5 Things You Need To Know About SEO In 2016

If you regularly follow marketing blogs, then you’ll know how crucial SEO is for your business. In a nutshell, it’s the process of optimizing your website for Google and other search engines. You might not know this, but 70% of Google users never scroll past the first page of results. If your business doesn’t appear on that first page, you’re missing out on a lot of traffic.

It’s also useful to note that SEO changes and adapts constantly. Google change their algorithm on a regular basis, which sends SEO experts into a tail spin. There are lots of outdated techniques and harmful tactics floating around. Don’t worry if you haven’t kept up with Google’s changes, because we’re on the case! With the help of some freelance SEO experts, we’ve put together the essential things you need to know in 2016.

Expand Your Keywords

Keywords are the heart of effective SEO. When ranking websites, Google is looking for specific words and phrases to categorize your relevance. In other words, what does your website do? In the past, one simple keyword could be strategically placed across your site, and the job was done. Now, you need a serious of core and ‘longtail’ keywords. These are all the similar words and phrases that describe your business. Place them in your headers, your content, and your metadata. It’s a quick tweak that will take your website to the next level.

Website Performance

Google have recently focused its algorithm on web performance. I.e. how fast your website loads. Google doesn’t want to send users to a slow website, because it makes them look bad! It’s up to you to speed things up with a series of clever tricks. Start by upgrading your web hosting and server. Secondly, compress your images and content within the site.

User Experience

As well as performance, Google are looking to see whether users actually find what they’re looking for. We’re talking about your website’s bounce rate, and its time-on-site figures. The lower your bounce rate, the more Google can infer you have some solid information. It proves that people are enjoying the content on your site.

Links Still Matter

There’s a lot of debate in the SEO world about linking. This is traditionally how Google measures your authority and reputation. Lots of links to your websites suggest you are a valuable and useful source of information. In essence, linking is still on Google’s radar. However, you now need to look for better quality links. You’re looking for natural, organic, and relevant links from bigger websites. It’s all about quality over quantity.

Mobile And Local SEO Is Growing Fast

In the last twelve months, Google has focused all its efforts on the mobile world. They know that half their traffic comes from mobile devices. And, most of those users are looking for local services and information. (Maps, restaurants, directions etc). It’s time to step up your mobile SEO techniques, and think about how to capitalize on local search results.

That’s all for now, folks. Check back soon for more expert advice on digital marketing and tech news.