SEO Trends for 2015

Content is King

• The Panda algorithmic updates have focused SERP more on quality of content than keyword density• Googles is now determining if the content is relevant

to the search term instead of matching up words• Your content should be more about sentences and

phrases that support the keywords being searched for

Social Signals Will Be Even More Important

• The importance of connecting your site and social presence is greater than it ever has been• Research is showing that social signals are boosting connected brands SERP

rankings Laddering – when a search is made Google is looking for relevant content and matching it against a sites social profiles and producing results for sites with similar content receiving social engagement

Online Security Will Become More Important in Rankings

• Because your website deal with sensitive customer information you must ensure you have the correct security certificate• Contact your websites administrator and ask them to provide the security

certificate information to you• Googles algorithm is looking for https on sites that have web forms and is

less likely to show your page in the results if it does not have a security certificate

Mobile-Friendly SEO will grow

• Mobile internet use has now taken over the top rank from desk top internet use (May 2014)• Google statisticians say

there may be as many as 50 BILLION LOCAL searches on mobile devises in 2015• Responsive is the term

used for a mobile friendly site

• Responsive may not be the best design for your page or it’s content• Take the time to view your site on your mobile device

Is it easy to navigate? Is the content you are promoting prevalent? How long does it take to load on your mobile device?• Some developers are using “hybrid” sites (some pages are responsive,

some are not)• A regular web page layout on a mobile may be better for some sites

Increased focus on conversations instead of keywords

• Googles Hummingbird update was the single biggest change in the algorithm in Googles history• It effectively changed the way SERP ranking occurred• The focus of Hummingbird is on conversation, semantics and

determining the intent of the searcher

• You can no longer simply think of a keyword or words that someone may type into Google• You must now think of the question your best target is asking, and

answer that question with content• That is not to say don’t use “Long tail Keywords”• Long tail Keywords – a phrase or sentence describing what your

content is about

Link Building Will Focus on Brand Mentions

• As you have learned in our SEO Knowledge class, “back links” plays a roll in SEO and has for a long time• In the past it was a game of how many

“back links” could you have connected to the site. The more you had the better your ranking• The Panda update added some rules to

that

There Will Be More Visual-Based SEO

• In 2014 quality, original content featuring visual media elements like graphics, images, and video are became high performing assets for the top-ranked web pages

• That trend is proving to grow and keep growing in 2015• Rich text with visual elements gets priority in SERPs over web pages with just text

• YouTube video embeds and links back to are leading the way in boosting SERP rankings

Keyword Rankings

• So the focus of our SEO is no longer on how we rank for a specific Keyword• If we create high quality original content that answers the question our

target audience is asking, the ranking takes care of itself• In 2015 you need to focus on “How is this content going to convert”

• If your top-ranked web page doesn’t generate conversions and sales, that top ranking doesn’t matter• Pay attention to how your content engages your audience• What does your content have to convince people to take your action

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