With the recent drops in Google’s PageRank and other algorithmic adjustments, many companies are in a frenzy to dramatically readjust their SEO strategies. These same businesses exert the same ferocity, again and again, every time the industry shifts. What many people are failing to notice is that the evolution of SEO is a fluid, ongoing process, that is ultimately meant, on the part of the engines, to provide users with the most relevant and highest quality search engine results.
Tips to Avoid SEO Tunnel Vision:
Don’t forget about the user.

While SEO results are important, your primary motivation shouldn’t consist of being “#1 in Google” or having a PageRank of 10. Instead, realign your goals to reach users, provide a quality experience, and enhance your business. With good content and a quality user experience, SEO relevance will follow.

Create a well-balanced site by following SEO best practices.
Websites experiencing long-term success have created environments for the users and made them easily accessible (and understandable) to the search engines.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Focusing too much on one or two aspects of SEO can lead to disastrous results when algorithms change. SEO is a comprehensive strategy with dynamic elements and should be treated as such.
Additionally, steer clear of SEO methods that offer results based on one or two “quick tricks.” These usually signify non-Best Practices, and sometimes even “black-hat,” techniques that can get you banned from the search engines.
Algorithm modifications are, by nature, designed to benefit well-conceived websites.

Lower PageRank has been a hot topic in SEO forums and blogs over the last couple of weeks. Many highly regarded sites experienced drops in PageRank and in some cases, the drops are significant as reported on SearchEngineLand last week. Complaints about lower quality search results have sent Google back to the algorithm in a real battle with spam sites and others who would take over all the top search spots and lower PageRank for some is the result. The prime targets of Google’s efforts have been directories, blogs and other advertisers that are providing links for money.

Along with falling PageRank have come reports of significant drops in the rankings for some sites. Interestingly, there is not a clear one-to-one relationship between lower PageRank and falling search engine results rankings suggesting that Google is discounting the value of PageRank in their algorithm.

This comes as no surprise to some who claim that PageRank has actually been devalued for some time now in favor of Trust Rank – a method of evaluating links based less on quantity of links and more on quality of links. In particular, paid links from directories and blogs are expected to become less valuable to search rankings in the coming months.

So, why am I not worried? Because any good link strategy will cultivate inbound links with the idea of getting traffic - not just ranking - and because ultimately, content is still king. As search engine algorithms improve the quality of results, a well-designed site with good quality content will always rise to the top.

Many people are under the impression that developing multiple pages with irrelevant content is a good long-term strategy for ranking many pages within the site well. This of course is a misconception that needs clarification. The Google webmaster guidelines specifically states not to develop pages for the sole purpose of search engine rankings.

Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as “cloaking.

- Google Webmaster Guidelines

It is true that websites with more relevant content have a higher chance to rank well, so it would be in your best interest to develop these additional pages if and only if the content is unique and relevant. The primary purpose of developing these pages should be for the users that visit the site and ultimately read your content.