Timeless Tips for Search Engine Optimization in 2014

By Seowebmount

The New Year — 2014 — is just a few weeks away. This means, even though we are not yet through with our search engine optimization check list for this year, we have to start focusing on the SEO factors that will play a big role in the coming year.

Some aspects of SEO in the current or even previous years will remain constant, but there will be new factors which we need to consider for successful SEO to make our mark as online marketers in 2014.

The following tips will help you get the best results out of your search engine optimization strategy in 2014:

Watch out for Google +:

Google+ is getting more and more integrated into Google’s search experience. Don’t be surprised to see more of Google’s services becoming tightly merged. Start building up your Google+ presence with healthy followers and engagement. Also, the activity on a Google+ account will have a larger impact on search rankings. Hence, when using a Google+ account for your business, try to connect with other people in your industry and post helpful but unique, industry-relevant content.

Create a structured data markup scheme

Having a structured data markup scheme for your website is very important. Make sure you’ve got your address (physical and e-mail), reviews, products and other data laid out clearly for Google. This will make it easier for Google to crawl your site and, therefore, make it easier to rank.

Focus on local and social:

The word is out — searchers want local results for most of their search queries. People use search engines for research but they want to buy locally. Consequently, there would be a wider roll-out of the carousel on all local categories. It makes sense to optimize content, citations, links and offline marketing for better local search result pages in Google.

Also, start building online social communities on social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for your local brand. Engage your followers and answer inquiries and messages at least once a day. Build relationships — brand will follow.

Invest in a mobile-friendly site:

We are witnessing the biggest trend in mobile usage with 30 percent of referrals and growth coming from mobile now. This is only going to grow in 2014. Invest in a quick-loading, mobile-friendly site for your business; it affects your Google rankings.

Play by the new algorithms:

Google makes more changes in its algorithms (Knowledge Graphs, Local Carousel, Google Now, Hummingbird) than people are capable of coping with. That is why it’s necessary to stay abreast of algorithm changes.

• Reviews are important for your local search results and company reputation. They are influencing rankings. But going overboard on fake reviews might not be such a good idea. Yelp, CitySearch and other companies are making persistent efforts to reduce fake reviews; it won’t be long before Google updates it algorithms to detect the fakes.
• Don’t indulge in manipulative citations and spammy link building. The year 2014 might see Google taking action against sites that create manipulative citations and links.
• Also, it’s no longer just about targeting those specific keywords and phrases to ramp up your ranking. With the Hummingbird algorithm, users can now run searches for longer phrases and still get faster and more accurate results.

Remember, Content is still the king

At the end of the day, content still rules. Create great, unique and engaging content on a regular basis. Do the necessary formatting according to Google’s best practices and then share it through social channels.
SEO is under a big transition. The winners will be the ones that adopt the quickest and play by the rules.

resource: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/12/03/timeless-tips-search-engine-optimization-2014/