On this very last day of 2011 I’m going to tell you about three simple yet highly effective methods to optimize your website for the search engines.

As I mentioned in my previous post about optimizing for search engines, it’s all about providing a great user experience. Ten years ago you could have “tricked” the search engines to rank you high simply by using specific tags, keywords and formatting the HTML in a certain way. Up until recently, you could have tricked the very same search engines by using link wheels, link pyramids, massive forum backlinking and other methods that doesn’t really provide anything of value to a visitor.

The thing is, the search engines are getting smarter and they are measuring the user experience to improve their algorithms and show more relevant results to the people who use the search engines to find specific information.

The search engines know how much time the average visitor spends on your site, how many pages they visit, how often they return and so on.

So, to rank higher in a search engine you first have to rank higher in peoples opinion. This isn’t something you do overnight, but it is crucial that it is part of your online strategy.

Let’s have a look at the three things you can do to keep your visitors on your website, rank higher in search engines and provide great value without giving away your entire business.

• To keep visitors on your site you need content that engages
• To rank higher in search engines you need content that is likely to be shared
• To provide value without giving away your entire business you need content that solves an immediate problem

By now, you’re probably thinking “so what exactly is the content that engages, is likely to be shared and solves an immediate problem?”.

To answer that question, imagine yourself as the person who visits your website. Don’t think of yourself as the business owner. Just imagine that you’re one of the visitors that match the target audience of your web site.

What is his or her’s number one reason to visit your website?

Chances are that they are looking for a solution to a problem. If you have a web shop where you are selling evening dresses, the typical visitor wont go to your website to study the design of your logo. They are there to solve the “what should I wear on the party next weekend?”-problem.

If you have a website where you sell a software for accounting, the visitor probably didn’t look for your software specifically. The typical visitor are looking for any software that solves the problem they have, such as “what software can give me control over my finances and doesn’t take a month to learn?”

If your website has content on it that provides a solution to an immediate problem then chances are that the visitor will find it highly valuable. You also want people to share it with each other so that you get high quality, natural links back to your site.

So, what kind of content is likely to be shared? If you keep your content focused on a topic, easy to understand and can be used immediately… then chances are that it will be shared. Other people will blog about it, share it on social networks and so on. That includes “Top 10″ lists and “How to..” guides, they are a great format for wrapping valuable content into a format that is easy to share. No one wants to send their friend a link to a blog post that is 3000 words long and has only one or two valuable pieces of content mixed in with personal fluff about the author or random stories that’s not directly related to the problem and it’s solution.

And last but not least, the content have to engage the visitor. The very basics are a catchy headline, an immediate introduction to the benefits and a personal touch. Remember, a personal touch doesn’t mean it should include the story of your life. It means you should create the content as if you were going to share it with a close friend of yours. If you try to sound to “professional”, people will not relate to you and you’ll come off as a robot.

But there is more to it… one of the best ways to engage a visitor is to use something more than text. Add images, audio and ideally video to your content. An image that is directly related to the topic can pull the visitor in and create an immediate connection between the visitor and the content.

The two most engaging forms of content are audio and video. You still need text, that’s the foundation of content on the web. But to make your content engaging, you need to get closer to your visitors and what better way than to talk directly to them!

Now you know how to rank higher in search engines. It’s not about the perfectly formatted HTML using some secret method or having 10 000 links from comment spam. It’s all about solving an immediate problem with content that is engaging and easy to share. That’s the future of search engine optimization and it has always been the best way to build a sustainable business online. Finally the search engines are catching up.

In my next blog post I’ll share the EXACT same checklist that I use to keep visitors engaged.

Have a great New Years Eve and see you in 2012!