The process of getting your website pages to rank highly among search engines is time consuming and there is no one formula to ensure success.  Google’s algorithm is constantly changing to provide consumers the best chance of finding relevant information.  There are always different things being taken into consideration and the weight of certain pieces of information changes constantly.  Each year brings about new aspects of SEO that require additional focus.  Here we’ve outlined a few areas that will carry more weight than in recent years.

Social Media Content

Social media content is beginning to creep up the search rankings and it is blurring the line between social media and traditional websites.  For many brands their social media profiles are among their highest ranking pages.  This is a trend that is continuing to grow as marketers are utilizing social outlets as their primary avenue to distribute content.  With this in mind it’s more important than ever to ensure each social post is fully optimized.

Video

Videos are the most highly shared pieces of content and because of that search engines are taking that into account and ranking them higher in search results.  Having diverse content that includes different mediums of communication has always been important and including video in your marketing strategy is more important than ever.  Companies that have embraced video production as an integral part of their content are already reaping the benefits and search engines will continue to weigh their inclusion even more heavily.

Mobile Optimization

While not every industry relies on mobile marketing it is imperative that your website and emails are optimized for mobile viewing.  Smart phones by themselves account for over 33% of internet traffic and many are likely to click away if your content is not optimized.  Smart phones and tablets are predicted to become the primary way people use the internet and those sites that are not optimized will suffer greatly in search rankings and user experience.

Local SEO

Statistics show that 48% of search engine users are looking for a local company when exploring solutions to their pain points.  This makes local SEO an essential part of any optimization strategy.  Fortunately, improving your local SEO can be achieved somewhat easily by including locations and landmarks within your content.  It’s important to note that this does not only include your blog posts.  SEO is greatly affected by all website content including company descriptions, product overviews, headers, titles and URL’s.

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