Increasingly, SEO is not about gaming the engines. It’s about offering good content that is true to who you are and getting people to talk about it and share it. Google’s updates, Panda and Penguin, have been designed specifically to thwart websites still trying to “trick” the search engines into better rankings. The updates reinforce the importance of high-quality content, originality and overall user experience.

There is also a social component to the SEO updates. Search engines will be placing more emphasis on the conversations that brands are having with people through social media channels. As Fast Company conveys, if what you’re doing appeals to people, it will appeal to Google’s algorithms, too.