The New World Of SEO – What You Don’t Know You Don’t Know

Google is synonymous with SEO (search engine optimisation) so when we talk about SEO we’re really talking about Google. Over the last year and a half, Google has made some significant changes to its SEO algorithms.

What does that mean, you ask?

It means a lot. The algorithms determine which websites get ranked for which keywords. Many businesses struggled with the adoption of the new algorithms, while many more gave up all together. Here’s what you need to know about SEO today to ensure you stay ahead of the game.

• You must include Social Media and Content
  It used to be that inbound links were the only thing a website needed to worry about to get ranking on the first page of Google. Not anymore. You still need to include links as part of your strategy but equally as important are social media sites and constantly updating website content. This means you need a Facebook or twitter page and a blog – stat. It also means that SEO is much more integrated with ‘online marketing’ and not such a separate field of expertise.
• Make Sure Your Content Is Good and Multi-Faceted
  It’s not just articles you need to update the content on your website. New algorithms also include visual and audio content as well. All this rich, interaction based content counts towards your website’s rankings.
• Don’t Buy Links
  Old SEO ‘experts’ will tell you to submit your site to a back linking service to boost rankings. If you’ve paid for a link to your website you can now be confident in the knowledge that it won’t count. In fact, it could even hurt your rankings as Google will think you are trying to artificially boost it. All the changes Google has made have led towards ranking websites from social authority… which is much harder to fake.
• Flatter Google by being on Google+
  Some suggest that Google likes to promote it’s own social network above others, ranking websites that have lots of +1’s and an active Google+ page strongly. If you’re not already set up on Google+ now is the time.
• Quick Site = Highly Ranked Site
  Speed is important. Slow websites get penalised which is why a good hosting plan is so important. If you’re not sure how to check or improve the loading speed of your website, get in touch with us.
• Get rid of Technical Bugs
  Google can detect if you have pages that don’t load or duplicate content or difficult site navigation. Ensure the back end of your website works simply and effectively and that you’re not leaving broken links or old pages languishing anywhere. You might not see them, but Google’s Spiderbots can.
• Forget about so much keyword optimisation
  While keywords are still clearly important for rankings, Google has wizened up to the practice of overusing keywords. Too many keywords in all the right places can actually lower your ranking. More important is using natural language that fits with the subject you’re talking about. Less is more.
• Don’t rely on anything
  Change is here to stay it seems. Expect that in the future the algorithms will continue to change and you will need to update your SEO practices again. Ensure your Search engine optimisation consultant is on top of the latest thinking and willing to change their strategy, just like we are.

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