We’re half way into another year, and new trends in SEO strategies are really beginning to take shape. So let’s skip the long-winded intro and jump straight in shall we?
New approach to content
It’s about time really. The standard of written content across the web has been cringe worthy for some time now and a change has been long time coming.
You can blame the dirge of low-quality content on businesses paying content curators low fees for 500-word articles and stock images. It reached a point when every website gave the same information and not enough of it.
Google has not attempted to stamp this practice out per se, but they slyly began ranking long form articles higher in search rankings; because longer article have more information which is of value to readers.
Online businesses are now beginning to recognise that it is the quality of content that is important and not the quantity. Content writers are now being paid fees they deserve to produce in-depth articles readers want to engage with.
We are also beginning to see brands develop personalities; strong voices that are entertaining or interesting or authoritative or etc. Whatever personality your brand needs to effectively communicate with your audience, should be projected through the voice of the writing.
Voice searches
On the subject of voices, personal assistants on smartphones are so sophisticated these days, mobile owners are utilising them more often to conduct searches.
The trend of using Siri and Cortana to conduct searches will increase once businesses become accustomed to priming keyword phrases to match spoken search terms. By doing so voice activated search will improve.
So make sure you are one of the forerunners. What you have to bear in mind is voice searches typically use different words than you would expect from a typed query. Your content should therefore include long-tail search terms that mimic conversational dialogue and colloquialisms.
Increasing importance of video
Studies reveal there has been an 85% increase in ad spend for digital video production in the last two years. That’s how much brands consider the importance of video.
But it stands to reason. Videos are easier to digest than written content and, when done well, are more entertaining. They can also deliver a marketing message in far less time than other mediums.
In addition, more people are using their mobile phones to interact with content and videos are far more appealing for small screen viewers.
And with apps such as Periscope, Facebook, Vine and Snapchat pushing video consumption, brands are getting more exposure which has the potential to attract more traffic.
Mobile optimisation
Over the last couple of years, search engines and social media networks have been gearing towards improving the user-experience for mobile owners.
The addition of instant buy buttons culminated in Google’s “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update that forces online businesses to invest in responsive web designs.
Advancements in mobile technology also make it more appealing for companies to invest in mobile marketing. The capabilities of geo-targeting, SMS and QR codes to attract customers and offer a convenient, personalised service is gold dust to brands and their customer loyalty programs.
The “Link Building is Dead” fiasco is a myth
According to many commentators in the digital marketing realm, link building is dead. They have been saying this since the launch of Google’s Penguin update in 2012. Link building is experiencing a slow, drawn out death!
Of course, to say linking building is on its last legs is a myth spouted by digital marketers that do not have a strategy for attracting inbound links. The reality is that search engines rely heavily on link building to assess the quality of a website.
What is dead are black hat link building tactics such as paying for links and leaving spammy links in comments fields. The type of links search engines want, and are thus alive and kicking, is earned media.
Publishing great content other writers link to is one of the strongest ranking metrics search engines use to assess the quality of a website. So marketers that think link building is dead probably have no regard for high-quality content.
To improve the SEO of your website, concentrate on emerging trends and read Google guidelines to understand how search engine rank websites. With this knowledge to hand, you can be more confident of putting a winning SEO strategy in place.
Really informative, thanks for sharing this!