I've only been on STEEMIT a short time yet I had done a lot of research before putting up my first post. 

In the time that I've been reading and learning I've had an amazing lightbulb moment that I thought I'd share with everyone - with the hope that I can help as many people as possible.

I run an SEO Agency and I can tell you that the 2 of the pillars of good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) that help a website rank highly and be found by users are:

1. Good Quality Content; and
2. Website Popularity & the Whales

Now let's get into it...

Good Quality Content

When you want to be found in Google you need to first make sure that you know what your customers are searching for. You can use the Google Keyword Tool to achieve this (https://adwords.google.com.au/KeywordPlanner). Once you know what they are looking for then you can start writing your content to connect with them. The old adage of "Building it and they will Come" does not work in the website world. So make sure you are writing content that people are going to be interested in. 

This is what I love about STEEMIT!! When you write for the community you literally have to be thinking about what they would find interesting - ALL THE TIME. And when good quality content is written you're rewarded with their upvotes. Likewise in the SEO world, when you write a lot of good quality content related to the keyword phrases your customers are searching for Google will see you as an authority on the topic and will reward you by "upvoting" your position in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and helping you be found by more people.

Website Popularity & the Whales

To lift the popularity of a website you need to be talked about by as many other websites as possible so that Google can see that you have a prominent website. Google will assign your website a number called a Page Rank (PR) - read more here about what this number means https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank.

The heart of the principle of PR is that you have a level of trust and influence based on the quantity and weight of links back from other sites. So the higher your PR the more trusted and the more influence you have. 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that exactly what a Whale in the STEEMIT world is?

If you vouch for another STEEMIT user you pass on some of your magic - you lift them in the eyes of the community and give them that little bit more of influence. But then you can't just go around "upvoting" everyone as a whale right? You end up diluting some of your power.

Same thing with websites. You are better having a one to one relationship with a Whale of a site than to go around connecting with everyone and diluting your PR. 

                             

Lessons Learnt for STEEMIT

Always plan to write good quality content. Think hard about what people might find interesting. Look for ideas that are topical and that will resonate with everyone. Do some research if you have to (use the Google Keyword Tool I referenced earlier) and make sure you write to connect with them. 

Finally get endorsement from more influential people in the STEEMIT community and make sure your content is relevant and interesting enough that even Whales will want to endorse you.

Have fun everyone and keep up the great work.