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Even after evolution in SEO, content is still more important and the content should target the user. Creating content that will be sort after is of great importance and the impact of this goes a long way to achieve top ranking .

For a profession and skill set that fits snugly (and beautifully, I should add) between data science and content marketing, many brands just aren’t sure how to approach SEO effectively, much less make it an integral part of their business and promotional strategies.

The basics matter.

On-site optimization, a process that’s still absolutely vital for getting found in search engines, has unfortunately taken a backseat to the shiny things of present-day marketing. Influencer marketing and new paid media technologies have borrowed (and, in some cases, stolen altogether) precious resources from in-house marketing teams due to the speed, scalability and impact of these programs.

Having said that, I’ve run across numerous websites over the past year that offer incredible user experiences supported by brilliantly creative advertising, but that are still in appalling technical condition.

So, the next time website revisions and redesigns are being scoped, give attention to the elements that allow a site to be crawled, indexed and rewarded by search engines. At a bare minimum, your SEO plans should include optimized title tags, meta descriptions, proper URLs and page headers.

Value is king.

“Content is king:” the mantra that we in the SEO world recited to ourselves and to our clients for over a decade. It’s a philosophy that still holds true today, yet it comes with the realistic expectation that simply generating content doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of traffic or engagement.

Thankfully the conversation evolved into developing content that’s designed specifically for users, not search engines – which makes a lot more sense in the consumer-centric world of brand marketing. Still, it’s created a new problem as the web has become oversaturated with content created just for users, but isn’t all that transformative.

The web is social.

SEO teams spent the better part of the 2000s scratching their heads, wondering when social media was going to provide the boost in keyword rankings we all anticipated. While social media profiles have helped grow search engine real estate, we’re still waiting on that direct lift.

What’s been interesting to watch, however, is how social media and influencer marketing have played a key role in building brand interest in search. In some cases, brands have launched almost entirely through social and influencers, planting the seed and subconsciously encouraging consumers to do their due diligence in search engines.

SEO is marketing.

If your C-suite is still questioning how you plan to over-optimize a 75-word paragraph with keywords, it may be time for a quick heart to heart on the deadliest of SEO sins.

The days of SEO trickery are long over. Today, the only path to SEO certainty is to evolve into marketers who understand that unsurpassed experiences are a launching point for brand-related conversations, and that these conversations inevitably lead to meaningful boosts in brand equity.

Sourced from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/04/19/seo-truths-in-2017-and-beyond/3/#27c041232f08

Links are also extremely inportank to help in top ranking thus is good to have more external links from a reputable source and relevance to the topic is important. Page authority is also of great importance.

Everyone wants to get a high click-through rate and a good spot in Google’s search algorithm. But, when it is generally accepted in the industry that Google uses approximately 200 ranking factors to rank websites — and some of these are proven, some are controversial and some are purely nerd-based conjecture — it can be hard to know which factors to focus on when it comes to your search engine optimization (SEO).

So, what is most important to Google?

“It is content,” said Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev. “And, it’s links pointing to your site.”

Related: 5 Strategies for Better ‘Link Building’ and Improving Your SEO

I’ve heard people foolishly suggest links aren’t important anymore. There’s a new way of doing SEO, without links. This is wrong, and it’s dangerous advice. Keep in mind what Andrey Lipattsev said.

We tend to almost always come back to links, as they feature largely and very importantly in the 200 or so ranking signals, such as:

  1. The volume of external links you have. The more, the better.
  2. The anchor text of the external links. Links with SEO-focused anchor text need to be relevant to the target page.
  3. The quality of external link sources. It’s better to get a link from a reputable news source or academic journal than an unknown blog.

Links have always been a valuable aspect of an SEO strategy, and many SEO agencies focus on building relevant links to get first page search results on Google. That’s because there is a strong correlation between great SEO results (specifically keyword ranks) and the quality and volume of links to a site.

Keep in mind, however, that while links may lead the pack, content, Moz Authority and page authority have significant value and must be considered for any SEO strategy to be successful.

Content marketing and SEO

SEO and content marketing are distinguished from one another in several critical areas, but you can’t separate the two entirely. SEO is generally narrower, and more technical, while content marketing is broader and more holistic — kind of like how a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square. Here’s how they converge:

  • You can apply SEO more broadly by channeling its specific technical endeavors into content marketing.
  • The only way to ensure the success of content marketing is to apply SEO techniques.

Another way to look at it is like this: SEO makes demands. Content marketing fulfills those demands. SEO states the requirements. Content marketing fulfills them.

2017 algorithm updates

In January, Google started rolling out a penalty to punish aggressive interstitials and pop-ups that might damage the mobile user experience. Google also provided a rare warning of this update five months in advance.

There will no doubt be many further algorithm updates throughout 2017, but the success of your SEO campaigns will largely be governed by how focused your SEO strategy is on links and content.

Sourced from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/288514