20 SEO Tips, Trends and Predictions for 2014

Google made big changes to its search engine algorithm in 2013. What will those updates mean for search engine optimization in 2014? SEO experts offer their advice for the new year.

On average, Google makes about 500 adjustments to its search engine algorithm every year. Since the first Panda update in February 2011, though, many of Google's algorithm updates and other changes have been more ambitious and far-reaching in their impact. The net effect, in part, has been to elevate quality content over "thin" content, punish dubious link building practices and spammy sites and push digital marketers away from relying on keyword usage and performance data.

The changes are designed to improve the quality of search results Google delivers its users. For those who practice search engine optimization (SEO). However, the updates' collective impact has been at times confounding, frustrating and game-changing.

"I've been under the hood in this SEO game for over a decade, and I can't recall the last time the SEO community was this panicked," says Casey Halloran, co-founder and CEO of Namu Travel Group in Costa Rica. We dropped from the first page of search results to page 2 for our top keyword phrase, and we've been working to regain that position for about five months now."

Digital marketers in 2013 scrambled to keep up with all the Google changes, which included Hummingbird, a major overhaul of the Google search engine.

"Every time we react and recover from one Google update, there's another," Mike Huber, vice president of client services for content marketing agency Vertical Measures, said in a recent webinar. "It's like a game of Whac-a-Mole."

Given Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird and other big Google updates, are we moving into a post-SEO era? How will SEO in 2014 be different from SEO in 2013? What do digital marketers, businesses of all types and search engine optimizers need to do in the coming year to adapt?

[ More: How to Deal With Panda, Penguin and Other Google Algorithm Changes]

CIO.com asked these questions to the SEO community and received more than 60 responses. The following is a sampling of opinions and tips from a variety of experts.

Are We Moving to a Post-SEO Era All About Content Marketing and Results Tracking?

1. SEO will always be with us. Says Brian Provost, vice president of digital strategy for Define Media Group: "SEO is like tax law. It's a set of compliance issues and strategies to optimize businesses around them. To that end, SEO will always exist as a practice discipline to market content." Smart businesses, he adds, have stopped playing "chase the algorithm," opting instead for metrics-based content creation "in line with market demand."

2. SEO has always been about content marketing. Brian Wood, senior marketing manager of SEO for Wayfair.com, says he thinks the content marketing trend is overblown. "This is what quality SEO has always been about. It only seems like a growing thing to people who were, perhaps, using spammy tactics that Google has since made more difficult.

[ Tips: 16 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy ]

[ Feature: The Content Marketing Hall of Fame: 13 Ways to Build Your Business ]

The same SEO tool that white-hat SEO pros used last year will be used next year, Wood says. "That said, it's true that the quality bar is getting higher as more and more sites focus on producing quality content. It's also getting harder to earn links with good content as bloggers are inundated with great stuff."

3. SEO and content marketing are becoming synonymous. "If you play by the rules, you can't have one without the other, SEO consultant Christian Sculthorp says. But traditional SEO will always have a place, he adds. "People underestimate the work that goes into keyword research, tagging each page [and] website structure. There's much more to SEO than simply spamming links."

4. SEO basics will never go away. Adam Barker, senior inbound marketing manager for SmartBear Software, admits that SEO has changed: "Content is the new way to optimize and drive traffic." But you still have to prepare your site through keyword research and basic on-page SEO, he adds. "This is laying the tracks for the train to come through — and making sure you have the right train coming, through keyword research, is still just as important as it was before."

How Will SEO in 2014 Be Different From SEO in 2013?

5. Search engines will get smarter. "Search engines are rapidly developing the intelligence to discern between websites that provide value from sites that create the illusion of value," says James McDonald, ecommerce analyst for Lyons Consulting Group. "If you [only] think of SEO as a series of HTML, link building, and keyword tactics that enable a site to rank better in a search engine, then yes, we are well on our way to a post-SEO era." Why? The next generation of SEO specialists will eschew those techniques, McDonald says, "and will instead dominate search rankings by consistently creating relevant, engaging and detailed content."

[ Related: 8 Things You Need to Know About SEO ]

6. Social presence will be more important than search. This trend, evident in 2013, will only be more apparent this year, says Ian Aronovich, president and co-founder of GovernmentAuctions.org. "It's not that search rankings and the SEO era are over," he says. "It's still worthwhile to put resources into SEO. But having a strong social presence is becoming more and more reliable in driving traffic and building brand awareness."

That's because people can quickly share content across social media networks, especially Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn, Aronovich says. "If you put out content that people are willing to share, you can get way more eyes on your company and brand in much less time [when] compared to waiting for search engines to update their listings."

7. Determining what ranks, and why, will be more complicated. Copley Broer, CEO of LandlordStation, expects a lot of time and effort devoted to sorting out what type of sharing and content move the needle for Google rankings now and which don't.

Flipboard, the mobile content aggregation app, is a good example, Broer says. Being indexed into Flipboard's bot so your content pops on Flipboard is important — but it's nearly impossible to tell when readers view your content on Flipboard unless they click through to open it in a browser. "How do you know if Google thinks that content is important if you can't tell how many people are seeing it?" Broer asks. "Does Google's Hummingbird search engine overhaul take Flipboard directly into account, or are you only impacted if someone shares your content from Flipboard to Google+?"

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8. In 2014, SEO will be all about mobile. David Finkelstein, director of worldwide marketing for KEMP Technologies, notes that more than 40 percent of emails are now viewed on a mobile device. "Email remains the killer digital marketing app that can … create the viral marketing effect like no other app," he says. "SEO and associated content optimized for the mobile platform that connects to other apps via open APIs will continue to be the biggest trend, and challenge, to marketers."

[ Tips: Mobile SEO Is More Than Just Choosing Keywords]

Wood, of Wayfair.com, says mobile search is the big shakeup, as it's growing faster that desktop search (which is also growing). "At some point, we can expect Google to start heavily weighting a proper mobile site … and to weight speed, speed, speed. Ultimately, nonresponsive desktop sites or mobile sites that are only a portion of the site content are a bad user experience, and Google doesn't want to deliver that." Wood doesn't know if the mobile ranking overhaul will come in 2014 — "but when it does, sites without a quality, comprehensive mobile solution are going to be scrambling."

9. Local will continue to be big. Austin Melton, onsite SEO supervisor for SEOSalesPro.com, expects to see Google and Bing continue their trend of localizing search results. "[This] will spell the death of the 'national' search in many verticals," he adds.

10. Natural language queries will be more important. Daniel Laloggia, digital marketing manager for Walker Sands Communications, says the biggest trend for SEO will be trying to take advantage of Hummingbird, which is less a change to Google's algorithm and change to the engine that drives Google.

Google wants people to be able to "talk" with the search engine the same way they would talk with anyone else, Laloggia says. Users, meanwhile, want Google to parse sentences and understand their intent. As a result, the focus on individual keywords should fade in lieu of a more keywordtheme approach to content creation. "In other words," he says, "1,000 keyword variations on a theme should be less important, while great content built around the hub of the keyword theme will become more important."

11. The role of SEO experts will evolve. "There will be a continued rebirth of SEO agencies as content marketing or inbound marketing shops. It's already started to happen," says Chad Pollitt, director of marketing for DigitalRelevance. In addition, the marriage of SEO and traditional public relations will represent another SEO trend, taking the name "digital PR." Finally, Pollitt says, expect marketing communications and PR departments to swallow up SEO departments.

What's Your Best SEO Advice For 2014?

12. Identify your customers' biggest pain points by asking sales and support team members for feedback. "That means those questions aren't being addressed on your site," says SmartBear Software's Barker. "Write your content plan around those pain points and questions."

13. Stay honest. "Focus on generating high-quality content, creating a website that really serves your users and avoiding old link-building tactics entirely," says Namu Travel Group's Halloran. "If you build a 'killer app' of some sort, you'll most likely attract quality links regardless."

14. Be an authority, don't talk about yourself, and be better than your competitors. "Don't just have another company blog using announcements that nobody wants to read. Add value. Educate your target audience," says Adam Connell, marketing manager for U.K. Linkology. "Tap into influencers within your market sector and use them to distribute your content."

[ Related: Does Google Authorship Matter for SEO? ]

Don't worry about being unique, Connell adds; just be better than your competitors. "That's what Social Media Examiner did, and now [it's] one of the biggest marketing/business blogs on the planet."

15. Earn attention and develop your network. Pollitt recommends creating problem-solving and/or entertaining content and getting it featured by the online media and industry influencers. "Brands that can truly earn media will be the biggest SEO winners," he says.

To do this, build a network of writers, bloggers, editors, journalists and industry influencers, Pollitt says, as "these are the folks you'll rely on to write about and share your content." In addition, pitch your firm's executives as possible columnists on popular industry websites. Their expertise is valuable, Pollitt says, and the search engines respect link citations from reputable sources such as those industry sites.

16. Consider link building as another form of business networking. Jason Whitt, the "geek of all trades" at Geek Powered Studios, notes that there's been wide speculation about links becoming obsolete. "While I can understand the reasoning behind this, I don't believe it to be true," he says. "It comes down to the types of links you aim to build for a website and the intent behind acquiring the link."

[ Related: Google Begins Penalizing Search "Over-optimization" ]

Links will become obsolete if your Link-building strategy is limited to paying for inclusions in directories and posting blog comments with spammy links, Whitt says.

"Real link building is hard work, and it is in no way quick. The easiest way to look at legitimate link building is to view each link as a business relationship. The more time and effort you put into that relationship, the more likely that relationship will help you grow into the position you want to be."

17. Focus on quality in all its forms. Yes, your content should be "compelling, descriptive and differentiated," says Joelle Kaufman, head of partnerships and marketing for BloomReach — but quality extends to the technical side of your site, too. Kaufman's tips:

• Identify and reduce or eliminate duplicate pages and content.
• Make sure your "in-linking" helps users and search engines find their way around your site.
• Identify sources of insight from within and beyond your site to guide the content you create, curate and retain.
• Ensure your content is accessible and optimized for mobile searchers, who Kaufman says are already reaching 50 percent of search traffic.

18. Build a single site for mobile and desktop users. As the digital divide evolves and segments Web searches, there's an increased need for adaptable websites that are cleanly viewed on smartphones, tablets and computers, says Jayme Pretzloff, online marketing director for Wixon Jewelers. Instead of developing a site for each device, consider responsive Web design, which adapts to a device's browser size. In addition to improving the user experience, Pretzloff says this boosts SEO thanks to increased visits, reduced bounce rates, better search engine result rankings, more return visits and more social shares.

[ More: Google Turns 15, Celebrates by Smartening Up Search ]

19. Look for the best long-tail keywords. Kelly Boyer Sagert, content services manager for The Search Guru, says long-tail keywords are expected to become more important Hummingbird era of Google. Long-tail keywords typically contain more words, and are therefore usually less competitive. They are also more laser-targeted. (Examples include bedroom closet organization tips and kitchen pantry organization tips.) When you find one that perfectly fits your intended audience, it's a terrific find, Sagert says.

20. Schema markup will grow in importance. "Since the beginning of the Web, the most important Web coding language has been HTML. As the Web has evolved, so has HTML," Sagert says. The latest version, HTML 5, incorporates sets of HTML tags that help search engines understand structured data. (These tags are cataloged and referenced from Schema.org.) "Structured data helps the search engines quickly and easily understand the different elements of a page, such as articles, events and local address information," she says.

Source - SEO Tips, Trends and Predictions

The Prepared Writer’s Process for Creating Excellent Content Every Day

I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately, I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning. ~ William Faulkner

Authors often claim that writing a book is like having a baby — both in effort and length of time.

Since I’ve done both myself, I would personally insist that birthing a child is, in fact, more difficult.

There is value in the comparison though.

Even when you write from a place of passion and purpose, you may still have trouble birthing your important ideas consistently.

Babies tend to come into the world when they are ready, but how do you regularly give birth to remarkable content?

You have to command it.

Rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, I take control of the content on my blog.

The secret of the prepared writer

I’ve been a writer for over a decade.

I began as a journalist and my reporting experience has greatly contributed to the success of my blog, but for reasons you might not expect.

Of course I was trained to follow grammar rules and avoid commonly misused words, but the real value was the practice of writing daily, on subjects I didn’t necessarily care about, and meeting a deadline.

I also knew that potentially thousands of people were going to read my work, so mediocre effort was not an option.

During those years of reporting, and throughout more than five years of blogging, I’ve also never encountered writer’s block. In fact, I don’t believe it actually exists.

Why?

Because writing good content, like anything else, requires proper research, planning, and execution. A prepared writer can implement a system to prevent writer’s block.

I developed a process that allowed me to write articles in under an hour and hand them off to my editor, and I still use this process each day when I blog.

This process assumes you already have two foundations in place:

• A content strategy — before I created my blog, I mapped out my ultimate goal and the content I would need to write to accomplish it. I created 300 post topics and planned how they all would eventually link to each other.
• An ultimate goal — my writing goal is to provide useful information that will aid my readers in making lasting changes for our children’s futures. My ultimate goal keeps me focused on writing content that my readers will be able to find, enjoy, and use immediately.

Here is my step-by-step process. See if it will work for you as well as it’s work for me …

1. Create a writing environment

I discovered early in my journalism career that optimizing a writing environment and creating rituals are important. I optimize my environment by removing all of the excuses and interruptions that slow down the writing process.

My current writing environment is a room in my house where I can put on soft music, avoid outside noise, have a cup of coffee or tea, and turn off the Internet. Years ago, I didn’t have the luxury of writing in the same place every day, so I created a writing environment with music on my CD player and a cup of coffee.

Creating a special writing environment trains your mind to get in the mood to write when you are in that space.

I’ve practiced this routine for so long that even a cup of coffee is usually enough to get me in the zone to write these days.

2. Schedule writing time

If you’ve used the excuse you don’t have time to write, writing isn’t a priority for you.

Harsh?

Maybe, but consider this: I have five children and the oldest is seven. I homeschool them. Our family is involved in multiple sports and activities. I cook 21 meals a week from scratch. I just finished the first draft of a cookbook. And I have written over 750 blog posts in the last three and a half years.

It comes down to priorities.

Blogging is on my daily schedule. In fact, I block off one hour and treat it with the same importance that I treat a doctor’s appointment or my son’s baseball game. I won’t miss it.

I stand at my desk (standing helps my creative juices), and for that hour I do nothing but write or attempt to write.

If I finish one post, I start on another one until that hour is up.

Then, I stop.

Schedule this time every day, even if you don’t need to create a new post. The extra writing time will help you become a better writer and give you time to practice without the pressure of having to hit Publish.

3. Have a framework

One of the most frustrating aspects of blogging is the ailment known as “what-should-I-write-about-today-itis.” To avoid this illness of mind, I have a framework for topics I write about for different days of the week.

For me, this is:

• Monday: health/core content
• Tuesday: natural living
• Wednesday: recipes
• Thursday: DIY

I have individual checklists for the structures of each of these types of posts to make the writing process faster. The more structure you add to the framework, the less you have to start from scratch each time you write.

Once you have established your content strategy and ultimate goal, split up your post topics into categories that refer back to your cornerstone content.

A framework also provides consistency for your readers and teaches them what to expect from you so that you can become an authoritative online presence in your area of speciality.

I also keep a running list of possible blog topics organized by category in Evernote for easy reference when writing.

4. Outline for two minutes

Sit down with a piece of paper and pen and create a two-minute outline for the content you plan to write.

I start by writing the topic and working title at the top of the page. Then, I number three to five main points (or occasionally up to nine) and fill in bullet points under each of these sections.

Use the full two minutes to get all of your ideas on paper before you begin so you can write the full post quickly.

5. Write 200 words

I only commit to writing the first 200 words after I outline. After 200 words, I re-read what I’ve written and make sure that I like the direction of the post. If not, I re-start with a new direction.

I very rarely have to restart, but taking 30 seconds to reread and reevaluate helps refine the focus on my post.

If I start over, I’ll save the 200 words I’ve already written in another document, so I can use them later in the post or for another post.

6. Refine

Spend 10 to 15 minutes refining and editing your content. If you have an editor, you get to skip this step.

I don’t, so I use the last 10 to 15 minutes of my writing time to find weak sections and refine the content. I usually trim down a blog post by a few hundred words and add links to relevant content.

7. Optimize

After I’ve written a post, I run through the following check list before I publish:

• Set the featured image and make sure it’s eye-catching
• Run WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Run Scribe Content Optimizer

Bonus exercises: creativity triggers if you get stuck

If I’m really having trouble getting into the writing zone, I take two minutes to do one of these creativity triggers:

• Read an unrelated article that is inspiring or funny
• Stand on your head (really, it gets the blood flowing!)
• Review your cornerstone content to ensure your post aligns with your goals

Now over to you …

Have you ever struggled to get in the mood to write?

Does a blogging schedule and routine help keep you on track?

Let’s go over to Google+ and discuss other ways to birth extraordinary content on our blogs.

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