What were the most important SEO methods of 2014?
As the clock ticks steadily towards the holidays and the end of 2014, the pace starts to change. Without a doubt, you’re racing through these last days of December frantically. But let’s take a moment and reflect on the Top SEO Trends of 2014. And while there may not be time to add any new strategies to your already full to-do list, you can bet that there will be plenty of crossovers into 2015.
2014 was all about Content.
Though, maybe it’s always been all about quality content. But it was equally important to have quantity of content.
But this year, we all admitted that quality content helps your readers understand your offering and engage with your brand. And when you offer good content that is optimized for SEO – your site will begin to stand out among the noise.
And as ranking well has become more complicated than creating the mass quantity of keyword-stuffed pages, more and more business owners have realized their need to outsource this role, or even hire for roles like Content Manager.
Mobile sites were more important than ever.
Having, at the very least, a mobile responsive site was no longer an option this year. Check your Audience Report in Google Analytics for proof that more and more of your readers are using mobile devices.
Take compatibility a step further and think about overall mobile strategy. How can you help your mobile readers achieve their goals quicker? Become more efficient on the go on your site?
Adjusted to Semantic Search.
As we mentioned in a previous installation, we’ve been using SEOs to search semantically all this time. We search using our own natural language, to answer questions that will help us with our daily life. But in 2014, marketers began to catch up.
Buy taking keyword research a step further – imagining what else the reader may be interested in learning about – we began to better predict and answer our readers’ questions. Websites with good content are becoming customer service hotlines.
We got better at Sharing.
This year, marketers started realizing that properly sharing their content was a quicker way to get that content in front of their target market, and to increase website traffic. And instead of ignoring Google+, we are using it.
Google + not only strengthens overall social media marketing position, in 2014 it helped increase overall SEO rankings. Marketers are now using Google+ to shine a light on all that great content by sharing it with their Google+ network, which in turn helps Google index the content faster. Take a look back at Galileo Tech Media’s tips for improving your Google+ presence for better search rankings.
We were careful of the company we kept.
Guest blogging had been considered a best practice, but took a quick turn into the not-so category when Matt Cutts of Google dropped the hammer earlier this year, saying
“If you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop.”
We’re learning the difference between good and bad guest blogging. Guest blogging is about publishing great content, building your brand image and loyalty, and establishing credibility. It’s no longer just about the inbound links. Guest blogging will continue to be a great tool for marketers into 2015… as long as it’s implemented with discretion.
Stay tuned next month for our predictions of Top SEO Trends for 2015. And Happy Holidays from the