12 days of Christmas – an SEO’s perspective
In the Christmas spirit, Ingenuity Digital is sharing its roundup of the year for those in digital marketing, and we’ve even included a festive infographic. Have a look back at the last 12 months and start to plan for the next…
Days 1, 9, 11, 12 – Presents from Google
Google has made three major updates this year that will affect SEO.Hummingbird, Not-Provided keywords and the ongoing Penguin updates.
The Penguin update may seem like a duff prize in the cracker for those companies who have shot down the rankings, but it means that companies who work hard and build natural links will get the rankings they deserve. Send us a quick message to check whether your site has been hit by this update.
To mark their tenth birthday, Google has shown us the shape of things to come in the Hummingbird update. Hummingbird modifies Google’s search results to have more emphasis on mobile search, local search, conversational search and search intent, meaning good things for both users and businesses. In the New Year we need to continue to make sure our sites answer users’ questions, instead of focusing solely on keywords. As well as this, the rise of Local Searchmeans that geo-targeting needs to become a central part of any international SEO.
Hand in hand with this is Google’s extension of search privacy, making 100% of keywords (Not Provided). In light of this, SEO experts should focus on landing page analytics and on content as more than just an optimisation tool.
Presents from Friends – Days 2, 3, 5, 10
Google’s improvement of Google + this year has signified the growing importance of SMO as the emphasis for rankings shifts towards social following and authority within a field. Google relies on the Authorship Tag to link writers and distinguish levels of expertise
Social media sites have also become more business friendly this year. Twitterparticularly, is becoming more accessible as they make paid advertising spaces self-service. B2B marketing has also finally caught on to the potential of the social sphere, with most companies using Linked-In as their central B2B marketing hub.
This trend is only going to grow so make sure social platforms are at the forefront of your digital marketing strategy for 2014.
Days 6, 7, 8 – Techno Gifts
The mobile revolution has increased traffic across different devices, meaning different platforms offering more and more traffic. That means usability is a bigger focus than ever, and with chatter about Google penalising those sites that don’t work well with mobiles, 2014 will be the year for responsive design.
2013 has also been a great year for visual marketing. The expanding limits of video and image can be used to engage visitors, lowering bounce rates/increasing engagement, and to perform as a key part in very powerful marketing campaigns. Make sure your images are displayed correctly to avoid the Google Image Mismatch penalty.
The big one, number 4
As the web continues to grow as a platform for businesses, competition online is stronger than ever. Because of this, strong branding and wide presence will be central in 2014 as Customer Recall increasingly becomes the deciding factor in online search. As ever, people are less inclined to buy from brands they don’t know.
For help forming a successful strategy for 2013, come to the experts: Call us now!
