Out with the old, in with the new.
As the year is coming to an end, it is a good time to reflect, set new goals for yourself and get rid of old habits. And who’s to say this cannot be done with SEO as well?
After all, this is the time when businesses are defining their budgets for the year to come – one of them being their marketing budget, of course. But whether you are just getting started with your business online, or are a savvy digital marketer, SEO is a concern. For everyone. Even for us, a company that does SEO in Vancouver.
Let’s look at some important trends for SEO in 2015:
- Social Media integration with SEO: Despite the ongoing discussion about whether social signals affect SEO rankings, one thing is for sure: there is a correlation between the two. And with the recent demise of Google Authorship, I believe this correlation will slowly shift to causation. Whether Google wants to admit it or not, all seems to indicate that social signals will become an important factor in their algorithms.Looking at the overarching reach of social media, searches are also being conducted on these platforms on a not so small basis. Youtube is considered to be the second largest search engine after Google with 3 billion searches a month. Facebook now let’s you search for old posts, and according to StatisticBrain, 2.1 billion search queries are conducted on Twitter every day.
- Implied links or brand mentions will hold more value: Due to the presence of link building schemes such as link buying, Google has started taking implied links into consideration. Also known as brand mentions, these are words or phrases on other websites that mention your brand without linking to it. This only emphasizes the fact that your links should appear as natural as possible, be it on your blog or website, or in any third-party source.Google is making a difference between implied links and traditional links, or hyperlinks. The newfound emphasis on implied or brand links are because they tend to be of more natural nature, and not part of a scheme for obtaining higher rankings or something.
- Mobile optimization is being accounted for: This year, internet use on mobile exceeded that of PCs in the US. While this may not come as a surprise, the trends seem to show that mobile will continue to dominate over the next few years. With the rise of mobile analytics and optimization for mobile, having a design that works on mobile is becoming increasingly important. Companies, in fact are starting to put equal if not more emphasis in tracking mobile traffic and apps, if they have any. Poor loading time, high bounce rates and other factors which affect good web design will come into greater play.
Google seems to be doing it already. They have a section on their Webmaster’s accounts so that users can check for analytics and best SEO practices. More recently, they have been testing mobile friendly icons that will show up on a user to indicate which sites are mobile friendly and which are not. - Content Marketing will still be King:With every new tweak in Google’s algorithms, it is becoming more and more difficult for people to cheat their way up in the search rankings. The algorithms are becoming more complex, and can now read between the lines. So what is left? Enter content marketing.
By creating and delivering content that is both fresh and relevant to readers, Google will reward you with a spot on their site. Marry that with keyword search, indexing and meta tags, and you’ve got yourself a coveted spot. Without a strong content marketing plan, your visibility will tank, and your SEO efforts will fail to deliver.
Don’t waste time on resolutions that don’t work.
This new year, focus on the trends that will take you forward. If done right, SEO can have huge positive repercussions on your brand. If you are needing help to position your business on Google, contact us. We are an SEO company in Vancouver that knows a thing or two about search engine optimization (okay, a little more than that :)). If interested, be sure to check out our free trial!
