All website owners aim to land on the first few pages of search engine results, and that’s why various search engine optimization strategies are being implemented. After all, SEO is designed to enhance the search rank position of a business or a brand.
Last year, however, website owners and SEO professionals received some serious beating no thanks to the Google Panda update. The search engine giant began changing the algorithms that determined a site’s page rank and search performance. The aim was to promote websites with original high-quality content; it also reduced the effectiveness of content farming, thus giving low preference to websites with low-quality content. A number of legitimate, well-meaning sites, however, were also adversely affected by this update.
These changes made by Google have made it difficult for website owners to determine which SEO strategy to adopt – or drop – to make their SEO strategies and campaigns successful. But adjust we must, and move forward to align with new SEO trends this 2012. Here are some trends and tips that are likely to work this year, and which will continue to be determining factors in improving search performance and online reputations for 2012:
2012 SEO Trends
Use of Social Media. Social media has gained so much popularity in the past years that almost everybody has an account on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc. Your popularity in these sites can be leveraged to bring positive results to your website’s SEO performance. Your SEO strategy must therefore include establishing and enhancing your presence in these social networking sites (social media marketing), and then making interactions with your networks. After all, Google has increased the merit of one’s social mentions. Remember to always create relevant and informative content that will catch the attention of your social networks, and whose links can be shared and mentioned across social media.
Relevant Content. New algorithms introduced by Google like the Panda update and Freshness algorithm will continue to be used in determining page rankings. Google will prefer sites with updated, relevant, informative and detailed posts, so website owners must try to create content that will pass this requirement.
Mobile Search Market. With more and more people owning a mobile phone like the Apple iPhone and Android smartphones, mobile marketing will expand and searches will no longer be confined to desktop computers or laptops. A simple command to Siri or a push of a button on your Android device will launch a search, so website owners must also tap their resources for mobile search market.
Personalized Search Results. Search engines will continue to tailor-fit their search results based on the user’s location, and from information derived from their social media sites and networks. This means that websites must be optimized to address personalized search in order to rank high in the SERPs.
Emphasis on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Changes must be made on the actual website, too, to engage the clients and convert them from visitors to customers. Our tip? Always include attention-catching photos and videos; that way, visitors are likely to spend more time on your website and find out what you have to offer.
Search engines like Google will continue to evolve and will constantly change their algorithms in determining the rank and positioning of a website. Nobody will know what will they implement next but what is important is that SEO provider should be at the top of the game and always ready to determine the strategies to use for the success of their SEO campaign.
About the author: Abie works as a content writer for afbtemplates, a site where you can get a lot of animated Facebook templates.