The year 2014 will see a culmination of SEO trends that emphasize content, linkage, and social media interactions. These three “pillars” of SEO are essential for any business looking to compete in the online marketplace in 2014.
Two of these pillars—content and links—have always been used in SEO, though recent algorithm changes from search engines like Google have made these pillars all the more crucial. Plus, more weight is being placed on social media activity, which is the third SEO pillar, and more businesses are getting on-board with robust social media marketing strategies.
Let’s talk about the pillars of SEO and how they relate to your website Los Angeles SEO strategy.
Content
In the past couple of years, Google released a flurry of substantial algorithm changes, such as their Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates. The Panda and Penguin updates cracked down on SEO tactics meant to game the search engine, such as link farming and purchasing and keyword stuffing. The Hummingbird update helps facilitate new kinds of search activity, like sentence searches that use general conversational terms. It uses information you shared with Google, like location, to define terms other search engines ignore, like “home”, “place”, and “near me,” to produce more accurate results.
Search engines like Google are increasingly looking for rich, engaging content that human readers (not algorithms) want to look at. Although your keywords are still important, you need to embed them in quality content that keeps your visitors coming back. Search algorithms are looking at return traffic, inbound links, social media sharing, and other similar metrics, in addition to keyword usage, in order to determine search rankings.
Links
Inbound links still matter to search engines as well, but site owners can no longer purchase incoming links or work with low-quality sites like link farms—lest they want to risk being penalized by search engines. In considering your website’s Los Angeles SEO strategy, how do you gather a greater amount of inbound links from quality websites?
First of all, you generate quality content so that other reliable sites in your field link to the content to send their visitors. Another method that is gaining popularity is to engage in guest blogging. With guest blogging, you can write a post about an aspect of your business or a related topic in your field and get it published by an outside blogger or website, while linking the post back to your own site.
Social Media
Many SEO experts have been slow to take advantage of social media in their marketing campaigns, especially because using social media as a marketing tool entails a relatively new set of techniques that businesses are just starting to understand. When you establish a presence on platforms like Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and other outlets, you do several things at once: you build your brand, you build relationships with your customers, and you spread your message by word of mouth. You get all of these benefits for zero cost; you just have to put in the time and energy to establish a presence.
This new social media pillar of SEO is a powerful way to drive in traffic and increase your search rankings, and it should be integral to your website’s Los Angeles SEO campaign.
Stay On Top of SEO
Getting ranked highly on the search engine results pages is easily the most effective way to drive traffic into your site and increase conversions. The competitive world of SEO is always changing, and it pays to follow the industry closely and utilize the top techniques for improving search rankings.
Let a professional handle your website Los Angeles SEO campaign. Coalition Technologies has mastered the three pillars of SEO, and we make it our mission to stay on top of the SEO industry and utilize only the most cutting edge in SEO techniques. Our clients expect nothing less, and we deliver powerful results. Find out for yourself and give us a call today at 1-310-907-7949 to receive a free quote.
