Search Engine Optimization or more commonly known as SEO started in the 90s during which, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to optimize the online content in Google. The tools for SEO help enhance the authority and visibility of websites in different search engines.
Through the algorithm that Google uses, it determines the best element and content to show whenever someone searches for something. A little change and shift in that algorithm will change the referral drive into your website and affect its exposure.
Old vs New SEO
Use of keywords
For more than 10 years, Google has struggled with controlling keyword stuffing in pages. Spammy contents full of keywords are prevalent in many sites since during that time, page ranking based on the numbers of keywords in the content. With a change of algorithm, the problem with keyword stuffing was resolved. But this does not mean that keywords are no longer important in SEO.
Instead of focusing on keyword density, SEO now focuses on the right keyword placement in the content. Keyword optimization involves the URLs, title tags, meta descriptions, content, and any surrounding content.
Content quality
In the past, many sites overused keywords and forgot about the meaning of effective content marketing strategies. Instead, they only prioritized getting a high number of keywords in the content. However, was stopped after an update of the algorithm in 2011. This also resulted in penalties on sites found to be keyword stuffing and lead to a more ethical approach in SEO.
In 2018, Google revealed that the focus of evaluating the quality of a website’s content and encourage sites to publish quality over quantity. The better the content quality is, the better the ranking will be received. Likewise, poor content material will receive low rankings.
The quality of content will also encourage the others to link to your site.
Establishing backlinks
In the past, SEO based on a large number of backlinks, however, these are useless to site visitors. These backlinks can help your visitor and potential leads to decide whether your site is trustworthy or not.
It is wise to use a tool to test your backlinks to be able to monitor all the backlinks that lead to your website. What you would want is to find high-authority and popular websites to backlink into your site. It will not only drive traffic, but it can also result to increase of leads, rates, and sales.
Note that bad backlinks or backlinks from websites that are spammy and unusual can affect your reputation and would result in a lower ranking. At the same time, Google has a penalty when found guilty. Backlink tools can find these bad links that may harm your site’s SEO performance and clear it away.
Backlink tools also help analyze the profile of competitors. In this way, you can review and determine the link building strategy that they use.
Optimizing mobile SEO
With the advancement of technology, using mobile phone for searches instead of a computer continues to become popular. With billions of people having access to a mobile phone and the internet, mobile accessibility has become essential in SEO. Since it is very convenient to use mobile phones when searching. In this case, it is important to create mobile-friendly content for easier access to visitors and prospective leads.
Google SERP features
Google’s search engine result pages continue to change as time goes by. In the beginning, Google introduced PageRank algorithm to rank the websites found in the search ends. Years later, they noticed the increase in competition between different advertisements for sites and Google AdWords was introduced.
With everything considered…
Strategies and ways change as fast as industry advances and evolve. With the rise of technology, the strategies used for reaching out to different audiences and leads have changed as well. And adapting to the current progression is a must in order to make sure that your site survives and stays competitive in this fast-changing world.
