Which method would be your first choice?

[John_]

If you were only allowed one to be on Google 1st page, which would it be and why?

1. Keywords
2. Social media
3. Videos
4. Links
5. Blogging
6. Other, what?

 

[JonathanSEO]

That isn't a good question. Unanswerable.

 

[John_]

Was just wondering which method best spend more time on or are they all equally important.

 

[JonathanSEO]

They're all tied together. You can't really have one without the other.

What are you hoping to achieve would be the best question? Then maybe others apply more so than others...

 

[SEO Lady]

Where is the obvious one? My website.

 

[adams.mark]

You could have given more options.

Social media- A must today
Videos - Okay
Links- means.. link building?
Blogging- Must do

After keyword research my choice will be blogging/ content based activities. This also include social media ( posting useful information through social media), forum posts etc.

 

[webgeek]

6. Site Content (on-domain and off-domain) - a sufficiently high volume of remarkable content output weekly will give you the long tail (if on your own site), with internal links providing the velocity and added strength to promote key pages/terms. The fact it's remarkable will draw social mentions as brand advocates form via grass-roots support (or if you're Ling, people complaining about how horrible your design is might bring enough links to prop you up).

While I'm a believer in quality linking, I've also shifted primary focus to on and off page content for building value and traffic.

Google can manipulate the rankings at will, but your off-page content which drives referral traffic is generally beyond their control. With the transition rank algorithm or "FUD Factor", Google have admitted to intentionally screwing with rankings for the sake of introducing uncertainty into the market - it's a patented fact.

Putting the right content on the right sites works well, has a predictable ROI over time, and gives you a sustainable solution. The other items on your list are inconsistent or offer lesser returns (for many companies) than pure content marketing.

 

[John_]

Thank you webgeek. I couldn't agreed more. Due to the unpredictable nature of Google and it's mysterious algorithms, you can put all the effort on SEO to get on the 1st page today but theres no guarantee it will be tomorrow. However with good contents, you will always get traffic consistently by word and mouth. Thanks again.

 

[Spinoza]

Google's transition rank algorithm is basically a variable time delay based on a random event cycle. The logic is that when an SEO attempts to increase a clients SERP by link building the effects are not enabled for a random amount of time and the site will artificially drop down the rankings by an equally variable amount. The SEO assumes the changes they have made are responsible for the drop and undoes them or even worse build more links to negate the drop. The Googlebot's watch for this happening and identifies the activity as artificial link building as opposed to organic development. If you do this on your own website then you just need to ride the storm and leave things as they are and your rank will (eventually) improve. If you do SEO yourself as a business for other sites then it can put you in a difficult place when your clients ranking temporarily drops from 9th to 99th! Build your links slowly but steadily but be prepared for the occasional drop if Google detects a trending spike which you have no control over. When this happens spend your time improving and refining your copy.