. List your local business: if you own a local business, don’t hesitate to add your business information to local directories, Google maps, and other related services. The future could be more local than you think.
10. Other content: you shouldn’t limit yourself to textual content only. Creating a video, podcast, flash game, or an iPhone app could look daunting at first, but if it’s hard, it means you should probably do it.

These are not earth shattering steps. But if you haven’t done your home-work or have been lazy to give more attention to your SEO campaigns, 2010 is the time. You can’t put SEO off forever. Besides, you are going to be happy when more traffic starts flowing in.