You may be wondering about the evolution of SEO—and whether you’ll get left behind as it grows in sophistication. Well, you’re not alone.

A recent interview with Nathan Thompson at the Inbound Internet Marketing blog yielded some takeaways that may help clarify SEO’s development—and demonstrate how you can beef up your efforts to meet the seemingly insatiable demands of today’s search engines. Among Thompson’s points:

SEO is more sophisticated than ever. Basic best-practices have become so widespread that their simple implementation no longer offers the advantages it once did. And this makes testing a critical element in any SEO program. “Understanding how, why and when your efforts affect your rankings is just as important as your rank itself,” Thompson states. “Some of this comes from research, but even more of it comes from watching those who rank above you, and from your own experimentation.”

Resources spent on PageRank are wasted if they don’t improve your bottom line. “If all of your high-converting traffic comes from affiliates or PPC advertising,” he explains, “then rank probably doesn’t mean much to you. But if improving your rank is going to provide you an ROI based on increased leads, more qualified traffic, etc., then rank probably matters to you a lot.”

A misplaced focus can reduce the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. “Start with the end in mind,” Thompson advises. “The goal is not to improve organic traffic; it’s to get more customers, sales, subscriptions.”

The Po!nt: Pump up and test. For continued success in an SEO-savvy environment, it’s time to go above and beyond standard best-practices. Take some real chances to boost your SEO strength, but make sure you test along the way.