Andre Weyher, a former Google employee, recently spoke with Australian search marketer James Norquay and offered some interesting insight for SEO marketers. In the interview, Weyher advised companies to “forget about SEO” to consistently improve search position.
While the insight may not seem new to many, sites still struggle with over-optimization that leads to penalties. The development and continued updates of Google’s Penguin algorithm make avoiding over-optimization even more important.
In the interview, Weyher urged marketers to develop sites and content that speaks to users, saying it’s “most important” to “focus on content quality.” Any element of a page designed solely to attract a search crawler will result in a penalty eventually as Google is working to identify and reward those who build sites because they are passionate about a topic.
“Create content out of a sincere interest and enthusiasm for the topic of your page. This is what Google and your users want from you.” – Andre Weyher
“Try to work on your website as if SEO was not a part of your plan,” he said in the interview with Norquay. “Create content out of a sincere interest and enthusiasm for the topic of your page. This is what Google and your users want from you.”
Weyher also said quick traffic boosts and sales can tempt marketers, but high-quality content will always win in the end. Moreover, marketers have to focus on elements of their site beyond content to ensure optimum user experience. Pages with excessive ad content above the fold are among Google’s targets. Brafton recently highlighted an update to the page layout algorithm, the company’s effort to reward streamlined site design. Creating an easy-to-navigate site is part of the “forget about SEO” concept Weyher discussed in the interview.
