Have you noticed SEO seems to change almost as much as a teenage girl? If your website doesn’t keep up with the ever changing demands of SEO, be prepared to watch from the sidelines while your competitors reap the rewards of search. SEO can be a very powerful tool, but can be overwhelming to keep up with. Even within the past year, Google released its panda ranking algorithm update which lowered the rank of “low-quality” sites, incorporated social platforms to search, and is now offering features such as site-links and ratings in search engine results. With the changing climate of search, make sure your business is taking advantage of these three SEO strategies in the new year.
Integration of Search & Social
With more social platforms than ever trying to rival Facebook, there is no doubt that 2011 was the year of social media. Within 2011, search and social media have been integrated more than ever. Search engines have realized that people are getting more and more valuable information from social media platforms, which has significantly narrowed the gap between the two. In fact, search and social are only going to become more integrated in the years to come. Twitter ‘shares’, Facebook ‘likes’, and even Google+ ‘+1s’ have become a huge channel for sharing information and significant influencers in search rankings. Within Facebook, businesses are taking advantage of promotion opportunities that generate ‘likes’ through the development of custom pages. This helps in creating an audience for your business to engage and interact with. If you do not currently have a social media presence, let Starkmedia help build and integrate it into your priorities for 2012.
Content Links
One of the most effective ways people are gaining traction in SEO today are credible, authoritative content links from other sites. This can be harder than you think. Google is smart enough to know whether a link is credible or not. In fact, Google has gone out of its way to penalize websites who link to ‘spammy’ sites or content farms. So instead of attempting to trick Google, look for avenues to write fresh and creative content that the web will want to link to. Many will rely upon blogs or guest blogging to accomplish this task. Some businesses will contact publications or associations they may be a part of for content links. Other sites will naturally attract quality links. Regardless of the website, authoritative content links are necessary in the long-term stability of your search engine rankings. Not sure where to start? Starkmedia can provide you with a clear strategy to build your web presence.
Get Local
You may have noticed that the majority of searches that you perform will have a Google Places section. There is a reason for it. A study from SEOmoz has revealed that visitors gravitate toward local listings even more than the top few positions of the page when they are displayed. What does this mean? If your business generates revenue from a physical location, make sure that you are taking advantage of all local listing channels such as Google Places, Yelp, and Yahoo! Local Listings. It is a great way to build more visibility to your site. Be sure that all the information across these channels are consistent and accurate.
The future of SEO presents new opportunities for you and your business to grow your web presence and increase interaction with your customers. Having trouble establishing an online presence? Are you unsure of your website’s next step? From design to SEO, let the team at Starkmedia guide you on a path toward online success.
