Whilst the Search Engines are changing, and new technologies and tools are emerging, the fundamental rule of search engine marketing still applies: ‘content is king’.

The recent launch of Google Caffeine has brought much discussion, as have reports of people spending more time on Facebook than Google. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the options to promote your website and build relationships over the internet and to feel worried about doing the right thing or being in the right places on the web.

Whilst there are many new options and buzz-words, the old rule still applies: give people useful, relevant information that informs, guides or entertains them. Google Caffeine may be indexing web pages faster and the user interface may have changed, but Google is still looking for sites that are relevant and useful for its own users. Facebook may be growing exponentially with millions of sub-communities of like-minded people, but it is still all based on content that is useful or entertaining.

There are more places on the net to present your content, but no matter where it is published , it needs to be relevant for your target audience. All online content whether on your website or social media needs to be driven by the aim of helping your audience in some way. Even if you are doing it for commercial purposes you need to give something in order to receive. If you follow this rule then you will get a good outcome.

If you are working on your website then the content will help reinforce your relevance and credibility with the search engines and over time can help get you higher rankings. If you write useful or interesting blogs and articles then others may publish them which will increase inward links to your own site. If you contribute in a meaningful way on the social media platforms your brand and your website will be circulated, which again can increase inward links and traffic to your site.

Although much is changing online, if you can’t apply all the latest techniques or be on all the latest sites, you can still provide a solid base to your online strategy by simply sharing good content.