Timeless SEO Principles from Bill Slawski to Koray: What Every Marketer Should Know

1. Source Context

Your website must clearly convey what your business does, who it’s for, and how it earns revenue. Without this clarity, search engines can’t properly classify your site or confidently show it to users.

If you’re a real estate agency, for instance, the homepage should clearly say whether you build homes, promote plots, or act as a reseller. If you’re an educational blog, specify whether you’re offering free tips, selling courses, or something else.

When your source context is clear, Google knows when and where to place your content in search results. This builds trust, authority, and ranking consistency.

2. Topical Maps

Topical maps help you organize your content around themes and subtopics. Imagine you’re creating a website about digital marketing. Your topical map might include SEO, content marketing, paid ads, analytics, and social media.

Each of these main topics will have subtopics—for example, SEO might include keyword research, on-page SEO, link building, and technical SEO. This structure ensures that your site covers everything users (and search engines) expect within your niche.

A well-developed topical map leads to better interlinking, stronger topical authority, and easier expansion of content over time.

3. Entity-Based SEO

Entities are the building blocks of modern search. An entity is a uniquely identifiable thing—like “Madurai,” “Rank You Higher,” or “digital marketing.” Search engines now care more about entities and relationships between them than just keywords.

For example, when you write about “hotel rooms near Meenakshi Temple,” you’re not just targeting those words—you’re connecting the entity of the temple to your hotel business. This relationship helps Google understand your content and match it to relevant queries.

Optimizing for entities includes linking to related Wikipedia pages, using schema markup, and writing clearly about what each entity is and how it connects to others.

4. Taxonomy and Ontology

These two concepts shape the structure of your website:

• Taxonomy is about how content is categorized—like blog categories, tags, product types, or services.

• Ontology is about how those categories relate to each other.

For example, in a construction website, your taxonomy may have sections like “Residential Projects,” “Commercial Buildings,” and “Interiors.” Ontology goes a step deeper, explaining that “Residential Projects” include “Villas,” which may be related to a location like “Silaiman.”

A well-organized taxonomy and ontology help users navigate easily and help search engines fully understand your content scope.

5. Content Formats

Each type of user query deserves a format that best serves the information. If someone searches “benefits of gated communities,” a list works well. For “villa price comparison in Madurai,” a table is more effective. For storytelling or opinions, paragraphs work best.

Mixing the right formats (lists, tables, FAQs, headings) inside your blog or web page makes it easier for users to scan, stay longer, and trust your brand. This also improves Google’s understanding of your page’s purpose.

6. Boilerplate Content

This refers to repeated content sections across multiple pages, like footers, trust badges, customer service blurbs, or disclaimers. It ensures consistency and brand reinforcement.

Boilerplate content also improves internal linking and helps remind users of your value proposition, especially when it’s placed above the fold or in navigation menus.

For example, Rank You Higher uses a consistent footer that includes our business address in Madurai, contact info, and core services to reinforce brand trust and help local SEO.