SEO Best Practices for 2014

SEO Best Practices for 2014

In 2013, we saw a lot of index updates especially with Google. Google has been working on its algorithm so that the search results provide correct and very relevant
information to the searchers. As a result of these updates we have seen a lot of changes in the rankings.

Going forward in the year 2014, what would be the key SEO Best Practices?

The SEO basics will remain the same but there will be some subtle yet distinctive changes in the On-page and Off-page SEO practices in 2014:-

ON-Page SEO best practices

1. Title Tag:

The Title tag continues to be and will continue to be the most important and critical on-page SEO factor for 2014. The best practices of writing an effective title tag for your web page is to include relevant keywords and write an attractive title. Think about your title like a short but meaningful phrase that you would perhaps use on twitter. It should be eye catching and should make people want to click on it.

2. Description Meta tag:

Description meta tag best practices will have the same importance as earlier. Writing meaningful descriptions will certainly ensure that search engines and visitors know exactly what your web page offers.

3. Keyword Meta tag:

The Keyword Meta tag is not really used anymore and search engine do not give it that much importance. But keywords will still be critical in 2014.It is important they you do a thorough keyword research for every web page or article that you publish. Else, you might miss out on visitors who are looking for similar content but they may not be searching with the exact keywords that you have used.

4. Visible content:

This is the area that requires maximum focus in 2014. Since this is the main substance of a page, a thorough research on relevant and unique content needs to be done before publishing the content. What is this page about? Is the content in sync with the topic? What other relevant content will the searcher want to read?

The content has to be clear, as descriptive as it needs to be, answer the question of the searcher, provide adequate links or illustrations if the topic requires.Including keywords/ key phrase, long tailed keywords, other similar keywords, synonyms, should definitely be a part of the content optimization best practices. In summary, the content has to be extremely relevant. Superficial content just for the sake of providing content will not be of much use in 2014. As far as content is concerned, Semantic will be the new content optimization strategy for 2014.

5. Navigation and linking:

Can searchers easily move around in your site? Is the content linked to related and relevant content within the site? Is there a search box and a sitemap?
If you are selling anything online, are their help files with “Frequently asked questions”, an online live help? Or, a Toll free number prominently displayed on the site?

One needs to address all of these questions while working on the internal linking structure. Visitors will need to find information quickly without having to actively search for something. Pre-empting and providing helpful links and direction to visitors will ensure a good user experience.

Off-page SEO best practices

1. High traffic Blogs:

Increasing a website’s presence across various platforms such as Blogs and relevant high traffic portals will continue to be in focus in 2014.
Webmasters need to find ways of attracting relevant visitors by exploring various options of getting traffic from high traffic portals, blogs, industry related sites etc.

2. Social Media:

Social Media will continue to grow and so will the traffic from social media. In 2014, SEO and Social media will need to work together to make the most of the potential traffic. Optimizing presence across the Social Media sites will be even more important in 2014. Starting from optimizing videos to getting the most out of Google + are what SEOs and online marketers should actively focus upon. The idea is to be where the target traffic is. And the way things are in 2013, most of the population is hanging around in the Social networking sites, shouldn’t you be there too?

For instance, if you sell mobile accessories and also have a lot of valuable information of what is best or which phone etc…Social media can provides various options of reaching out to your target group. In Google +, you can create your community of mobile accessories lovers, look for people with similar interests and follow them, send them invites to join your community, engage them… you can find so many ways of taking this forward. With each of the Social media sites, like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, you have some much you can do. In 2014, the dependence on search engines will come down a bit and the shift will be more towards customized interactions through Social networking sites, which is why we are now seeing search engines like Google focusing so much on optimizing their SERPs so that they can provide a better user experience.

The good news for 2014 is, because of the popularity of Social Media sites, marketers will have various ways of reaching their target population.

Organic search will continue to send a lot of relevant visitors in 2014. In order to rank better, Webmasters will need to optimize their presence across all the available platforms, and optimize their websites by making their websites highly relevant.