The Most Popular SEO Posts Of 2011

If there’s one thing anyone can say about the state of search engine optimization (SEO) in 2011, it’s that this year certainly wasn’t boring. Barely two months in, on February 24, 2011 – we were first introduced to the now infamous Panda Update at Google. That story alone gave our expert SEO columnists and staff writers something to talk about endlessly.

While some search marketers might feel like they were given a giant lump of coal by St. Google, the best gift Panda gave online marketers was additional insight into the need to develop high quality content, as well as the importance of diversifying traffic sources and insulating yourself from algorithmic shifts.

That said, it’s fitting that An SEO Playbook For 2012 by Tom Schmitz tops our overall list of the most popular columns in All Things SEO throughout the past year.

All Pandas aside, our experts also had plenty of excellent advice and commentary on a variety of topics related to search engine optimization – everything from keyword research to technical implementation tips, providing a virtual roadmap to help you sort out your SEO plans in 2012.

I’d like to personally thank all of these writers for their respective contributions to Search Engine Land in 2011, and we look forward to sharing more about SEO with you in 2012. Here is a sample of our 25 most-read posts about SEO in their respective categories; recommended reading in case you missed any of them the first time around!

Technical SEO Tips

• 29 Ways To Speed Up Your Website – Ian Lurie
• 8 Necessary SEO Steps During A Redesign – George Aspland
• DIY SEO: How To Check On-Page Ranking Factors Using Google Docs – Todd Nemet
• Do As I Say, Not As I Do: A Look At Search Engines & SEO Best Practices – Todd Nemet
• 4 Ideas To Improve IIS & .NET For Technical SEO – Todd Nemet

SEO Strategy & Thought Leadership

• How To Devise A Psychology Based SEO Strategy – Trond Lyngbø
• SEOnomics: A New Way Of Thinking About SEO For Business – Trond Lyngbø
• The Clickthrough Rate Equation In Organic Search – Todd Nemet
• The Bleak Future Of Commoditized, Outsourced SEO – Byrne Hobart
• The Two Sides of SEO – Bryson Meunier

Increased Organic Results & Traffic Through Links

• How To Use Linked In To Improve Organic Visibility – George Aspland
• Hard Thoughts About SEO & Link Bait – Tom Schmitz
• How To Improve Organic Search Results With A Simple Site Audit – George Aspland
• Friends Don’t Let Friends Use NoFollow – Ian Lurie
• How Celebrity Authority Changed Link Building In SEO – Tom Schmitz

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords*

• SEO Copywriting Tips: Optimizing For Multiple Keywords On One Page – Tom Schmitz
• How To Take Your Keyword Research To A Higher Level – Tom Schmitz
• How To Increase Conversions For Organic Keywords – George Aspland
• Key Principles To Follow When Examining Keyword Difficulty – Tom Schmitz
• Tricks For Taming Keywords With Regular Expressions – Todd Nemet

• 6 Content Tips: How To Write When You Have Nothing To Write About – Ian Lurie
• A Step By Step Guide To Effective Online Article Marketing – George Aspland
• Simple Tips For Writing An SEO Style Guide – Ian Lurie
• From Garbage To Gourmet: Fixing SEO Content Strategies – Ian Lurie
• Why So Many Blogs Fail (And What to Do About It) – Byrne Hobart

*Note that due to the popularity of the posts done on these topics, we’ve started an entire column just about Keywords & Content, so look for more great keyword research, content development and copywriting tips in 2012!

In All Things SEO, we’ll continue to tackle technical SEO topics, as well as more in-depth SEO strategy and thought leadership pieces.