SEO i.e. Search engine optimization it’s a term which has people crying and many a webmasters losing their hair as they lose all of their traffic overnight. The future of SEO is something which can’t be predicted just by looking at the major search engines or the people who are ranking well these days. With lots of non predictive algorithms in place we can’t even tell which strategy might work well in the long run. With the recent Hummingbird algorithm update by Google things have become more unusual than ever. People who were on the top of their game have lost significant traffic.
Players who were nowhere to be seen are on visible everywhere now. But one thing is for sure these days, what’s most necessary is to have a coherent strategy. Everything has to be taken into account from the ground up. Once you have a proper strategy in place things might become a little easier. So what are the top seo trends to follow for 2014, let’s discuss them in detail.
Top seo trends to follow in 2014: The points to keep in mind.
1.) Social media integration with content: What once was an optional point for people while doing SEO is now one of the pillar points in SEO.
The emphasis now is on shareable content. People want to read stuff that hasn’t been written anywhere else already. They are not interested in the news rather they are interested in what a particular writer thinks about something. That’s the trend these days. The social media strategy for any website should be in alignment with the content strategy. Posts should be shared on different platforms according to the platform relevance. Job specific posts and career related opportunities and professional updates should be front lined for networks like LinkedIn. Real time content which is relevant only for one or two days should be promoted only on Twitter and other real time update platforms. Engaging content which can draw out user response should be shared on Facebook and Google+. Gear up your site for easy pinning on Pinterest and social sharing should be included for easy sharing options. Don’t make them stand out too much or don’t go other way and make them too bland. The right social buttons are those which are easily accessible and fit in with the user interface (UI) but still entice the user enough for clicking on them.
2.) Making really awesome content: The whole of 2013 passed with people screaming on the top of their voices that ‘Content is the king’ . This statement has carried itself forward in 2014. Content marketing is still the dominant strategy for getting lots of promotion in a limited time. Awesome content also helps in building a unique brand profile for your own. Awesome content can include anything from Infographics, interview series posts of experts, simple memes about any topic to analytical content which includes surveys and questionnaires.
3.) Focus on building your own brand: Building your own brand requires time and patience. You have to make sure you are visible everywhere and on every platform. A single branding strategy should be in place. What kind of brand image do you want to convey? Is your website a self help website with focus on helping the user, then your brand should inculcate qualities like supportive, easy to access, user friendly etc. By clearly defining what you offer you can stay in the user’s mind for a long time and decrease your reliance on search only traffic. Creating a cool brand image requires you to be active on mediums people use for various activities. You can use Instagram to upload cool photos so as to build your brand identity.
4.) Ensure you update old content: What is visible these days is that people time and again focus on the new and forget the old. You must update your old content weekly in order to make sure your old posts get that edge in SERPS. Google loves fresh content and so does everyone else. By regularly updating your old content you gain over the people who had posted articles on the same topics a year or two ago and haven’t updated it since ages.
5.) Clean your design: What’s the use of having a website loaded to the brim with UX elements and features if the user doesn’t like it. Minimalism and flat design are trends that are here to stay. What is needed should be used on the site, and the whole site should have a coherent design. There should be proper call to action buttons like sign up for our newsletter, download our eBook, buy our product and other stuff like that! The typography plays an important part in the whole user experience. Make sure your design is well structured on the inside and outside.
Related: Find out why StudioPress themes are used by over 112,000 website owners around the world today. Read more here.
On the inside you can check the layout of your site by adding missing schema components, you can add DC i.e. Dublin core code and apple touch icon to improve your site’s seo score.
These are some of the top SEO trends to follow in 2014. To read more about great SEO tips and money making tutorials, keep visiting ReginaldChan.net
This post was contributed by Aditya Nath Jha and sponsored by MyRefers.com, a unique peer to peer referral based job search platform.
