• BlogStorm, Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:45 AM

Patrick Altoft says that the key to being successful in search is to start using SEO strategies before they become popular. "For example a site that exchanged links 5 years ago now sees good rankings because of these links, while anybody building similar links this year will not see anywhere near the same effects," Altoft says. "The same applies to article and Web directory links, paid links and almost any other link you can think of."

So to stay ahead of the curve and prep for a strong 2009, Altoft suggests being aggressive as possible when it comes to trying new organic strategies, as well as trying to make educated guesses about where the engines themselves are headed.

Altoft uses social media as an example, arguing that "there can be no doubt that within the next 18 months social data will start to become more integrated with the natural search results." So that means maximizing your client's (or your own) social media strategies now, from building a presence on multiple social networks, to increasing RSS subscribers and including bookmarking and sharing buttons on Web sites-all to lead to a stronger organic presence come 2009.

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