FEATURE
means that to ensure that search engines
are keeping pace with the evolving black
hat practices, they will have to become
stronger at detecting infringing websites,
do so at a faster pace and improve their
ability to discredit links and content that
have been removed quicker than they do at
this point in time.
With moving forward in mind, here are
a few things that I believe will become a
major part of SEO in 2014, and would be
my recommendation towards where to
focus your upcoming efforts.
Backlinks
Although Google constantly tells us that
they are no longer a major consideration
when it comes to its ranking algorithm,
black hat techniques are still showing
success based on the number of links
being placed into a website, which leads
me to believe that they are still majorly
important moving forward, albeit on a
more ‘quality over quantity’ level.
Become a brand
Search engines like Google have already
outlined their intention to become more
of a ‘knowledge engine’ than a generic
search platform. This means that they are
looking to determine what content on your
website should feature within the organic
rankings for particular keyword terms.
Create as many brand signals as
possible – branded links, build a social
following, encourage direct type-in search
volume to increase.
Press releases
These will become more of a feature this
year and offer a fantastic way to be able
to increase the awareness of your brand.
Avoid using free press release websites
that are widely syndicated due to the low
level of return that you will receive from
them, and again aim for quality over
quantity.
with the continuing releases of automated
penalties. Therefore, make sure that you
are monitoring your backlink profile and
being proactive towards actions taken
against links that you believe could be
harmful or low quality. Take the time to
keep your profile at a low risk level and you
will reap the reward of not having
to conduct large scale recoveries
later in time.
On-page SEO
The release of Google Panda, as well as
the desire of search engines to become
knowledge engines, means that you need
to keep a tight grip on what is happening
on your website, avoiding content
duplication and other errors, while also
making sure that you do all you can to
send the right relevancy indicators to the
search engines through the use of header
tags, unique content and the usual on-page
alterations.
Be fresh and unique
Google has already spoken out about its
desire to give search engine users the best
possible results, and that often means that
the most recent content can sometimes
be deemed the most relevant to a user’s
search query. Look to update static pages
frequently, even if just to alter a paragraph
of content with a reworded version.
Maintain and monitor
Search engines want you to be accountable
for as much to do with your website as
possible, and that has become even clearer
DAVID NAYLOR is Director
and Head of SEO at Bronco
Ltd. Dave started working in
the SEO industry over 15 years
ago and owns the successful search
marketing and web development
agency, Bronco, with his wife Becky.
Bronco strives to be a leading search
marketing company running large
online marketing campaigns for
companies in competitive sectors, with
excellent and sustained results. His
main motivational driving force is the
belief that there is no point having a site
if it doesn’t rank No 1. His dedication
to giving clients great ROI has led
to the constant development of new
optimisation techniques and the ability
to see algorithmic changes before
most other SEOs. Dave Naylor has
the reputation of being one of the best
SEOs in the world, who has a proven
track record of success in the most
competitive markets. Recently, Bronco
has formed a strategic partnership with
the experienced PR agency 10 Yetis,
which now enables both companies
to work side by side on marketing
campaigns giving clients a complete
package leading to better re 7V