Search engine optimization. The three words every marketing professional hears on a consistent basis. It is constantly changing and we are always trying to keep up. You spend countless hours trying to perfect the “code” and make sure your content is leading you towards more clicks.
As of last Friday, Google will no longer be showing AdWords ads on the right hand side of the search results page. Now ads will only show at the top and bottom of the search engine results page (SERP). The ad number may jump from three to four. The addition of more ads at the top means a push down of your organic search results, making the emphasis on SEO even more important.
Keywords are still an important factor to your SEO, although there are now a whole new set of things to consider when revamping your website and other digital activities. Here are some crucial ingredients to the SEO secret recipe.
The visuals.
Recent Google algorithm updates have expressed a large shift to quality content over keyword optimization. Big factors that will increase your SEO have a lot to do with visuals on your site. We all know that 2015 was the year of the video. And 2016 is predicted to be the same. Videos, gifs and pictures are taking over social media, ad campaigns, and websites. “Dwell Time” is key to increase your SEO.
Mobile response.
Does your website convert to mobile? Videos and certain graphics do not convert to mobile with the highest efficiency. Making sure your mobile pages are responsive is another piece to the SEO puzzle. Does it load quickly? According to this infographic, most users will only wait 6-10 seconds before they abandon a page. Last spring, Google announced that they are rewarding sites with mobile-friendliness. We are coming up on a year of mobile as a ranking signal, so make sure you are on track.
Social’s impact.
Most brands and marketers use social media daily and rely heavily on its engagement in their campaigns. Social media posts have made their way on the SERPs. Now it is crucial to consider your content on your social platforms as SEO contributors. Social media has always been a great inbound marketing tool to drive traffic to your site and now it can help you increase rank in the search results too.
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