I wanted to share with the Tag Think community a few SEO trends and strategies that can benefit all technology companies doing business in 2011. Vayu Media was the featured expert speaker at the 2011 Digital Summit in Atlanta, GA.. We presented search engine optimization trends to the technology community and will share the key points with you here. Our Atlanta SEO Company serves clients nationwide and we pride ourselves in our consultative business approach which delivers ROI rather than just search engine rankings. Let's get to the point, what should you look out for in 2011 and beyond?
The State Of SEO In 2011
SEO has become a necessity and a part of doing everyday business. The value of the search engine marketing industry has increased to 19.3B today from 4.1B in 2004. SEO by itself is projected to be in the 4B range by 2013 up from 1.6B in 2008 delivering constant 20%+ growth.
Once in a while everyone jumps on the band wagon and panics that Google has made another algorithm change. One of those was dubbed "Panda" earlier this year; however, Panda was just one of roughly 500 search improvements Google expects to roll out to search this year. Since "Panda" Google has rolled out over a dozen additional tweaks to the ranking algorithms that are non Panda related. The key point is to focus on executing a quality search engine optimization strategy and covers many aspects that impact the search algorithm. Not being reactionary can be a challenge but will result in a much better and focused execution of your strategy.
Content as it relates to SEO has been constantly in the news. It is very important but don't just jump on the content bandwagon. Great content doesn't always equal great rankings. It is still a popularity contest. Links have been the measure of popularity historically. However, social signals are gaining momentum. These are just different tools which yield similar areas of focus:
- Distribution
- Promotion
- Audience Targeting
Don't just add complexity to your content. Ensure that you have developed a compelling narrative. Conversation and attention are important. Focus on concepts that are easy to grasp, virally distributable and deliver the highest quality user experience.
Here are the areas that will drive your rankings and what their impact on rankings is believed to be:
There are 1-2 billion searches on Google every day with SEO/Organic listings receiving 82% of clicks. PPC Ads only get 18% of the clicks but companies devote 85% of their budgets to PPC campaigns. SEO is still under invested.What should your company watch out for in 2011 and beyond?
• Social Media's impact on SEO
• Long tail keyword strategy remains dominant
• Don't underestimate the power of video
• Content syndication- transcription and translation
• Incorporate data about any code, news, geographic, mobile, image or video content into a specialized sitemap to help build relevance
• Mobile optimization
- Mobile search growing rapidly and receiving increased focus of search engines
The socialization of search is gaining momentum and the Bing-Facebook partnership could be the biggest game changer in recent history. Social input may have as significant impact on the algorithm in the future as links have had historically. SEO will be part SMO (Social Media Optimization).
Here is an interesting exchange between a search engine journalist and Google, Bing:
Danny Sullivan (search engine journalist):
"If an article is retweeted or referenced much in Twitter, do you count that as a signal outside of finding any non-nofollowed links that may naturally result from it?"
Google:
Yes, we do use it as a signal. It is used as a signal in our organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news universal by marking how many people shared an article.
Bing:
We do look at the social authority of a user. We look at how many people you follow, how many follow you, and this can add a little weight to a listing in regular search results. It carries much more weight in Bing Social Search, where tweets from more authoritative people will flow to the top when best match relevancy is used.
Another area that shouldn't be ignored. Don't forget your long tail keywords. Most traffic and highest conversions come from long tail keywords as illustrated in the graph below:
How about video?
Google will be showing more video and image results in their main search results. Viewer non-text engagement role is growing. Companies should ensure they use embedded videos with video XML site maps, add transcripts to their videos and surround the videos by relevant text. Don't forget to prepare, optimize your script before recording.
What else is on the radar?...mobile optimization.
Mobile is ramping up faster than any other technology we have seen in the past. 79% of large online advertisers do not have a mobile optimized site. By the end of 2011 over 50% of Americans will have a smart phone. This has a significant impact on search because 15-30% (depending on industry) of searches are mobile these days and users prefer mobile sites rather than apps. They use them in the following way:
- 79% Product reviews
- 58% Video
- 81% Research prices
What can a company do to improve their mobile strategy?
- Keep The Layout Simple
- Design For Thumbs, Not Mice
- Prioritize Content
- Use Uniquely Mobile Features
- Make It Easy To Convert
These are just some high level trends that were discussed in the search engine community in 2011. It is a constant game changer and companies cannot ignore search anymore to remain relevant.
(C) 2011 Vayu Media
About the Author
Konrad Rzasa is the CEO of Vayu Media, based in Atlanta. Vayu Media is the leader in search engine optimization, has contributed featured speakers on SEO advanced techniques at the 2011 Digital Summit and serves clients in over 20 states and multiple European countries. Please contact us to discuss your search engine marketing strategy.
Marketing contact:
Jennifer E. Dunphy, VP Marketing
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