Do Brett Tabke's Rules Apply Anymore?

[dickbaker]

Ten years ago I read Brett Tabke's very simple list of things to do with your site to get ranked well on Google. I followed those rules and found my sites on the first page of Google every time. The rules worked for years, though every update.

Now it doesn't seem to be the case. Google seems to have changed everything, and much of what Brett presented doesn't seem to matter. Or maybe it matters, but other things matter more.

Is it a whole new game, or have only some of the rules changed?

What do you think?

[tedster]

For those who are relatively new to the game - here's a link to Brett's "Rules"

Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone [webmasterworld.com]

[Robert Charlton]

I've thought for years that the two basic updates I'd suggest to Brett's strategy (which I think is basically very sound) are that you need to consider how people search and maybe do some keyword research and targeting before you start writing, and that you need to do something to promote your site and your content to get potential linkers to see it.

The research up front is true now even if you're hoping for long tail. A random approach doesn't work as well now as it used to.

There are also some obvious anachronisms like keyword density, and overall I'd say the bar on content quality is much higher than it used to be, but I think if you get fundamentally what the strategy is about, it still works.

[aristotle]

Ten years ago was before universal search, personalized search, instant search, ads on top of organic results, new layout with various search options, and a web flooded with an incredible deluge of spam.

[dickbaker]

Ten years ago was before universal search, personalized search, instant search, ads on top of organic results, new layout with various search options, and a web flooded with an incredible deluge of spam.

Oh, I know. But Brett's "rules" seemed to work just fine even last year. It's this year (and especially the last few months) where everything seems to have been turned upside-down.

[indyank]

It is in the last 1 year that google has done too much to personalized search, instant search, new layout with various search options...and the changes are continuing...it looks like there is still lot more to come...

[freejung]

Ten years ago was before ... a web flooded with an incredible deluge of spam.

LOL! Yeah, I don't remember seeing any spam 10 years ago!

Maybe spam now is different and in some ways more sophisticated, but I seem to remember seeing plenty of doorway pages, popup and pop-under ads, cheesy web rings, big garish flashing animated gif ads, and sales sites of the "but wait there's more" variety that had 50 pages of content on a single page.

Presumably there must have been a time when the internet was not flooded with spam, but it was certainly more than ten years ago.

As for the thread topic, I find that Brett's rules still work. However, it is significantly more difficult to get new content ranked these days. I don't think the game has fundamentally changed much, it's just that the bar is higher. Ten years ago, if you did any SEO at all that put you way ahead of 99% of your competition. Now moderate-level SEO is built into most CMS, so you can't expect your competitors to do things like completely fail to have their sites indexed because of cheesy javascript nav.

[aristotle]

Well I believe that there has been a huge increase in spam during the past year or so, due in part to auto-generation methods.

[indyank]

Well I have read those rules for the first time today and that was an amazing compilation.Hats off to him.

I was at a loss to find which among them doesn't work these days.Every rule laid out by him is still valid.The only thing that probably has changed is the "number of days to success".

While Brett says that you could achieve a decent traffic in one year, it would probably take a little longer now, depending upon your niche and the competition. The web has grown so huge and it is natural to wait for a longer duration to reap the benefits of the good things that you do. If you are lucky, you would experience it quicker.

[BillyS]

I think the rules still apply, but I'm not sure the "in 12 months" still applies.

[aristotle]

Some possible reasons why it may be harder to get to the top of Google's SERPs page now than ten years ago:

-- There were a lot fewer Wikipedia pages in the rankings then.

-- There weren't any Youtube videos in the rankings then.

__ There wern't any paid ads above the organic results then.

-- Google's algo didn't give as big a boost to "brand names" then.

-- For many terms, there weren't as many competing websites then.

-- SEO techniques weren't as widely used then.