Now
that we’re reaching the midway point of 2014, I thought it would be helpful to
take a look at where we’re at, particularly in terms of SEO.
Google
has been busy over the past year, and traditional SEO strategies, tasks and
roles have changed considerably.
Let’s
take a look at what we’re seeing thus far in 2014.
1. Google Authorship is rising in importance
More
business owners are realizing the importance of Google Authorship and are
taking Author Rank more seriously; as they should, particularly since Google
has confirmed they do use a form of Author Rank – at least in terms of ranking
in-depth articles.
The
end of 2013 saw Google reducing authorship snippets by 15% in an effort to
increase click through to only the highest quality content. This has meant an
overall reduction in the total number of search results being accompanied by
authorship info, and increased competition among authors.
We’re
also seeing a tiered system in terms of what’s displayed next to search
results: some search results are displayed with full authorship details, while
others are displayed with only a byline.
Factors
that continue to determine whether authorship snippets are included (or what
tier is used) include the reputation and trustworthiness of authors, as well as
the website on which the content is published.
There
has been speculation that those who don’t establish some degree of authority
via Author rank will become irrelevant (i.e. their content will no longer
rank). While we’re not there yet, it’s a strong reminder for writers and
marketers to get Authorship set up now before we do reach that point.
2. Brands are realizing the necessity of social media, as it plays a major role in
website traffic referrals and content dissemination
So
far in 2014, social media seems to be a major factor in terms of referral
traffic and content dissemination.
According
to recent research released by Shareaholic, Facebook continues to lead the pack
in terms of social media referral traffic. In March 2013, Facebook drove 21.25%
of all traffic sites receive. Pinterest came in 2nd at just over 7%
of all traffic, although its share of traffic has grown by 48% since December.
Twitter continues to trail behind with a 1% share of all website traffic.
With
many sites struggling to earn even mediocre rankings in the search engines,
brands are increasingly seeing social media as a quicker way to get their
content in front of their target market, and to increase website traffic.
3. “Content marketing” is beginning to replace the term “SEO”
Most
experts would agree that it’s no longer enough to simply have an SEO strategy.
In fact, I’ve noticed the term ‘content marketing’ starting to become used
synonymously with ‘SEO’. While the two should certainly be differentiated on
many levels, many argue that content marketing is the ‘new SEO’.
Business
owners and marketers should continue to focus on creating high-quality content
guided by solid keyword research based on SEO competition and keyword research,
with a focus on topical and long-tail targeting. But the days of picking a
handful of keywords and putting all efforts toward becoming ranked #1 for those
keywords are over. Competition is simply too high in all industries now;
there’s always going to be at least one other brand doing it better and
spending a higher budget than you.
A solid
content marketing strategy aims to build your exposure for many long-tail
keywords while also building brand awareness, authority, credibility, social
media awareness, and conversion rates. It’s a “cast the net” approach rather
than a “throw the spear” approach.
However, any
content marketing strategy should employ SEO best practices at its foundation;
meaning following important on-page SEO elements that are still relevant and
useful in 2014, and will remain useful through 2015 and beyond. A technical
knowledge of SEO coupled with a corresponding strategic content marketing plan
is the online marketer’s new secret weapon.
4. Guest blogging has been redefined
Guest
blogging was probably the biggest buzzword throughout 2013. SEO professionals
and online marketers preached the value of this tactic for building links,
brand authority, credibility, and myriad other benefits. For many marketers,
that was all turned upside down when, in his January webmaster video and blog
post, Matt Cutts made the startling and controversial pronouncement: “Stick a
fork in it: guest blogging is done.”
In response
to misinterpretations of his statement, however, he scaled his announcement
back by differentiating ‘good’ guest blogging from bad. In short, ‘bad’ guest
blogging means doing so solely as a means of getting links; ‘good’ guest
blogging means contributing excellent content to build your audience and
reputation.
He writes:
“There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure,
branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before
Google and they’ll continue into the future.”
Guest
blogging will continue to remain an excellent strategy for building your
audience, your brand and your personal thought leadership plan. And yes, those
inbound links will still count. However, spammy, low-quality guest blogging is
a thing of the past, and smart marketers will focus instead on using guest
blogging for the many other benefits it provides.
5. SEO is becoming more expensive as it becomes more difficult to get inbound
links and create link-worthy content
Pre-Panda,
producing content that would rank highly was relatively easy. Slap up some
keyword-rich content, get a few keyword-rich links to it, and you were good to
go.
But as
ranking well becomes more difficult, marketers and business owners are
realizing the need to increase their investment in content creation and link
building in order to rank in the search engines.
Roles like
Content Manager, Director of Content, and Content Marketing Officer (CMO) are
becoming increasingly main stream, as is the outsourcing of content creation
and link building.
According to recent research
by Kapost, 54.1% of marketers are prioritizing content marketing team hiring
above any other sub-discipline.
This hefty
investment in content creation and SEO is meaning brands have to carefully
re-evaluate the types of content they’re producing, and actively track whether
that content is helping them achieve their goals.
6.
In-house SEOs are becoming coordinators for actual fulfillment work
With the
increased volume of tasks and the wider range of skills needed for content
creation and SEO, in-houses SEO professionals are increasingly being called on
to coordinate the fulfillment of work, based on their technical knowledge,
rather than completing it themselves.
While in the
past, SEOs would typically write and optimize content and build relationships
with other site owners for link building purposes, these roles are now being
outsourced to agencies who have built existing relationships with high-quality
publishers and blogs. SEO professionals themselves are becoming project
managers, coordinating responsibilities, assigning them, and assessing and
repairing on-site optimization problems.
An in-house
SEO in 2014 is far more likely to be found making decisions, finding
contractors and overseeing content strategies and link building, rather than
doing it themselves.
7. As
competition for online visibility rises across all industries, the demand for
SEO services is increasing
With the
vast majority of businesses now actively using content marketing as part of
their overall marketing strategy (some research puts this number as high as 94%
for B2B small businesses), the competition for search engine rankings is
fiercer than ever.
And because
of this increase in competition, SEOs – both in-house and agencies – are being
called on to get all this expensive content ranking well in search engines.
Despite the
obvious rise in the popularity of content marketing, the 2014 Moz Industry
Survey shows that a greater number of marketing professionals are being tasked
with SEO (78%) than are responsible for content marketing (49%).
So to those
who say that SEO is dead, I would say ‘not by a long shot’. The tasks and roles
associated with SEO may have changed and SEO may be steadily integrating with
content marketing, but I don’t see SEO going anywhere anytime soon.
We’ve seen
many changes this year when it comes to SEO, but one thing is certain: despite
the changes, businesses continue to experience its value in terms of building
their reputation, increasing their visibility and getting traffic to their
site.
