How the focus of SEO has changed and what you need to know to help your business get seen.
· 4 min read
When I first started freelancing over a decade ago, my client work focused heavily on keywords. Many times, my clients required me to use a specific keyword as many times as possible.
I even wrote for some clients in those early days who would flat out say it didn’t matter if what I wrote made sense, they just wanted the word count with the keyword used as much as possible. Looking back now, it was honestly insane.
But that’s how the algorithm worked back then. SEO was heavily based on keyword density and not on value of the actual content. Many marketers focused on tricking the algorithm to get their sites ranked with Google.
But there are over 200 factors that Google considers for ranking webpages. As a result, search results weren’t very accurate, often content presented wasn’t relevant or informative in most cases.
My own internal code of ethics worked against me in those early days. I just couldn’t fathom putting something out there for people to read that wasn’t accurate or didn’t make sense.
It got so bad, I decided to stop writing content. So for about a year I did transcription and then I took on virtual assistant jobs. I landed an internet research gig via Upwork that turned into a virtual admin job which I did for two years.
But eventually, the writer instinct won out and I returned to writing content.
Thankfully, I learned to choose higher quality clients. In addition, keyword stuffed articles by that time had more or less gone by the wayside.
Through many different algorithm changes over the last decade or so, Google search engines have the capability of focusing more on content quality than on keyword density.
As a result, many of those black-hat (for financial gain) SEO techniques of the past are no longer accepted practices. In fact, black hat SEO tactics, focused on manipulating search engines, can even cause penalties to kick in.
SEO today is all about the user experience as far as Google is concerned. This means that as a writer or business owner, your focus should be on writing quality content and making your visitor’s experience the best it can be.
Google search engines can now ferret out content that is valuable to the reader, is clear and easy to read, and satisfies the user’s search intent or need. The best way to produce valuable content is to know and understand your audience and create content for each stage of the journey they are on.
When it come to user experience focus first on enhancing the elements that will keep your reader happy.
Visually enhanced content is increasing in popularity over the last decade and doesn’t show any signs of dying out. Whenever possible add images, infographic elements (charts, tables, other visual representation of data).
Whenever feasible, consider adding video content to your blog or website. Video content, when done properly, can positively impact the user experience and in turn help to boost your SERP ranking.
As the use of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices skyrockets, make sure your blog or website is fully optimized for mobile users.
SEO is always changing. The immediate future of SEO includes even more emphasis on video and audio content. It also includes a significant increase in optimizing content for voice search.
Use of voice search is expected to rise to approximately 50% or higher by the end of 2020. This means more natural sounding phrasing and longer keyword phrases will help search engines find your content for users.
Another emerging trend in the near future of SEO is artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, many businesses are already implementing this as a marketing technique in the form of chat bots that solicit questions from website visitors and then produce a response.
Chat bots can even determine whether their response answered your question and if not, they can notify a live customer service representative to respond to your request.
When it comes to SEO however, the biggest impact of AI will be seen in search results. If you’ve ever typed a few words into Google’s search bar and gotten results that were completely unrelated to what you wanted, you know what I mean.
AI has the potential to greatly increase the focus and relevance of results that Google offers up when someone searches. In summary, AI will help Google to produce a more satisfactory user experience, which is the main focus.
Want to know more about SEO?
Here’s more about the SEO Basics: What You Must Understand to Get Your Content Seen so you can learn how to choose keywords and use them effectively in your written content. More advanced users, can check out one of my favorite resources, Moz Whiteboard Fridays on YouTube.
If you’re a beginner, your starting place should be with the videos where you understand about eighty percent or more of what is presented and then go forward in order from that point.
Get out there and get your business seen!