Top 4 SEO Tips for 2015: Don’t Get Caught Off Guard

29 Dec Top 4 SEO Tips for 2015: Don’t Get Caught Off Guard

It’s been a wild year for SEO.  Pandas and Penguins and Pigeons, O my! As a result, many SEOs and Business owners alike have been confused as to what the rules are these days. We often hear people complain about how Google is always “changing their minds” when it comes to which factors they reward and penalize. However, the truth is, they’re not so much “changing their minds” as they are more strictly enforcing the guidelines they already have in place. These guidelines have been available for some time, but unfortunately, it’s not until a penalty when SEOs or businesses wake up and shift their strategies to align with them.

Google announced earlier this month that their algorithms will continually update, which means refreshes will happen in much shorter sequence than what we’ve seen previously. Whereas it used to be months, or even over a year between updates, these new updates will happen in rapid fire sequence.

With that in mind, it’s essential that you understand and align with Google’s webmaster guidelines before it’s too late.

Although these rapid-fire updates may strike fear in the hearts of many, the good news is that recoveries can also be made in a shorter period of time if a website is smacked with a penalty. For example, with Penguin 2.0, which was released in May 2013, sites that were penalized had to wait until the October 2014 release of 3.0 before they were up for reconsideration.

For a successful 2015 SEO Campaign, there are several best practices, which must be adopted to avoid the running into major problems. In addition to what we’ve listed here, there are many other factors which must be considered, but in order to keep it simple, we’ve identified the top 4 most impactful SEO tips for 2015.

Do Away with Shortcuts

In the wake of Google’s three major algorithm updates (Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird), SEO experts have recommended that websites avoid using shortcuts to make their way up the search results. This is particularly important because there is almost zero tolerance now when it comes to previous practices of keyword stuffing and spamming.

Create High Quality Content

With the latest changes in algorithms, content is increasing securing a central position in SEO strategies; and it would be safe to this won’t change anytime soon. With that said, Google and numerous other search engines now give importance to those sites that show clear signs of efforts in the area of content marketing. Good quality content provides users with a good experience, and that’s what search engines, particularly Google, want to do.

Your marketing team should spend a lot of time planning on the ideal content marketing strategy that includes a various types of contents, including articles, blogs, videos and images.

One great way to spread your content and improve your search engine ranking is to use social media in conjunction with your own website, including Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The latest changes in algorithms gave considerable weightage to those websites that are generating traffic from social media networks.

Many organizations are already taking advantage of this by offering their fans a wide range of content on their social media accounts. This not only keeps their fans engaged, but also makes them visit the company’s website.

Keep Reviewing Any Algorithm Updates

The last thing you would want would be to get caught by surprise practicing techniques that have just been declared ‘unethical’ by Google. The best way to avoid this is to keep monitoring any algorithm changes which have been implemented in search engines. We’ll be reviewing updates as they happen, so make sure you check back frequently for the most recent Algorithm Updates.

Your main focus should be towards avoiding any ‘unethical practices’ and you should continually monitor and modify your strategy accordingly.

Rethink Guest Blogging

Guest blogging gained immense popularity in the past few years. This became popular as many guest blogging sites popped up offering people a chance to post content for a fee. The problem is that these sites were often filled with low quality and irrelevant content. Since Google’s goal is to “enhance the user experience by offering the most relevant results,” this practice is obviously out of sync with their objective.

With that being said, it’s important to distinguish between low quality and irrelevant guest blogging sites, and highly authoritative and relevant sites, which are not open to anyone willing to pay a fee. There is still value here, you just have to be extremely careful on how you approach this, and the percentage of your strategy this comprises.

End Note: The Future of SEO

As Google continues to roll out it’s expectations for alignment with their guidelines, SEO will inevitably continue to get more complicated and competitive. So what exactly does this have in store for search marketers and SEO service providers?

It is important to understand that Google’s aim is to provide the ultimate user experience above all things. Gone are the days when they focused on deriving a mathematical formula to rate the most relevant website on the internet. Instead, they are now focusing on providing users what they want. Therefore, it is safe to say that if SEO is to survive and remain a useful strategy for online marketers, their SEO strategy must be compatible with what the algorithms are looking for.

For your 2015 SEO Strategy, keep these things in mind and you’ll steer clear of all unethical practices and would succeed in improving your visibility in the most effective manner.

In preparation for the New Year, we’re offering a free comprehensive SEO analysis to those wishing to ensure their success. If you’re interested, just let us know by completing this form, and we’ll be in touch to go over our findings with you.

Thanks to all of our clients who have made this an outstanding year for Brown Box Branding! We’re looking forward to providing you with amazing successes in the year to come!