SEOs around the world watch the search engines like a cast of preying hawks. What will Google do next and how will the algorithms change? What can I do today that will get me ranked higher tomorrow?

But is this really the right approach? Is it best to follow the search engines and adapt to the changes they make? If you think about it, search engines are just following human behavior. They strive to return relevant and high-quality results that provide real value to users. The changes they make are simply steps towards that ultimate goal.

So, why not go to the source? Why not provide value and market your business directly to customers? (If you have a good site, the search engines will eventually rank it favorably; in fact, it’ll hurt them if they don’t.)

Here are some ways you can cater to customers – rather than search engines – and still improve your SEO in the process:

• Search engines are beginning to give preference to branded sites in rankings. Rather than seek to manipulate the engines with technical tricks, use an integrated search marketing strategy to gain market share and build a strong brand. Engage in online advertising campaigns and generate buzz through social media. You’ll obtain increased SEO rankings as a result.
  
  
• Links currently represent a large factor in search engine algorithms. Generally speaking, the more quality links a site has, the higher its ranking potential. However, it’s important to note that search engines are interested in signals of quality – not necessarily in the links themselves. It just happens to be that links currently provide the most accurate indication of the authority of a site. As technology advances, though, engines will place less emphasis on links and more on better signals such as social media, traffic data and user engagement metrics. If you overly focus on link building now – and don’t pay enough attention to your overall marketing – you’ll quickly fall behind in SEO as the industry shifts.
  
  
• Finally, keyword research is an integral component of every search marketing campaign and always will be. Keywords are the passwords that enable you to get into the heads of your customers. However, that doesn’t mean you should go overboard with your on-page optimization. Write for people, not for search engines. Sure, you want to sprinkle important keywords throughout your site copy, but your primary goal is to engage users and drive conversions – which in turn will improve long-term SEO success.
  
  

SEO is evolving. It’s becoming less about technical tricks and optimization and more about overall marketing. When the technology catches up, you’ll find that search engines return relevant results based more on what people like – and less on who can artificially optimize their sites most effectively.

Aim for customers and you get the search engines thrown in. Aim for search engines and you get neither.