SEO has always been an industry in which you have to be able to quickly adapt to changes and recognize what tomorrow brings. With every new update of Google’s algorithm, rules have been changing, more or less drastically, but still, those who practiced ethical SEO, which is to say tried to make their client’s website deserve better rankings instead of attempting to game the system, have managed to stay ahead of changes and to provide consistently impressive results. As the algorithm gets more complex, the emphasis on quality is much higher than it was until now, and possible exploits are decreasing in number. So let’s try and see what kind of SEO we will be doing in 2014.

Recommended reading: 5 Best Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2014 And Beyond

(Still) Going Mobile

While the necessity to have a mobile optimized website is not exactly a new thing, it is getting even more pronounced as each day goes by. An increasing number of people are using mobile devices to access the web, with some less developed countries actually having a huge majority of their inhabitants with only this kind of access to the World Wide Web. If your site is not responsive, not only will you be losing a ton of potential visitors who tried to view it on their Smartphone or tablet, your bounce rates will soar and your reputation drop, which will end up costing you much more than those trying to reach you from a mobile device (which is a substantial cost in itself). Not to mention the fact that, among other things, Hummingbird should make it easier for people to search from their mobile devices, which clearly shows that how dominant mobile search is becoming.

Social Networks

While Google relies on signals that it gets from crawlers, social network signals are (supposedly, at least) coming from real people, and since it is for them that search engines are making the rankings in the first place, signals coming from  social networks seem to be increasing in importance for a while now. Businesses have long since realized this and try to maintain presence on as any networks as they can. Naturally, just having an account will get you nowhere if you don’t try and engage your audience, get them to share news about you with their friends, and generally, show genuine interest in what you are doing. Google + is a must, naturally, while the choice of other networks that you’ll try and build a presence on will be determined by your intended audience or customers, by the format which best fits your business, and a number of other factors.

Recommended reading: Sharing Important Facts On Search Engine Optimization

From Keywords to Search Entities

Even though the direct effects of the Hummingbird are still not as obvious as most SEOs expected, the new algorithm is supposed to put more emphasis on search entities, and devalue traditional keywords to some extent. Naturally, keywords will have to remain important for the foreseeable future, but context is playing a much larger role in search, and this trend seems to be on the increase. If you want to rank well in this new environment, you’ll want to build yourself up as a search entity, more than just relying on keywords in page titles or appropriate anchors.

Content, Content, Content

And content. While it was always the focal point of any decent SEO strategy, quality content is even more important than it was, which is saying a lot. Despite the fact that ROI on decent content may be difficult to calculate and that your clients might need some persuasions to invest enough time or resources into this aspect of their SEO, if you have been phoning it in when it comes to content creation, you should definitely rethink that strategy if you want any success in SEO. Naturally, authorship goes without saying, as ignoring it is a terrible waste of value.  

 Author Bio:

Leana Thorne is a devoted blogger and a regular contributor to several tech blogs. She enjoys sharing newly found information, and loves writing – currently is exploring internet marketing and importance of search engine ranking and is always happy to be of help.