The specific needs of each client dictate the ways in which SEO techniques are employed, but certain steps apply in most cases.
First, an SEO audit is conducted. This in-depth review will allow a company or an outside SEO consultant to inventory and explore a company’s current SEO standings with the major search engines. This will reveal areas where the company can easily improve, and where more work will be needed to improve its standing on search engine results pages. These tasks often involve keyword analysis, website management and organization, and other SEO improvement basics.
Second, multiple techniques are employed to remove or push down negative content or to replace it with positive content that ranks higher in search results. For removal, methods include contacting the hosting website or provider of the negative content and asking for the content to be updated or deleted. For positive content, strategies include publishing high-quality content that can backlink to the original site; connecting real, authentic social media accounts; and optimizing the person’s or business’s website to be search engine friendly. Search engine rankings can be addressed correctly in many different ways.
Finally, the slow progress of improving rankings is continuously monitored over long periods of time—usually months, and sometimes years. Because of the viral nature of the internet, negative content can emerge seemingly out of nowhere, as the result of someone sharing news on a popular social media account.
