“Hey man what’s happening to SEO in 2016?”

seo thoughtThis year like many others will have people ranting on about the death of SEO and Link building, but rest assured SEO is not dead, it’s very much alive, to the point where more smaller businesses are jumping on to the SEO band wagon. Like everything in SEO link building is really not dead, it’s evolving to change. Change in how users search for things, change in where users search for things, and change in when users search for things.

The progression of SEO is constant!

Google, worth in excess of 30 billion dollars bank their worth on a search engine that supposedly outperforms all others. The key takeaway here is not to panic when Google decides to change, simply learn to change with it. This will stack the deck in your favor in the long term.
How do we work with Search engines?

Panda 4.0Yes it’s true even in 2016 it will be possible to trick Search engines and engage in black hat link building, and possibly get your site ranked for any number of keywords. The fact remains that as long as links are a factor in determining your sites authority and ranking people will try and find new and innovative ways to produce them. For some of you who have felt the wrath of mighty Google dare not even think about building links. I’ve had SEO’s quit their profession because they were once at the top of their game and now with new changes in the way Google asses ranking their sites have failed to meet the mark. So what does one do when Google changes the game? I suppose you should change with it or give up! Since giving up is not an option, lets figure out how we can work with Google and give the big G what it wants.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the success of your SEO strategy comes down to keyword selection.

Tip #1: Content is king on the internet so produce content that Google likes for your keywords nothing else just focused content for long term strategy.

SEO is ever evolving, and in 2016 you have to be committed and willing to invest into SEO if you hope to make a solid presence which delivers a return. Remember you are not the only one in the race. Just pull up a Google Search for any keyword phrase and you will get thousands if not millions of listings. These are all potential competitors you have to beat out to the first page. There are many businesses out there that are willing to spend $24,000 annually on print advertising and only $300/month on SEO and expect bigger returns from the SEO. Well that’s just not possible. The returns are directly based on the work you put in.

Diversity is the Key to Success

Google’s updates are never going to end. From targeting what they consider spam to reducing local listing from 7 to 3, to make more room for paid search. Google will continue to churn out newer and more sophisticated updates throughout the year.

Tip #2: Stop putting all your eggs in one basket. If your strategy is to build links from one source at some point that source is going to get over saturated and either dried out or dis-vowed by Google. So always diversify your portfolio of links to keep it natural and steady.

Ask yourself this if your site lost all its organic traffic today would you still be able to survive? If not it’s time to create a more diversified digital marketing strategy for your website. Although links are a major ranking signal for Google, once ranked there is no guarantee you will stay there if your content doesn’t satisfy the end user.

Tip #3: If you want a strong online presence that lasts, you have to earn it. Regardless of how you get to the top, if your web site doesn’t meet the desires of the end user you won’t be there for long, and no amount of links will help you. That means creating user friendly pages that are keyword focused and optimized for mobile devices. Last year mobile searches surpassed computer search which should mean mobile users are growing.

Is this year going to be another year full of exciting and disappointing changes in the world of search? Absolutely! But now you know what you need to do to stay ahead of it and survive the storms.

Final Tip: Last year Social network searches exploded, proving that many searchers are relying on social networks to find what they want instead of search engines. Hmmm…must be why social signals helped many sites get better ranking in 2015!