While Search Engine Optimization remains one of the most cost-efficient ways to bolster your online presence, you may want to step back and reconsider what you want to achieve if you plan on stepping up your optimization efforts.
SEO simply isn't what it used to be. It's as dynamic as any disruptive technology on the web today: changing and shifting, adapting to search engine updates and algorithms and becoming increasingly, irrevocably intertwined with inbound marketing and its other channels.
Gone are the days when SEO was only about link building, and link building was a zero sum game where more than half the time you didn't even mind where you'd be getting the links. Today, SEO link building has even gone beyond checking the PageRank and other ranking factors of a site you'd potentially want a backlink from -- not with Google Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird looking over your shoulder.
More than building links, link building has moved on to building relationships. More than acquiring link equity, link building has moved on to providing relevance and value to readers first and foremost.
That doesn't mean, however, that link building as an SEO strategy is dead. Far from it; it simply evolved. Leading experts in off-page optimization all have their best practices based on what Google and other search engines would allow, avoiding efforts that are frowned upon.
It's all about smart link building now -- where the effort isn't just about the link, but everything that comes with it: the relevance of the link, the value it brings readers, the relationship built with the website giving the backlink, and more.
It's no longer Search Engine Optimization -- it's effectively become Search Experience Optimization. The first step of organic brand discovery is critical, after all, first impressions last and you don't get a second chance.
This holistic approach to search as an experience of discovery for targeted consumers and not just a link building contest provides context on how SEO has evolved. It's become an integral part of inbound marketing, and is one of the most effective methods of growing your audience and your business growth.
That is, if you do it right: look at the bigger picture, and know SEO's role in it.