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Tackling SEO best practices can be tricky. If you’re in the business of selling just about anything online from car parts to customized invitations, it can be challenging to try to get top rankings on Google and constantly appease the Panda. What words does Google want, anyway? Is it really important to not copy and paste, not even a little? How can you tell if you’re citing or plagiarizing and, more importantly, how can search algorithms tell?

You have to show up on the first few Google hits; there’s no getting around it. There’s a lot of competition out there, as you well know. When you’re in the industry of retail or you’re a service provider, very few people will scroll through multiple pages to find you. So, how do you show up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) and how do you stay there?

Critical Words You Have to Use

Dust off that Thesaurus because things are about to get old-school. SEO success is all about variety and saying the same thing in as many ways as possible. For example, if you’re selling a particular Mustang part like “Mustang valve caps” there are a few ways to make this happen from an SEO standpoint.

“Mustang valve cap,” “Mustang valve caps,” “valve cap Mustang,” and “valve caps Mustang” are four (according to SEO) very different and distinct descriptions. You can also plug in the words Pony or Shelby (if applicable) to get even more variety in the mix. Google is smart, but not that smart.

The same approach goes for absolutely any product or service. Luckily, you probably know your business best. Utilize Google’s Keyword Search Tool to help you figure out what the most relevant, similar keyword and phrase searches are. This can be updated in real-time, and different industries have different “turnover rates” of phrases. At the same time, you’ll need to be using predictive analytics and business analytics to understand how your pages are performing, what’s working and what isn’t, and how to improve it.

So … You Can Copy and Paste?

No. Google will pick up on “fill in the blank” tactics like if you simply plug in the word “Dallas” into a paragraph that is otherwise exactly the same as another paragraph for Charlotte. This was a favorite cheat for many SEO writers in the early days before Google caught on. The black hat days are over, and now Google requires truly one of a kind content.

The content must be 100% authentic and original, but there are many ways to say the same thing dozens of different ways. A good SEO writer knows many tricks and has an extensive vocabulary that helps get the job done. There’s a fine line between inspiration and cheating, although most people know the difference in their gut.

Try a Little Rearranging

Once you have a set of keywords, for example “Pony racing tires,” you can also simply scramble the letters to get more variety. “Tires racing Pony” might seem impossible to spin no matter how good of a writer you are. In this instant, articles and fillers like, “a” or “for” will not impact SEO. “Get your tires racing on your Pony” could be an appropriate SEO phrase here.

Are You Up for the Challenge?

Don’t think you’re up for brainstorming and spinning hundreds, if not thousands, of things like this? You’re not alone. It takes skill, talent, and perseverance to grow through search which is exactly why there are SEO pros out there. It’s always a good idea to depend on an expert to get the top ranking you deserve.