Search engine optimization is not something you do once after you’ve built your site. Rather, it’s a living, breathing concept that needs to be built-in to, not just the development process, but your entire creative workflow. You need to keep your site updated with regular content (regular is subjective and relative to the content you’re providing), but you need to make sure it’s *meaningful* content. Posting three times a day and filling your site with posts that you spammed with keywords and referral links is not how you get a better search presence.

I think that’s a key term: search presence. Don’t get hung up on ranking specifically. So you show up at #1 for a general keyword search. So what? Is that really what your users (or potential users) are searching for? Think about why people would be coming to your site, and focus on *those* ideas. Blasting your users with empty content that’s full of keyword spam or irrelevant fluff will only hurt your site as a whole, and contribute to a loss of users. Yes, you *may* see your site rocket to the top for a little bit by doing these things, but it is deceptive and dishonest. Don’t be surprised when your site suddenly disappears from the search engines altogether, and you find out you’ve been blacklisted for trying to spoof the system.

Unfortunately, this happens all the time. Companies promise to get your site to the top of the rankings in short order, and with little-to-no work from you. How great is that? Just sign on the dotted line and you’re magically boosted to the top of the results! If it was that easy, *everyone* would be at the top. These things simply to not work as promised. What good is being at the top of the search results for a few days, only to disappear *entirely* after that? Not exactly a strategic business move!

The truth is, improved search engine ranking takes time, and it takes constant work. It can be weeks before a search engine even crawls your site again, so you can’t give up after one week just because you’re not seeing results. Again, it’s something you have to nurture over the life of your site. Keep the content flowing, and, more importantly, keep it relevant. Don’t spam the search engines with false content just to try and rank better; remember, your users see that very same content, and the search engines are smart. They will figure out you’re trying to deceive the rankings and you will be penalized.

There is no magic bullet solution. Don’t fall into that trap.