The SEO Assembly Line
I am often asked: what is the single most important element in a solid Orlando search engine optimization campaign? Of course the person asking is usually looking for the biggest impact with the least amount of effort, just a single nugget of valuable information gained from a 14 year veteran of SEO in Orlando, however the answer given almost always disappoints.
Before I answer the question, I explain that on my checklist there are 30 major and 20 minor SEO elements that each are of equal importance in their own way. Further, this list is a living, dynamic document, continually updated with every bit of knowledge gained from experience and with every algorithm update.
I look at the elements of SEO much in the same way a manufacturing facility owner looks at his employees. Each and every component must bring his A game every day for the good of the team. Imagine an assembly line where every worker has a job to do. If just one work station is manned by someone not paying attention to his specific duty, the entire line suffers, regardless of the quality of work being performed by everyone else.
Keeping with my factory assembly line reference, (stay with me on this!) imagine now that the quality manager walking up and down the line inspecting the work, checking each station's output is the Spider sent out by the search engines to index your site. It really makes no difference how well the rest of the team performs, if the end result has missing or improper parts installed, the grade for the final product is an F.
SEO Teamwork
The great Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers said it best "The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual"
He would have made a great SEO guy! Only when you have all of your SEO elements working synergistically do you have the very best chance of achieving your visibility goals on the Search Engine results pages.
This syngergistic approach to SEO is truly the only method that will work. I give great weight to the title of the document and to the description tag. But the truth is if the title is not relative to the description, and those two elements are not relative to all the other SEO elements, then they are of no use in achieving high ranks.
This is why solid SEO is not a hit-it-and-quit-it job. AN SEO pro knows success means all elements of SEO must be working in harmony, and the only way to determine this is through research, input, research, adjusting, research, updating, oh, and did I mention research?
One more point now, every bit as important to this SEO element love fest, is the biggest challenge of them all. Nearly element of SEO must be written for the reader, not the search engines! This is true for 2 reasons. #1, nobody will click a link that says "Buy Keyword Here, Keyword, Keyword, Keyword, best prices on Keyword". Text must be written to engage the reader and compel them to click through to your site or deeper into it. #2. Keyword spamming is black hat SEO, and there's a chance your site will be removed from the index if it believes your site is only there for ranks, not to provide information, services or products to the reader.
So to finally answer the question posed in the first sentence of this SEO pontification, the most important element of SEO is Synergy. All elements of SEO working together to achieve great results!