It’s no secret that SEO has changed dramatically. The problem is that some SEOs have not changed a great deal even though the search engines have. Because of this, you need to understand the essential changes that need to be made so your SEO continues to push your website forward, no matter what new changes are unleashed by Google.
Google Algorithm Changes
Google is closely monitoring the time that a user spends clicking a result and then heading back into Google. This means to deliver quality content right off the bat and ensure that you keep your readers on your page. This brings up the point that high quality content remains vital for your website.
Google is now looking at long articles that are exceeding 1,000 words to hold more valuable information than the 350 – 500 word sets that used to be enough. If you browse the top hits in your niche, there is a good chance you will see that these people take time to build quality content for each of their posts and they get very detailed.
Link Manipulation Will Backfire
Natural link building is going to be vital in 2014. Google is working on better identifying natural shareable content and will weigh it more than paid link building that appears unnatural.
Guest Blogging Is Monitored
Guest blogs used to be the simplest way to gain links and to generate traffic. Any posts that are apparently designed to simply get a link, rather than to add value to a website, will be weighed different. However, Google Authorship will offer new features and will likely become a vital tool in 2014.
With this, you will also find that options like Google Plus and Social Tools are going to hold more power in the upcoming year. It is important that you begin to understand how these features work and ensure that your website is maximizing its efforts with these tools.
Get Mobile Ready
Since mobile devices are driving the internet forward, it will be important that your website can handle them. Mobile optimization and how effectively your website is for mobile devices will play an important role in the upcoming year. It will be good to have a mobile version of your website ready to go, if you haven’t already done this.
Google will continue to evolve this year and the changes to come may not be announced at this point. Because of this, it will be important to work closely with an SEO specialist to ensure that your website is moving forward with these changes as they are announced.
