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 clickthroughs 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. For help with that, see “Google Authorship: How to Dress Up Your Search
Results to Demand Attention.”
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 (if
not the 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.
For my response to the guest blogging debate, see my article, “Guest Blogging
Dead? Not Even Close.”
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 mainstream, as is the
outsourcing of content creation and link building. I predicted the rise of this
responsibility in a June 2013 post titled “The Job Title That You’ll Need to
Hire by the End of 2013.” 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 are having 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.
What would you add to this list? What other SEO trends are
dominating so far in 2014?
