The day when Matt Cutts said ‘Stop guest posting for SEO’, my first tweet was for Ann Smarty asking what does it mean for Myblogguest.com? And she sent a simile with a link to her post where she made a very interesting statement

Ann Smarty

“I am an SEO who stopped depending on organic rankings long ago.”- Ann Smarty

This was actually a very interesting statement and perhaps an eye opener for a marketer like you and me.

SEO has evolved over the years and SEO fraternity will not be surprised if link parameter is removed from search engine algorithm in next 12 months. I am not saying that search engines will die or search traffic will die, but the dependency which we have on Google is huge at the moment. That said, I think it’s time for marketers to evolve and do website marketing considering there is no Google. Trust me, you will do much better with search traffic and rankings when you believe that there is no Google.

Here are some tips which may help you market your website without any future Google penalty.

Understand Your Audience and Amplify Your Reach

Influence the influencers – Fishkin Rand
Before you start marketing your product or service you should understand your audience. Last week I read – I saw actually, Rand’s white board Friday “How to Earn the Amplification of Influencers”. I have always been a big fan of Rand and I must say that he comes out with real marketing strategies. This one was really Awesome. He points out that your target audience may or may not be in social networks but, they always seek information from some source or the other- AND THEY REALLY DO. So we(you and me) may not be they right source for them but the people who they seek for information are the ones we should target to amplify or pass on the message. You can find these influencers on Twitter, Pintrest, G+ and LinkedIn. DID YOU NOTICE SOMETHING -”YOU DON’T NEED GOOGLE” :). Go and see this right away.

Create Not Links but Linkable Assets

Create Linkable Assets

If you talk to a top search consulting firm then the first thing they would suggest you to do is START A BLOG. Your website is the best place to post the most valuable content. If you have the right resources to amplify and share the content then trust me – this is the way to go.

Every piece of content which you produce should be a linkable asset for your target audience. This could be a blog, article, PPT, Video, Infographics or even a research paper. That being said it will not be easy to create that type of content in days or even weeks. But, even if it takes time – let’s say 1-2 month – and it is something which provides enough value to your audience to link it or even share it on their social circles, then it becomes a linkable asset which can give you a lifetime link value as well as lifetime referral traffic from the link source. So this means that even if Google discounts the link parameter from their algorithm, you will still enjoy the referral traffic from valuable link sources.

Gr8 – That’s a slap on Google’s face
Slap Google

If you can’t create then Curate

Curate content if you cannot create fresh

It’s hard to create content every now and again. Specially a website which is looking to add value every day.

Does that mean we will only produce 12-15 assets in a year?

The answer is NO. Even if you cannot create assets every day, the best strategy would be to start work on your assets and curate content for your users. Curation is an art where you pick a content from a reliable source and add your own point of view in that. Curation if done carefully can do wonders to your blog or website. But, do not forget to give credit to the original source by linking them back.

Conclusion

Google still holds a good amount of market share across the globe however depending on Google for your traffic is not a wise idea. If you do the above things right then you might not need search engines traffic. Your target audience is not Google but your customers who are everywhere. And mark my words- if you star marketing ignoring Google then eventually you will be rewarded with rankings automatically and never be penalized with any Google updates.

I would like to hear your thoughts and other ideas which I might have missed in this blog