Google is the most popular and most powerful search engine.  So the standards for SEO which are defined by the google are now became international standards. I am glad that Google is changing the rules for SEO. If we look at the 7 major changes Google has made recently, the lessons are obvious:

Maps and Videos:

Tap into the power of Google Universal. If your business is based locally, list it on Google Maps. If your industry has fast changing trends and insights, start a news section on your website. If you can create videos and upload them on your website, do so. These will turbo charge your SEO efforts.

Blog or Forum:

You need user generated content on your website. Start a Blog and even better launch a forum to make your website more interactive.

Unique Content:

Put comprehensive content on your website.  Think about different information/tools etc your users may be interested in and provide it. This will help your website get more stickiness, reduce the bounce rate and improve it’s positioning as an authority site

Attract Links to your website, don’t buy them or get low quality links from hundreds of link exchanges.

Article Marketing:

Write Articles or Columns in Newspapers/Magazines or Blogs. Blog owners need content as much as you need the visibility, so they will be glad if you can provide them with valuable content

Social Media:

Get visible on social media. Facebook, Twitter etc are very useful if you participate in the conversation in an active way. The secret for getting the right following on twitter is to tweet about topics of interest to interested people

Analyze Traffic Data:

Don’t be obsessed with rankings for a few key phrases. Focus on quality traffic and conversions. Have a mania for metrics e.g., number of unique visitors, time on site, traffic sources, what parts of your site are getting clicked more frequently and what parts are getting ignored, which pages are converting better and use this data to make constant improvements.