This is post #5 in a series of 10 on the intersection of PR and SEO.  We’ll discuss a few best practices content SEO tactics as well as a few things to avoid.

While there is much to understand about successfully implementing and maintaining search engine optimization efforts, there are a few  fundamental concepts worth starting with, including the notion of quantity, quality and time as appropriate to content and links.  For the most part, the more web pages, digital assets and inbound links, the better the search visibility.  Each link is a conduit and each page is a potential entry point into the web site.

As a general guideline, the same is true with quality. The higher quality content and link sources, the more competitive advantage for better search results. 

Search Engine Optimization professionals can be instrumental in advancing the SEO Quantity and Quality measures. Time, on the other hand, cannot be “facilitated”. The longer a site has been known to a search engine, including web pages and the links pointing to those pages, the better. That means making sure search engine spiders can find your content from day one and then again on day two, ...

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Google Webmaster Tools is a free service that provides a wealth of information directly from Google. Once you have verified a site with Google, they’ll give you access to all sorts of information.

Here are just a few features of Google Webmaster Tools:

1. Errors
Google Webmaster Tools will show all sorts of errors with a site. Not only does it show broken links on the site, but also links that are driving traffic to the site for which there is no valid page. Google even tells you pages it knows about but has been restricted from crawling. That’s good to know incase someone accidently blocks to much.

2. Set Site Defaults
Tell Google to show your page with the www or without, set a geographic target and select if you want the images show up in Google’s enhanced image search; aka Google Image Labeler.

3. Analyze Meta Descriptions and Title Tags
Google will provide a list of URLs that have duplicate title tags or duplicate meta descriptions as well as if there are pages with to short, or to long, meta descriptions or titles.

4. Top Search Queries
Ever wondered what people search... read more >>

Is content really king for SEO? What SEO common mistakes do even experienced consultants sometimes make? Which resources are best for accelerating your SEO learning curve? Why do site rankings sometimes drop precipitously for no apparent reason? How can you get a site indexed by Google News? And what does the future of search hold—according to Google?

Get the answers to these questions and others here in more of the best blog posts and articles about SEO from the last year.

As It Turns Out, Content Is King by Court's Internet Marketing School

Correcting an earlier post entitled "Content Has Never Been The King," the author notes that "If your site doesn’t have quality content, a Google search engineer can crush it with a simple push of a button. On the other hand, if your site’s content is of stellar quality, a Google engineer who came across it would love it. This doesn’t mean they will give you a manual boost—Google doesn’t work that way. It does mean that you are protected because of the quality of your site. Google isn’t going to smack the legitimate, solid sites." This post also inspired an amazing 172 comments; suffice it to say, opinions on this topic aren't exactly universall... read more >>

[Editor's Note: Please welcome this guest post from TopRank's Content Promotions Supervisor, Dana Larson on basic link building tactics for new web sites.]

Despite the constantly evolving nature of search engines and ranking methods, inbound links continue be a significant influence on website rankings. The higher quality the link, the more authority that link passes on.

Sites that have been live and active on the web for many years attract a substantial number of links when well promoted. But, what about those sites that are brand new? How should they go about getting quality links right off the bat?

Here is a list of 5 link building tactics for new websites to get them off on the right foot:

1. Links from Local Organizations - If your company is registered with the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce, the links from these sites can be very relevant for geographically specific terms and topics. Also, locate other local businesses and organizations that maintain lists of businesses to request a link from.
    
2. Optimized Press Releases - Your business  just launched or you have compelling news to announce - why not tell the world about it? There are many great press release distr...

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