How to reach out to Cyrus Shepard:

The rules of the SEO game seem to be always changing.

To understand how to rank higher, no matter the algorithm, we sat down with Cyrus Shepard. He has seen SEO evolve over nearly a decade and ran in-house SEO for the industry leader, Moz.

He shares with us his strategies to understand Google’s black-box algorithms, do more with existing backlinks, manage client expectations and more.

Guiding SEO Principles

SEO can be thought of as full of tricks and algorithms, but Cyrus’s main principles are straightforward:

* Long-term value over short-term gain

* Create quality content

“Think of your audience first, always,” says Cyrus Shepard. “Google is getting better and better at looking at audience signals and engagement signals”

Therefore, if you are writing consistently creating valuable, quality content, you will at least earn back a little bit of success in SEO. For whatever content you create, do the best that you can do.

“When we’re creating content, I like to create things that people can steal, and want to steal.” If people are stealing it, you are creating value and therefore will naturally earn backlinks and improve your ranking.

Is SEO Valuable?

Yet, those algorithms are important. “You can build the most perfect piece of content but Google won’t find it because they aren’t perfect,” states Cyrus Shepard.

He hates when people say SEOs aren’t necessary. The algorithm mimics user signals, but SEOs ensure that content and websites are algorithm-ready.

There are basic back-end tasks such as data structure and ensuring it's crawlable. There is also a lot of experimentation involved in SEOs expertise.

“The Crushing Inadequacy of Best Practices”

Cyrus reflects on the early days of SEO. In 2009, everyone followed the same “Web Developer's SEO cheat sheet”. That was enough to win lots of clients.

But SEO has evolved.

“A lot of people have this perception today that SEO is a scam because best practices are easy.” But those best practices are now out of date and not enough to rank.

SEOs are continuously experimenting to determine which strategies and techniques provide results. These results depend on the latest algorithm and the vertical. See how your site is ranking today with Sure Oak's free SEO Analysis Tool.

Test, Test, And Test Some More

“Some people think of SEO as one and done. But it never ends, you can always make improvements.”

More and more, Google is a black box. Ranking factors are developed through machine learning, leaving less direct information for marketers. The only way to really discover how to rank higher is through experimentation.

Given testing is an essential part of SEO success, Cyrus advises to get a better understanding of:

* Statistics

* Significance