As we all know, SEO has survived the year 2013 after encountering more updates of Panda and Penguin algorithm and even faced the heavy-duty Hummingbird algorithm. And now in 2014, SEO is looking for more constructive ways in areas such as ORM, PPC, copywriting, SMO, website design and basic coding skills. Even if SEO changed its tactics, creating good quality content must be given the highest priority.

In past several years, most of us thought SEO is reaching a dead end due to the implementation of the stringent guidelines put forward by Google. But Google’s main goal of introducing these rules was to remove those websites that are manipulating search results and those sites that don’t deserve ranks at the top of the search result pages. Nowadays, SEO professionals are taking new roles such as marketing manager, digital marketing specialist, creative director etc. These professionals are now fully aware that search engine marketing is no longer an independent specialization.

Some of the Updated Strategies in SEO

After the dreadful impact of Hummingbird algorithm, online marketing specialists renewed the importance of coming up with effective content oriented optimization strategies. Here are some updated SEO strategies that you can expect in 2014 and may help in building your own techniques to boost your site for attracting targeted audience.

  • Use Google+ to get the desired Social Media Presence – For getting the desired social media presence, marketing professionals normally use Facebook and Twitter as they both have active use traffic all the time. Now most marketing experts suggest that you can get better social media attention by investing on Google+. As Google is focusing on hunting down low quality content that are aimed at building unwanted links, you need to focus on Google Authorship which is nowadays gaining more importance. By using your Google+ account, you can establish Google Authorship of your content. It also boosts your Author rank and plays a significant role in the search result pages. Similar to Facebook ‘Like’, Google +1’s are assumed to be a part of “social signals” element of Google search algorithms.
  • Don’t Focus Only on Keywords – Those who are using Google Analytics may notice that under Acquisition>Keywords>Organic section you may see (not provided) at the top of the section, indicating that a user used secure search. It was in last year when Google introduced secure searching for all users and due to this SSL encryption, you can no longer share keyword data. This is a set back to SEO as we cannot access information about our visitors, but Google is trying to tell us that we need to stop focusing keyword data and start building strategies for creating good quality content. We need to start thinking on topics and suitable content around those topics for achieving better webpage optimization results.
  • Google is Serious about Site Loading time – Google is now getting serious about site loading time and mobile optimization or mobile SEO. Earlier, the search engine giant has put forward some guidelines regarding site loading in both desktop and mobile platforms. Many Search Engine Optimization experts view that in coming months, Google may start to penalize websites that suffer from technical issues such as low site speed, not compatible in mobile devices etc. So, we need to allocate some time on improving the technical aspects of a website to obtain the desired outcomes.
  •  Content marketing will remain as the backbone of SEO – After being hit by the Hummingbird update, SEO industry is trying to focus on providing the content to the right audience. Google’s aim of releasing this algorithm update is that, SEO will focus on precision, relevance and a greater understanding of user intent. As Google introduced conversational search and voice search, content build upon on long tail keywords are getting more rankings compared to their shorter counterparts.
  • Social Media Marketing is getting Stronger and Stronger – With users going after visual content such as pictures and videos, social media sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Youtube are now becoming the most sought marketing platforms after Facebook and Twitter. If we provide more visual based content to the right customers then we can expect equivalent social media traffic to boost up our website and hence improved ROI.

With the rising popularity of smartphones and tablets, Search Engine Optimization will witness more or less changes in coming years and have to adopt new ways to satisfy users by providing the right information. As long as businesses and other organizations want better online visibility, SEO professionals are always there to help.