Basic SEO tactics you should be using in 2015

Most Digital experts will tell you that SEO is set to see many changes in 2015. It is important to be aware of these changes & trends, and the implications for your website. If they haven’t been keeping up to date with the latest industry news, the following tips will give you an idea of what SEO tactics you should be using to ensure maximum visibility for you website.

 

Panda and Penguin updates and their implications

The majority of last year’s strategies are still working well. Webmasters and digital professionals learned a lot from the Penguin and Panda updates and have put this new information into practice. To review the Google Algorithm changes from 2014 visit Moz’s comprehensive list. What we learned (or were reminded of) from these updates last year is that Google punishes websites with thin, duplicate or poor-quality content and bad or spammy link profiles.

 

Long tail keywords

Long tail keywords are going to be even more important in 2015. Long tail keywords come across as conversational, such as “where can I…?” or “what do I…?” What you need to be doing is working out exactly what your visitors are looking for and how they are searching for it using search engines, and use those keywords in your SEO and digital strategy. When they search for a product, service or information using that particular phrase, your website will have more chance of coming up in their search results.

 

Not just Google

The experts also think that webmasters should be optimising their sites for other search engines. Now it is true that everyone seems to be obsessed with being on the first page of Google, but there is no reason why this cannot happen on Yahoo! or Bing. Only 70% of the internet population use Google to search, so many people are using other search engines and this will continue to grow as a trend.

Mobile-friendly is a must

Get to know how mobile apps if you don’t already use them and consider whether having a mobile app for one of your services would be beneficial for your business. Make sure your site is responsive, or at least mobile-friendly. This is not just an option anymore, it is a must. Everyone is constantly on their phone browsing the internet, chatting or reading updates on social networks. Your site needs to be easy for them to use and navigate, whatever device they’re on.

 

Social is the key to connecting

Social networking is still big for SEO and about to get bigger. It is however, all about how you choose to interact. You need to engage with your followers or friends, and build a solid following of people who are interested in what you have to offer. It is not difficult to spend an hour or two each day interacting with people on Twitter or Facebook and engaging them; you could share or retweet their content and respond to their comments and messages. If you enjoy something someone shares, mention it in a tweet of your own. Spend an hour or so doing this per day and your following will grow.

Finally, build relationships with people offline. If there is a function related to your niche, attend and give out business cards to people you chat with. It is a chance to socialise and meet contacts and also introduce others to your business. Mix with people who are in your industry; you will gain traffic and potential customers this way.

At AWD, we can help you incorporate these tactics into your digital strategy and provide you with a website that has all of this incorporated right from the outset. Contact our friendly team to arrange a free consultation.

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