PageRank.

It’s a term you’ll still hear kicked around in certain Search Engine Marketing circles. Try not to listen.

What’s the deal? Well, PageRank is a tool. The device is a basically a link analysis algorithm that assigns a value to each set of hyperlinked documents on a web page, then measures its relative importance. In fact, let’s allow the experts who created the tool — Google — to explain:

“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance.”

OK, so there’s a barebones definition. But what does PageRank really mean, in the “Why should I care” sense? The reality is, PageRank isn’t the end-all, be-all in the realm of SEO. Like we said, it’s a tool. But it doesn’t replace the entire tool box.

Beyond PageRank, there are a ton of important elements that factor into your website’s ranking, include quality content and keywords. As a tool, PageRank doesn’t really get into keyword specifics, meaning one site can be ranked higher than another in the SERPs but have a lower PageRank than its counterpart.

Lastly, clinging to PageRank has just fallen out of fashion. With so many other factors and elements at play, businesses and website enthusiasts simply have to look at the bigger picture.

Turns out painting a bigger picture is one of our specialties.

It’s hard to narrow down a huge list to just a handful of helpful hints, but here we are. We at lifeBLUE are masters of the concise list. We’re also pretty talented when it comes to crafting a well-rounded online marketing campaign. We could write a book about successful strategies and techniques, but, instead, here’s a much more digestible snapshot of a few must-haves:

1. Search Engine Optimization

The old work horse, as it were. At its most basic of roots, this is the act of altering a website to help boost its visibility in the search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Ask. It entails a series of steps and possible avenues, as webmasters have to spend time thinking about what the search engine crawlers will find when they come snaking through. It’s also where things can get a bit complicated rather quickly, and where you need to start keeping up with the latest at each of the search engines. Each search engine crawler looks for different things, so you may rank well on one engine but lag on another. Although it’s a basic, foundational element of online marketing, it’s tried and true.

2. Usability Testing

Usability is quickly becoming one of the more important aspects of online marketing. Usability is simply how well your website caters to your customers. About 60 percent of all consumers who arrive at your website get lost. That means usability and navigability are extremely important for websites of all shapes and stripes.

3. Optimized Press Releases

More and more people are turning to news search engines to get a well-rounded and diverse take on the news of the day. Many of these high-traffic news engines, like Yahoo News and Google News, have become more popular than the big, traditional media outlets. With that backdrop, having a press release that ranks high on these search engines is an incredibly important part of an online marketing campaign. It’s only going to become more crucial as more and more media consumers turn to those engines for news, entertainment and analysis.

4. Business Blogging

Blogging is more popular and mainstream than ever before. It’s also being recognized as a vital tool by companies big and small.  Many are encouraging workers to blog on company-sponsored sites or even on their own personal weblogs, figuring that the only bad publicity is no publicity. We don’t completely endorse that old theory, but there’s more than a grain of truth in there. An entertaining or informative blog that offers readers something unique or worthwhile can draw a ton of new consumers and generate both links and buzz. All of those are darn near priceless.

While our SEO services do come with a price tag, our passionate and committed team works with businesses and budgets from all corners. We’re here to help you thrive.