TosaySEOhas“changedalot”wouldbetheunderstatementofthedecade.We’lloftenseemultipleupdatesperyearfromGoogle,includingthisyear’sMobilegeddonupdatefromSpring2015.NottomentionhowGoogle’sPanda,Penguin,andHummingbirdupdatestotallyshookuptheworldofSEO.

MarketersandSEOagenciesworldwidehaltedtheirlink-buildingandkeywordobsessedwaysandswappedthemforalongoverduefocusonqualitycontent.

ButdoesthatmeananSEOspecialist’sjobisjusttopumpouthigh-quality,keyword-optimizedcontent?Farfromit.Infact,SEOhaschangedsomuchinthepastseveralyearsthatmanymarketersaren’tsurewhat’soutdated,what’simportant,whatwillactuallymovetheneedle,andwhat’ssimplywastedeffort.

ThisguideisgoingtopointoutallofthemostcommonmythsandassumptionsabouthowSEOworksanddebunkthemforyou,soyou’renotwastingasinglemomentonthingsthatsimplydon’tmatterforSEOin2016.Let’sgetstarted.

EvenifyoudosubmityoursitetoGoogle,asubmissiondoesnotguaranteeanything.Crawlerswillfindyoursiteandindexitinduetime,sodon’tworryaboutthisideaofneedingto“tell”Googleaboutyoursite.Ifyou’dliketohearmorefromMattCuttsabout“HowGoogleWorks,”checkoutthisvideo.

TheIdeathatyouneedtosubmityourwebsitetoGoogleinordertoappearinsearchresults(orrank)isnonsense.WhileabrandnewsitecansubmititsURLtoGoogledirectly,asearchenginelikeGooglewillstillfindyoursitewithoutyousubmittingit,andMattCutts’quoteexplainsexactlyhowthisworks.

Inthepast,buildingasmanylinksaspossiblewithoutanalyzingthelinkingdomainwashowSEOtypicallyworked.Bydoingthis,yourwebsitewassuretorankhigher.Buildinglinksiss[llaveryimportantpartofrankingfactors.AccordingtoSearchmetrics,itiss[lltop5mostimportantrankingsfactors,butyoumustbuildlinksinamuchdifferentmannerthanyouusedto.

AroundPenguin2.0,whichwasreleasedinMayof2013,allofthischanged.Nowadays,itisimportanttofocusonthequalityoflinksyouareobtaining,ratherthanthequan[ty.Some[meslesscanbemoreifyouknowhowexactlytobuildlinkstheproperway.

Thisissomethingthato_encomesalongwiththeques[on,“WhichshouldIinvestin,linkbuildingorcontentgenera[on?”Linksareanimportantpartofyourwebsite’sauthority(evenwiththechanginglinklandscape).However,ifyouhavethebudgettoinvestinyourwebsite,Iwouldsay,“Hiresomeonetowriteforyou.”

Tooo_en,whenbusinesseshiresomeonetodolinkbuilding,theyfocusonthequan[tyoflinksratherthantheirquality--butlinkingisnotanumbersgameanymore(farfromit,actually).Youshouldfocusonhavingrelevantanddiversesourcesthatlinktorelevantpages.

Whenyouinvestincontent,thatcontentcanbeusedforwebpages,blogposts,leadgenera[onoffers,andguestpostsonothersites--allcontenttypesthatwillbringmorelinkswiththemover[me.

HaveyouevernoticedthatsomeURLsstartwith“http://”whileothersstartwith“https://”?Perhapsyounoticedthatextra“s”whenyouwerebrowsingwebsitesthatrequiregivingoversensitiveinformation,likewhenyouwerepayingbillsonline.

Toputitsimply,theextra“s”meansyourconnectiontothatwebsiteisencryptedsohackerscan’tinterceptanyofyourdata.Thetechnologythatpowersthatlittle“s”iscalledSSL,whichstandsfor‘SecureSocketsLayer’.InAugustof2014,GoogleannouncedthatithadstartedusingHTTPSasasignalintheirrankingalgorithms,whichmeansifyourwebsitestillreliesonstandardHTTP,yourrankingscouldsufferasaresult.

Fornow,however,HTTPSremainsa“lightweight”signal,affectingfewerthan1%ofglobalqueries(accordingtoGoogle).Sowhileit’sclearthatGooglewantseveryonetomoveovertothemoresecureHTTPSprotocol,don’tfreakoutifyouhaven’tdoneityet.TherearemoreimportantfactorsthatGoogleislookingat,suchasthepresenceofhigh-qualitycontent.

(HubSpotcustomers:Ifyou’reusingtheWebsitePlatform,youcangetastandardSSLcertificateforfree.Ifyou’reacustomerbutdon’thavetheHubSpotWebsitePlatform,SSLisavailableforpurchase.Tofindoutmore,contactyourCustomerSuccessManager,orvisitourpricingpage.)

Whilethere’sastrongcorrelationbetweensearchresultsplacementandclick-throughrates,rankingisnotthesupremeendgoalthatitusedtobe.Studiesofclick-throughratesanduserbehaviourhaveshownthatsearchersfavourthetopsearchresults--particularlythetop-threelistings.However,it’salsobeenshownthatonsubsequentpages,beinglistedtowardthetopofthepageshowssimilarclickbehavior.Andwithsearchresultsnowbeingappendedwithrichtext/snippets,resultsthatappearbelowthetop-threesearchresultsaregettingmuchhigherclick-throughrates.

Evenbeforeallofthatwasapplied,rankingsdidnotguaranteesuccess.Theoretically,youcouldrankquitewellforaterm,gettonsoftraffic,andnotmakeadimefromit.Isthatwhatyoureallywant?Idon’tthinkso.Thisisabigmisconception--thathigherrankingsmeanmoresearchtraffic.Itistruethatpeoplewillseeyourlisting,butitdoesnotmeanyouwillgetmoreclick-throughs.

Thereareacoupleofreasonsforthis:

1.Youdonothavethecorrectkeywordstrategybecauseyouaretryingtorankforkeywords

thatareunrelatedtoyourfield.

2.Yourmetadescriptionsarenotappealingandinvitingfortheuser.

Tosolvetheseproblems,tryusingGoogleAdwordstocreateagreatkeywordstrategy

relatingtoyourbusiness,andbesuretouseenticingmetadescriptionstogetpeopletothe

site.Itisagoodruleofthumbtothinkaboutwhatwouldenticeyoutoclickthrough.

MetadescriptionsareHTMLattributesthatconciselyexplainthecontentsofwebpages.You’veseenthembeforeonGoogle’ssearchengineresultspages(SERPs),wherethey’recommonlyusedaspreviewsnippets.So,it’dmakesensethatGoogle’salgorithmwouldtakethesemetadescriptionsintoaccountwhendeterminingsearchrankings...right?Well,notsomuch.

Googleannounced,allthewaybackin2009,thatmetadescriptions(andmetakeywords)havenobearingonsearchrankings.That’snottosay,however,thatthesedescriptionsaren’timportantforSEO.Onthecontrary:Metadescriptionspresentamajoropportunitytoseparateyourselffromtheriff-raffandconvincesearchersthatyourpageisworthnavigatingto.Havingarelevant,compellingmetadescriptioncanbethedifferencebetweenasearcherwhoclicksthroughtoyourpageandonewhoclickselsewhere.And,guesswhat.Click-throughrateisGoogle’s#1rankingfactorin2015.

Untilsearchenginesareabletoenterourbrainsandreadourthoughts,we’ll

alwaysneedtousewrittenlanguageinordertomakesearchqueries.We

needtousekeywordstocommunicate.Itusedtobeimportantthatyouwrite

yourcontentwiththekeywordincorporatedexactmatch,butnowGoogle

useslatentsemanticindexing(LSI),whichwasconceivedaroundFebruaryof

2004andbecamemoreandmoreprominentwithinsearchthroughevery

update.

Withthistypeofindexing,thecontentsofawebpagearecrawledbythesearchengineandthemostcommonwordsorphrasesare

combinedandidentifiedasthekeywordsofthatpage.LSIalsolooksforsynonymsthatrelatedtoyourtargetkeywords.

Today,it’simportanttooptimizeyourpagefortheuserexperience;thismeansthatyoudonothavetoplaceyourkeywordsword-for-wordin

thecontent.Writethecontentfortheuser,byusingsynonymsandrelatedterms,thesearchengineswillstillunderstandwhatyourgoalis.

Thatbeingsaid,it’simportanttorealizethatGoogleisnolongertryingtomatchthekeywordsyoutypeintoitssearchenginetothekeywords

ofawebpage.Instead,it’stryingtounderstandtheintentbehindthekeywordsyoutypesoitcanmatchthatintenttorelevant,high-quality

content.

Thebottomline:searchenginesofthefuturearen’tgoingtopunishfolksforunderusingkeywordsorfailingtohaveanexpertlycrafted,

keyword-optimizedpagetitle...buttheywillcontinuetopunishfolksforoverusingkeywords.

Keywordsdonotneedtoberepeatedverbatimthroughoutapieceofcontent.

Inaheadline,inparticular,youwanttouseakeyword(orkeywords)inaway

thatmakesthemostsensetoyouraudience.Thegoalshouldbetowritea

stellarheadline(somewherebetween4-9words)thatclearlyexplainswhata

pieceofcontentisabout.

Nothingismoreofabuzzkillthanhavingaheadlinethat’sawkwardlyframed

aroundonekeywordphraseor,worse,thatforciblyrepeatsakeywordphrase.

Thisruleappliesnotonlytoheadlines,butalsothecontentonthepage:the

goalshouldbetoinformthereader,nottoinformthesearchengines.Keyword

stuffingistheactofshovingasmanykeywordsontothepageaspossible.

Google’sown,MattCutts,warnedusin2007againststuffingyourpagewith

keywordstorankhigherinthesearchresults.Somewebmastersdidnottake

thistoheart,untilGooglecontinuouslycameoutwithnewalgorithmupdates,

likePanda,everyyearthatweremeanttotargetbadcontent.Keywordstuffing

is100%againstGoogle’sWebmasterGuidelinesandisadangerousgame.

BecauseofGoogle’salgorithmgettingmoreadvancedeachyear,youarelikelyto

getyourwebsitepenalized.

AsGooglebegantoprovidebejerresultstoit’susers,theywereabletoinvestmoreintheirsearchalgorithm.Throughthisinvestment,theybegantoincorporatenewmetricssuchasauser’sexperienceandwebsiteengagementintotheirrankingalgorithm.

Itmakessense.IfGooglesendsyoutoawebpage,theywanttomakesureyouhaveagoodexperienceonthatpage.Theyarea_erallabusinesstoo,andthustheywanttodelighttheirusers.Thinkaboutitfromthesearchengine’spointofview:theydidn’tcreatethewebpagethemselves,buttheyareendorsingit.TheyneedtoensurethatusershaveagoodexperienceonthatpagetokeeppeoplecomingbacktoGoogle.

Toimproveyourwebsite’suserexperience,you’llwanttofocusonthingslikepageload[me,bouncerate,[meonpage,pageviewspervisitandhowfarapersonscrollsdownthepage.

Aslongasyousa[sfythenumberonegoalofcrea[ngqualitycontentthatpeoplecaneasilydigestandenjoy,yourcontentwillnaturallysa[sfyasearchengine’srankingalgorithms,helpingyourcontenttoorganicallyrisetothetop.

In the spring of 2015, Google had a algorithm update called “Mobilegeddon”, which expanded Google’s use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. The update rewards mobile-friendly websites and penalizes those that aren’t fully optimized for mobile in mobile search results. After an analysis of more than 15,000 of our customers’ websites, here’s what we found: Websites that aren’t mobile optimized had an average of 5% decline in organic traffic.

If your web presence screams 2009, you should be thinking about a comprehensive strategy to modernize your site and bring it in line with consumer expectations. If you’re limited by the technology you have in place, it may even be time to move to a modern website platform that delivers a responsive experience. The optimal experience for your visitors and your own performance is to implement responsive design. Responsive design makes your page adapt to the visitor and will display information that is sized and zoomed appropriately so it’s easy to read on whatever device he or she is using.

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