SEO in 2014: Preparing for the Road Ahead

It’s been a very turbulent year for search, with Google making many major changes to their algorithms that had online marketers reeling. Given the direction Google is heading towards, and the pace at which their algorithms are changing, we’re expecting another turbulent year ahead. The coming year promises to be just as turbulent, if not more, and it’s important to prepare for what Google has in store to ensure continued success in online marketing.

The Fight for Quality Continues

The changes that Google made in 2013 revolve around improving quality overall and applying traditional marketing concepts to digital. The focus has shifted from the technical aspects of an online marketing campaign to the quality, context, and message you are sending out to the online world. To marketers, it may seem like Google is tightening a noose around your necks, but to the users, this means higher quality, more relevant search results.

Keeping track of these changes shows you the direction Google is taking, and enables you to prepare for future updates. The following elements are some of the highlights you need to focus on in preparation for Google updates next year.

Content Development and Marketing

The Trend: More Depth, More Details, Better Context

Content has taken the driver’s seat in the past few years, changing SEO from being an exclusively technical, strict formula to a more fluid and personalized marketing activity. The rules have been shifting in the past few years as Google figured out how to best improve the SERPs they served by reading and understanding the content.

Content marketing will reach its maturity in 2014, with solid standards being established by Google as they continue to refine their algorithms. The Panda and Penguin updates they released this year have set marketers on the road to offering better content quality and implementing accepted content marketing practices. The release of Hummingbird points to Google’s continued direction towards content quality, and its development signals the maturity of their content marketing guidelines. Because Hummingbird focuses more on in-depth discourses and on context, you need to make your content more detailed, more insightful, and more relevant than ever before.

Action: Update Your Content Marketing Strategy

• Provide fresh website content regularly. This could come in the form of creating a new website blog (if you don’t have one already), updating your current products / services pages and adding relevant inner pages with case studies and new information.

• Boosting your online authority takes more than implementing authorship. Establishing relationships with fellow online influencers and being active in conversations that show your leadership in your niche provide you with content that you can link your site back to while establishing your authority and building the trust of your audience.

• Take a traditional publishing approach to your marketing – see if you can contribute to the blogs and websites of different online publishers and high-authority websites. Do this with caution, though – Google has included questionable guest blogging practices in their link scheme definitions (more on that later).

• Increase your social signals by being active in your social media properties. Share relevant industry updates, target your online publications and company activities, and interact with your network regularly to ensure your social signals remain strong.

SEO and Paid Ad Campaigns

The Trend: Moving from SEO to PPC

The gradual loss of organic search referral data was a big blow for many marketers and website owners this year. New sources of information had to be found, including paid third-party analytics providers. Google, however, still makes the encrypted information from secure search available through AdWords, viewable only if you have running campaigns with them. This is causing businesses to shift the larger part of their budget allocation from SEO to PPC.

Action: Striking a Balance between SEO and PPC

PPC should not be considered a replacement for SEO – the two methodologies are entirely different, and they can be used to help each other out. The following actions are therefore appropriate:

• Diversify your knowledge in different paid ad campaigns. Retargeting and banner ad campaigns are emerging as preferred marketing tools.

• Find and utilize alternative sources of search data. Site search is the best place to start. Add and optimize your site search functionality, and track the results from it. This helps augment the information lost from secure search without making your SEO too dependent on PPC.

• Focus on the content and context you present in SEO instead of specific keywords for your campaigns. Remember that Hummingbird won’t be as keyword-focused as the previous algorithms Google has developed – it will be focusing on context.

Link Building

The Trend: Zeroing In on Spam

This isn’t something new – Google has been doing this for years. They are, however, becoming very good at this, and the bar keeps going higher and higher when it comes to acceptable links and linking practices. Expect Google to refine their Penguin algorithm even more next year, The less obvious link scheme tactics like cloaked paid advertorials and private blog networks will continue to be targets.

Action: Link Audit and Relationship Building

• Run a link audit on your website to see if you have any links that violate Google’s guidelines. Note the ones that are on the borderline of their definitions as well – you’ll want to decide what to do with them in a bit. Have the links manually removed by contacting the webmasters and, after exhaustive efforts, using Google’s Disavow tool.

• Take a traditional PR approach to your link building efforts. Interact with high-authority publishers, answer their questions, and offer assistance whenever you can. Building relationships will give you an opportunity later on to be accepted when you offer to contribute to their websites.

• Limit your submissions for publication to a reasonable number. Check Google’s content guidelines (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en) and pay attention to the quality of the content you want to have published. Make sure it follows the voice and the topic of the website you want to be featured in.

Social Media

The Trends: Growing Social Influence, and Movement towards Visual Media

The influence of social in search and online marketing has been growing steadily over the past couple of years, especially since the introduction of Google+ in 2011. Social will continue to extend its influence in 2014. The correlation between social signals and higher rankings is expected to increase next year, as social presence becomes a determining trust factor.

Another trend that is happening in social media is the movement of your target audience to visual social media. Sites like Pinterest, Vine, and Instagram are growing in influence. Images, podcasts and videos are becoming rich sources of links for your website.

Action: Serious Social Media Strategy

• Create an integrated marketing strategy that includes social in all aspects of your marketing – from direct emails and newsletters, to your web design and functionality, to your blogs and other online properties.

• If you’re not using visual social media yet, or if you have properties in these sites but you haven’t been paying attention, it’s time to optimize. Create and share fresh, informative videos, in-depth infographics, and relevant images that have the potential to go viral.

• Be more active in Google+ in the coming year. Focus on the proper implementation of Google Authorship and on the nature of acquiring +1s. While Google has repeatedly said +1s do not directly affect SERPs, studies show they are still correlated to each other.

• Learn how to use social media analytics programs. The biggest social networks are now offering in-house analytics tools that give you insights to your audience in each platform. This will be useful for tailoring your campaigns.

Local and Mobile Marketing

The Trend: Audiences are Going Multi-Screen

Technology is evolving at a fast pace, and with it, search is evolving as well. Audiences are moving to mobile, using multiple screens and platforms. Whereas before it was okay to rank on the SERPs for desktop, now you have to rank for desktop, tablets, smartphones, and mobile phones. In order to reach your mobile audience, you need to focus on two things: mobile optimization and local SEO.

Action: Optimize for Mobile

• Optimize your web design for mobile. If you’re not using responsive web design, make sure that you have separate HTML designs for desktop and mobile. Test all features to make sure that the mobile websites work on all platforms and devices.

• Build your local visibility by acquiring links from local websites, sponsoring local activities and growing your network by reaching out to local influencers.

• Improve your loading speed by removing all unnecessary elements of your web design and optimizing all types of media, whether it’s an image, a video, or an audio file. This is important for Google and for your audience, especially if they are using mobile devices to visit your site.

Conclusion: SEO is Less Technical, More Strategic

The rules of SEO are changing, and it is bound to change even more when Google unleashes its next round of updates in the coming year. The direction search is going points marketers to being less obsessed about the technical aspects of SEO, and to being more strategic about your online marketing plans. Focusing your efforts on these key elements and keeping yourself updated throughout the year will help you maintain your success in online marketing in 2014.

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