The 2015 SEO Guide That Everyone Can Follow
Last year, 2015, brought some of the largest changes in SEO and Google search engine ranking that the world has ever seen. As websites and information found on the internet are becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives, the way we search for that information and our expectations of what we will find when we get there are also evolving.
In the past, websites raced to the front pages of search results based solely on keywords and a whole lot of random links. This led to an overabundance of useless web pages that cluttered up our information highway. Websites that were fast and loose with their SEO practices paid a heavy price over the last few years as Google radically changed how it ranked pages. Only the sites with natural keywords and truly high quality, relevant content could survive.
Now it is more important than ever to build your website from the ground up with the new world order of SEO in mind. Website design and SEO experts like Your Design World of Southern California can help you build an authority website that ranks like a Pro.
First, a look back at the most recent radical changes put forth by media giant Goggle.
Panda: First released in 2011, Panda was updated again in 2013 with an emphasis on cutting out keyword spam and helping direct website owners towards creating high quality content.
Penguin: 2013 saw updates 2.0 and 2.1 to their algorithm filer that sank websites with spammy links and punished websites that did not comply. This made website owners a lot more cautious about who they linked to and who was linking to them.
Hummingbird: Make way for the big guy! Hummingbird wasn’t a simple update to an existing filter but was a complete overhaul of the entire search engine algorithm. With Hummingbird in place web developers found out that social media is the new king, and that short keywords are just about dead. The new search algorithm focuses on long tailed keywords and semantic search terms and puts a heavier emphasis on social sharing than ever before.
The 4 Most Important Factors for SEO in 2015
While the rules are geared towards natural searching and useful content, that does not mean that SEO practices are “dead.” In fact, they might just be more important than ever, although their priorities have changed.
Getting within the first few pages of a Google search in 2015 will heavily rely on these four factors:
1. Content and Authority
2. Linking Practice
3. Social Triggers
4. Mobile Responsiveness
Each one of these topics can help you build up the credibility of your website in the eyes of Goggle. Your SEO manager can help you develop and monitor your SEO practices for maximum results.
Say Something Important, With Authority
In the world of semantic searching the only thing that’s going to get you noticed by a search engine is high-quality content that is unique, useful and appealing. Focus on content creation about topics you are truly interested in and have a clear and original voice. High-quality content is well-written, informative and has a little bite (funny or entertaining titles, great pictures, a little wit or uncommon turn of phrase). Your content should be able to stand the test of time, meaning a year from now or even five years from now, people would still want to read it. They call that “evergreen” content.
As part of your Website Architecture you should set up a content publishing calendar that will help you plan out your content in advance. A great SEO expert can help you decide what types of content to include on your calendar.
The search engines are also looking for Authority sites, and one of the best ways you can add authority to your website is through linking and Google Authorship. We’ll talk more about linking in a moment but first let’s think about Google Authorship for a moment. Google is no dummy, they make all of their products and projects work together. Insuring the success of their social media platform “Google Plus” they have integrated it into their search engine algorithm. Set yourself up as a Google author on Google plus and link your articles to that account, it will improve your SEO and will also show a little photo of you along with the URL in search results.
Link It Like You Mean It
Controlling your outbound links is easy. Double and triple check that any website you are linking to from one of your articles or websites is a high quality site and won’t be considered spam in the eyes of a search engine. Make sure you only ever add links that add value to your article or web page.
Inbound links, links from other website to yours, are a little more difficult. First you need to clean up any damage done previously by using tools to seek out websites that are linking to you and one by one asking spammy websites to remove your link. This is a daunting prospect for some website owners but a gifted SEO expert could help you out with this task, freeing up your time to create more great content!
In order to get great links from authority sites many content creators are doing guest posting which means that they write an article for publication on someone else’s website. That guest post is then linked back to their own website and creates a very relevant link from a reputable site.
Besides guest posting you can also repurpose your existing content to post on other media platforms. For instance you could create a video, upload it to YouTube and link it back to your website. You could make an article you have into a SlideShare and again, link it back to your website. You can also get listed in online directories and social bookmarking website. If you post share-worthy content then links to your site could end up all over Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest as well.
Get Socially Active
In 2014 on into 2015 social media got a lion’s share of responsibly when it comes to search engine ranking. Getting your content shared on social media could give you a huge boost as an authority site. Include social media sharing button on your website and on every blog article or piece of content you create. Make it easy to share and you’ll already be ahead of the game!
Articles with great photos are much more likely to get shared on Pinterest and Facebook so be sure you are including at least one share-worthy photo or picture with each blog article you put out there.
Make sure that your social media accounts are active, which means don’t just push all your content automatically to your social media account and call it a day. You need to share other people’s content and create tweets and status updates that are unique, interact with followers and ask them questions to stay connected.
Go Mobile or Go Home
This year it is extremely likely that mobile internet users will outnumber desktop users for internet searching. If your website isn’t accessible via smartphone or tablet then you’re going to be left in the dark. Instead of creating a separate mobile website you can create your website from the get-go with mobile responsiveness, usually controlled by the theme or design of your website. Make sure all plugins and pages are set up to be mobile responsive and there will be no need to create another website.
When people search for information these days they are not only typing in a few key words but more often than not they are now just speaking to their phones directly. With a push of a button you can ask your phone a question and it will pull up the answer or a set of websites for you, as easy as that. Voice recognition technology is the reason search engines are starting to look at semantic (or conversational) language rather than short key words. When someone wants to search for birthday party ideas now instead of typing in “birthday party themes” they might whip out their phone and say “Help me plan a birthday party for my son.” See the difference?
Is Your Website Architecture Up to Date?
In the early stages of building your website there should be a lot of pen and paper planning. Sketch out the pages and overall design of your website in order to help you navigate where SEO help is needed the most.
If SEO is overwhelming to you or you simply don’t have the time to spend on it no matter how important it seems, then don’t hesitate to outsource it. Make sure to select a SEO company that keeps up with the latest changes and offers a full service SEO and web design solution like Your Design World of Southern California.
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