The Future of SEO

It is true that changes to Google’s main algorithm are far and few in between, but many experts believe that there are changes on the horizon when it comes to Google and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A recent article published by Forbes.com, talks about those potential changes and some other trends that can have an impact on how users receive search results and how people optimize their web space.

Textbook, Larson & Draper

One of the trends that is already in existence is highlighted in the textbook titled Digital Marketing Essentials.  The book talks about the Panda update to Google’s Algorithm. It says, “The Panda update was significant not just for the changes it implemented but because it marked a significant shift in Google’s ranking determinants. Rather than trust in the patterns of links across the Internet as reliable signals of a website’s quality, Google began assessing the quality of a webpage based on other factors.” (Larson & Draper, 2017) The Panda update took data from several focus groups on what made a website appealing and included those characteristics in their algorithm. Overall, this led to more high quality websites being ushered to the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

In the Forbes article, the author talks about how there will be possible changes to the way the

Google Home, Virtual Assistant

SERP will operate in the near future. The article states that, “Google has been pushing the development of more personalized search results for the better part of a decade, relying on individual search histories, browser cookies, and other information to give better, more customized SERPs for individuals.” (DeMers, 2017) Google has access to a lot of personal data and they plan to use that data to make the browsing experience more customized to their users. They have already implemented these features in many areas of their tools, but in the future we will see them implemented with many of Google’s other products. For instance, Google Home, the speaker and home virtual assistant will collect information on the user and incorporate those preferences into the browsing experience.

One of the final things the article brings up is that Google and other search engines will focus on hyper-local optimization. As they continue to make the SERP more individualized, one of those components will be to offer more local solutions not only to provide a level of personalization to the user, but also to encourage local community investment and growth. SEO is an ever-evolving tool and one must stay current to utilize the most of its benefits. As technology changes, so will the way we find information. Knowing how to navigate the World Wide Web, will be a useful skill to anyone. 

References:

Larson, S., & Draper, J. (2017). Digital Marketing Essentials. N.p.: Stukent.

DeMers, J. (2017). 7 SEO Trends That Will Dominate 2018. In Forbes.com. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/12/26/7-seo-trends-that-will-dominate-2018/2/#

Navigating the World of SEO

Scott Cowley, Stukent Expert

In a Stukent Expert Session Webinar, Scott Cowley goes into detail about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to best utilize optimization techniques to build a profit. In a world where technology is a one stop shop for information, entertainment and shopping, having a website that is easy to find is extremely beneficial.

One of the first steps in building an optimized website is to learn and understand how people search and what they search for. There are 3 main types of searches; Informational, Navigational and Transactional. Within those 3 types of searches users are quite predictable in how they search. Most users want the search engine to do all the work for them, so when searching they may add descriptive keywords like, “Best” headphones or “Cheapest” headphones to bring up a more relevant webpage. Understanding this, will allow the web-builder to design web pages with keywords that will meet the search criteria of their target group.

According to Mr. Cowley, there are two parts to SEO, On-page SEO and Off-page SEO. On-page SEO is when a search engine such as Google, utilizes keywords on a webpage to determine the relevance of that webpage. Google’s algorithm will crawl the website and find keywords that are related to the search criteria and rank them higher due to relevancy. How to utilize keywords is a very complicated task. It is important to not oversaturate or cannibalize your site with keywords. Using too many keywords and using the same keywords will overcrowd and delegitimize your site. If everything is important, than nothing is important. Using tools like Google Adwords a data archive, can give insights on what people search for so a web builder can tailor the webpage to the search patterns of the consumer.

Courtesy: Marketing Comando

However, Google does not use relevancy alone to rank pages. Their algorithm also uses Off-page SEO, which ranks pages based on popularity. The popularity of a website can be determined by the number and quality of links that direct you to a particular web page. It is important to know that Google ranks web pages and not full web sites, so certain pages can have higher rankings than others.  Many businesses will use Social Media as a platform to put out content and generate traffic to a website in order to boost popularity. There are many techniques that can be used to generate traffic and if that technique is used in conjunction with keyword optimization it will yield the best search result placement.

Overall, SEO can be a powerful tool to market and communicate. What is important to know is that digital marketing is more than just having a web presence, but knowing how to use all of the tools and resources available to intentionally drive a message or conversion.