5 Rules of Thumb to Relieve SEO-Induced Stress

Does search engine optimization seem depressingly hard to stay on top of? Things do move quickly, but that doesn’t mean you have to let it drive you nuts.

Over the past 10 years, Brian Clark has drummed some important things into my head about what we should (and shouldn’t) do to keep Google and the other search engines happy. I’ve boiled them down to five fairly simple rules.

In this 15-minute episode, I talk about:

• Why we don’t have to accept Google-induced stress disorder
• How to formulate an evergreen search strategy, even though the rules of search change constantly
• The question you must answer right away if your livelihood depends on your search engine ranking
• Why you don’t “deserve” a search engine ranking (even if you follow the rules)
• Who you should be working on making happy (it isn’t Google)

The Show Notes

• If you’re ready to see for yourself why more than 201,344 website owners trust StudioPress — the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins — swing by StudioPress.com for all the details.
• This podcast is based on my Copyblogger post, The Right Way to Think about Google
• Google isn’t the only giant company you need to be wary of overrelying on: The Most Dangerous Threat to Your Digital Business
• Brian Clark’s 2013 post on Google Authorship — note the important question he asks and answers in the middle of the post — “So what happens if it never happens?”
• We gathered some of our longtime recommendations on SEO copywriting in an ebook, free with MyCopyblogger registration
• Lately I’ve been spending more time on LinkedIn @soniasimone — feel free to drop me a question or note there, or right here in the comments 🙂