For a long time SEO has been restricted as a particular set of activities which when mastered will result in better Google rankings. Some of the most commonly targeted areas are writing keyword related meta data, link building and user experience. Earlier long before Panda updates that used to be the case where stuffing keywords on meta data, link building through every possible way were a primary factor in ranking. But with all the recent updates the scenario of SEO strategy has changed significantly
Meta Data is Everything
Gone are the days when meta data was everything, people used to stuff keywords in titles and descriptions which resulted in pages improving their rankings drastically the more number of keywords stuffed in the better the rankings were. Fast forward to present scenario you will hardly find those sites listed in search engines now because of the overhaul through Google updates. Meta keywords have become almost close to irrelevant now. Google does not consider the keywords in meta tags for ranking purposes anymore.
There is still some importance to rankings in a way that now content is more based on one focus keyword with lesser keyword stuffing.
Building Links Should be the Focus
This again was considered one of the most important factor in determining page ranks. People used every possible methods to create external links for their websites. There were paid services that offered external links to show Google that a particular website had a widespread presence. Google came down heavily on such link building methods penalizing websites with low quality links that were created just for the sake of rankings. Even though link building is still relevant Google now considers only High PR links and links from websites that have a good authority.
User Interface Is The Key
User experience is something that Google rewards the days, a better user experience results in people spending more time on a particular website thus lowering the bounce rate. Websites with lower bounce rates are looked upon more favorably by Google search engine. Also working on other on page optimization like improving pagespeed, responsiveness to different devices are very helpful in determining the success of better Google ranking.
