3 SEO Predictions You Need to Know for 2016

1. Mobile is the future

Mobile searches will surpass desktop in 2016

According to eMarketer, 2015 will see mobile search reach the tipping point—the stage at which the majority of spend, organic traffic and paid clicks comes from smartphones and tablets rather than the traditional medium of desktop and laptop search.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mobile-search-advertising-spend.png.png

Figure 1: Increasing search ad spending on mobile over time from 2013 to 2018

What does this mean for your business?

Apart from making your website both mobile friendly and responsive to all devices, you need to go a little further.

It means you need to have a mobile mindset for all of your website and product based decisions. Consider how your content will appear on a smartphone before finalizing your website, product pages, service pages and layouts.

The aim is to give mobile users the same optimum experience when they visit proper desktop websites.

In other words, businesses must give thought to all of the following; mobile marketing strategy; mobile design, mobile search marketing and advertising, mobile e-commerce and mobile payment, mobile CRM (customer relationship management), mobile coupons, and integrating mobile, local and social.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/PlusNet-mobile-mindset-for-SEO.png.png

Figure 2: A case study of PlusNet whose “mobile first” mindset led to increased conversions on mobile

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mobile-design-tips-for-SEO.png.png

Figure 3: The difference between past and present mobile designs. Note, the new focus on better visual experience and the use of space to highlight important elements of the web page

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Example-of-mobile-design-Zazzle.png.png

Figure 4: Example of Zazzle Mobile Design changes:

What did Zazzle do?

• Created simpler, more focused product pages
• Kept only features that are useful to mobile users
• Prioritized products that are popular with mobile users
• Created mobile-only deals and promotions

The results?

A 186% increase in mobile sales

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Call-only-ads-in-search.png.png

Figure 5: The tactic of using “Call-Only” ads can work well for businesses who want to increase the call conversion on mobile devices. This could work for products where users don’t need to gain an understanding about them and want a quick answer, for example: removal, storage, laundry, car rental…etc

Claim your business across Google Search, Maps, and Google+

50% of consumers visit a store within a day of searching on a smartphone.

72% of consumers who searched for local information on a smart phone visited a store within 5 miles* (Source: Google, May 2014) and of the 69% of Australians who use social media 30% post reviews. *(Source: YP Sensis 2014)

Soaring mobile search will have a major impact on local businesses, especially for retail stores and hospitality venues such as restaurants, cafes, and hotels.

This emphasizes the importance of getting your business listed on Google Plus Local, Maps and customising your search appearance.

Businesses should ensure they have completed the full description of products, services, images, videos and social reviews.

2. The rise of voice search

Next time you use Siri, Cortana, or Google Now think about how your interaction is different.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Examples-of-voice-search.png.png

Figure 6: Voice search is now available on Apple Siri, Google Now and Windows Cortana phones

With text-based search, you type something like “Home Depot” and you click on the address to find its location.

With voice search, you’ll say, “Where is the nearest Home Depot?”

Think about how you began your search. Did you open the search box by touch or did you prompt the assistant by saying “OK, Google.”

Not long ago an agency, Rosetta, published a brilliant article that shared the unique idea that voice search is marked by the use of question words: Who, What, Where, Why, and How.

These are the question terms that will define our changing search patterns on mobile devices.

While desktop searches will be used for in-depth content that can’t be answered in basic short form.

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mobile-device-search-volume-growth.png.png

Figure 7: As you can see tablet growth is the highest, due to the growth of Wi-Fi and voice search.

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ready-to-act-based-on-search-queries.png.png

Figure 8: The ready-to-act level changes when it comes to different type of search queries.

As you may know, Google is launching voice recognition search features on Google apps.

Voice search changes the behaviours of consumers by moving faster than type search. Although Google hasn’t provided exact stats on the superiority of voice recognition over type search yet.

Part of this change is to embrace the increasing popularity of mobile search and to make the search engine more proficient, saving the consumer both time and effort.

Conversational search helps users answer fact, stat-based questions such as “tell me the hotels in the Sydney CBD”, it can then refine the search to “find me the cheapest hotel in Sydney CBD”.

You can appreciate how efficient the search assistant system is, making the entire process much easier for the time-pressed consumer.

What You Can Do To Embrace This Change?

You need to improve your efforts on local SEO. Search results depend on many factors, among them are full details about products/services (pricing, location), reviews, and local citation. All of which are important factors to get your site ranking highly in search results

It is now important to make your apps search friendly. Apps are becoming more integrated within Google search results since Google has started indexing app content. Accordingly, businesses can make sure their app appear in search results under web and applications, making it more accessible to users.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Example-of-apps-appearing-in-a-search-tab.png.png

Figure 9: Example of apps appearing in search results

Another key point I took from the conference was the importance of the mix between content marketing and SEO.

It is important to integrate your SEO strategy with your content marketing.

For example, conducting comprehensive long tail keyword research to identify the popular words and phrases that users are searching is only necessary or pertinent when combined with the relevant content strategy which could involve FAQs, Facts, How-to-articles, Explainer Videos and so on.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Long-tail-keyword-research-example-spreadsheet.png.png

Figure 10: Example of Result Driven SEO’s long-tail keyword research.

Analyse your long tail keywords to find patterns, and consider using those that stretch into six and seven words in length, including question phrases and positives or negatives accordingly. Then you can write content using these terms.

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Voice-searches-and-long-tail-keywords-graph.png.png

Figure 11: Voice searches contain more words – this means long-tail keywords are even more important as part of the SEO process.

Google has yet to comment on how conversational search will impact ad listings, but I doubt any significant changes will occur any time soon.

3. Structured data and direct answers are trending

Direct answers are Google’s attempt to show you the an exact answer to your search query at the top of the search page.

They were not originally designed with mobile in mind, but the requirements and restrictions of mobile search have pushed its growth.

Bad news

• Google: “we built Google for users, not websites.”
• Approximately 19% of queries result in rich/direct answers
• Bad for specialized search engines and competing answer engines –i.e. weather sites, shopping searches, yellow pages and lyric sites
• If your business strategy is to collect and present data and facts you don’t own, Google is now a direct competitor

Good news

• Most direct answer platforms are not commercially valuable.
• Some answer engines (Weather Underground) provide data to Google via licensing –additional revenue + traffic stream
• If you are the answer to a direct answer (what is the best restaurant in Sydney) then life is good!
• About 75% of the time, links to the source are provided
• Most searches can’t be turned into a direct answer, and many search sessions are multi-step
• Major sites are not reporting a downturn in traffic as a result (so far)

How to adapt

Provide structured data for everything you can.

Do you ever wonder how some e-commerce sites get yellow stars, prices, or thumbnails in their search result listings?

That’s structured data at work.

Structured data sounds a bit off-putting, but it’s simply a way of tagging the data in your web pages so that search engines can easily understand. These data elements can be anything from pricing and availability to breadcrumbs and video.

So what exactly does structured data look like in search engine listings?

Structured data is the “extra” information that you see next to a website and meta description. For example, if you are searching for a restaurant, you will not only see the restaurant’s name, but also additional information such as hours, pricing and stars to indicate positive reviews.

So do you need a web developer to manage structured data and SEO for you?

Unfortunately, yes you do, your time is better spent growing your business rather than trying to figure out how to implement structured data on your website.

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Google-reviews-in-search.png.png

Figure 12: Example of Google review and video mark-up

image: http://cdn.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Additional-information-next-to-reviews-in-Google-search.png.png

Figure 13: You can mark-up not only for rating but, time, price and other specs

Structured data is definitely not only for search engines. If done correctly it will make your result much more attractive and increase your click through rate.

Tools and Resources For Your Markup

• Googles Structured Data Testing Tool
• Schema.org for Local Businesses

Change how Google displays your brand

Your brand’s ‘Knowledge Graph’ panel is your new digital business card, your brand’s first impression.

It is the box that shows up on the right side of a Google search.

Here’s how you tell Google what needs to be there.

Companies and people can now customize their own data in the ‘Knowledge Graph’ by adding structured data mark-up to their official website. The following types of data may be customized:

• Logos
• Company Contact Numbers
• Social Profile Links

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Structured-mark-up-in-Google-search.png.png

Figure 14: Businesses can now customize their logo, contact info, and social profiles in the Knowledge Graph by adding structured data mark-up to their official website

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Customize-what-Google-shows-about-your-brand.png.png

Figure 15: The information about Result Driven SEO is accurate and, fortunately, our previous clients have left some good Google reviews

Wrapping it up

Mobile searches out number desktop, it has become crystal clear that mobile is the future of digital marketing.

As marketers and site owners we need to think “mobile” in all of our digital dealings, and we must have a mobile marketing strategy in place.

Voice search and direct answers are also growing strongly, meaning content marketing and SEO should go together to make your site a source of authoritative information.

With the increasing integration of apps to search results, make sure that your apps are search friendly.

Finally, make use of Google Products such as Google Plus Local and Structured Data to make your site easily crawlable by Google through text-based and voice searches.

The results of which should be more leads to your website, and more sales. Good Luck!

Courtesy of: business2community.com

8 SEO Best Practices for Small Businesses in 2015

You’ve probably already been told that search engine optimization is constantly evolving. For a small business owner, this can make SEO sound big and scary and something that you have to pour hours into every week, just to stay ahead of the curve. While SEO does take a little bit of time, staying on top of your optimization doesn’t have to consume your life, especially if you’re working with an SEO expert. Looking forward to the rest of 2015, here are some of the best practices and SEO tips all small business owners should keep in mind.

1. Content continues to reign. It was Bill Gates who coined the phrase, “Content is king,” in an article written nearly ten years ago. Despite being almost a decade old (which is nearing old age, in internet-years), the statement is still true and will continue to be true, especially for small businesses. When consumers do business with small companies, they want that personal touch, they want something meaningful and valuable—that’s the whole point of working with a small business, instead of a mindless corporation. Valuable content will be your biggest asset.

2. Mobile is more important than ever. Every year in the last three years has been touted as the Year of the Mobile Device. If any year is that year, it’s 2015. Mobile traffic has already outstripped desktop and laptop traffic, which means that if your website isn’t mobile friendly, you are probably missing out on at least half of your traffic. If you don’t yet have a responsive design or a website made specifically for mobile users, get one up as soon as possible.

3. Backlinking is changing. So, it’s not really changing, but what aspects of the backlink Google favors is changing. Search engines now care far more about the content around the link, meaning that if your backlink isn’t surrounded by content that actually mentions or is even about your brand, Google’s not going to like it. In some instances, you might not even need a link. If a website talks about your brand and mentions you by name, that’s often going to be enough to count as a backlink.

4. Keyword are going to matter less and less. This is going to be hard for most long-time SEO-ers to hear, but keywords have not been a primary ranking factor for a while now. Gone are the days where you can just stick as many keywords as possible into your content and get a great page ranking. Of course, keyword ranking still matters, but search engines like Google are going to be paying much more attention to how well your website delivers what it promises. It’s mostly going to be doing this by measuring your website’s return on investment. A low ROI means that you aren’t being effective, and therefore, likely don’t deliver what you offer. A high ROI means your website is high value and works to convert page visitors into customers, clients, or patients.

5. Don’t discount social signals. Just as content is only becoming more and more important, your small business’s social footprint is becoming more and more important. This can be discouraging for owners who know that they can never compete with powerhouses like Nike or Coca-Cola, who has massive social media followings. Luckily, you don’t have to compete with those two brands, as you’re likely trying to attract customers from your local area, not all over the world. Content is closely linked to social signals, as what is likely getting the most social activity will be your content.

6. Keep your website safe. Cybercrime is on the rise, and while few people are still wary of online shopping, the danger of having your identity or personal information stolen is actually growing. Search engines are going to favor websites that have the appropriate security measures in place. Why? Because search engines want to protect their users. They don’t want to send them to websites where there information is going to get stolen—they only want to serve up websites that are safe to visit. Make sure you have all of the necessary protections in place to guard the information provided by patients, clients, or customers to your website.

7. Conversations mean more than keywords. Any freelance or on-staff content writer will tell you how often he gets requests to insert keywords like “best dentist New Jersey” twelve times into content. There are still SEO articles advising a high concentration of “exact match” keywords like this—despite the fact that they haven’t really been necessary since 2013. As scary as the prospect might be, Google isn’t just looking for keyword phrases, it’s looking at the whole of the content and evaluating its relevancy to not just the search phrase used, but the intent of the search phrase. Plus, searchers are now using more conversational phrases—mostly because they are no longer being taught in school to omit the articles and extraneous words.

8. Visuals are just as important as words. Google also isn’t going to just be looking at the words that you use on your webpage. It is also going to be looking for relevant videos, graphics, and images. The more visual your webpage is, the more likely it is to get a high ranking. Of course, that doesn’t mean you want to cut back on valuable content, it just means that you should definitely include visual elements, as well as content on your webpage. Don’t neglect one or the other.

Use these eight best practices to make sure your small business’s website has all of the elements it needs for search engine success!

Courtesy of: business2community.com

Local Search Strategies for Mobile Marketing

Mobile phones are increasingly being used to search online, and businesses simply cannot afford to ignore this trend. Now is the time to start targeting mobile users in the search engines if you have not yet done so. Mobile search is only going to get bigger, so here are some local mobile search strategies to maximize your performance and win more mobile customers over the coming year.

Focus on Improving Your Mobile Website

One of the best things you can do is make improvements to your mobile website. Even if you already have an app, your website should still be your priority. Just as with standard SEO, you are going to be hurting yourself if you don’t develop a strong mobile site. Google recommends a responsive design to enjoy the best results, as reported in Search Engine Land.

Even if you are focusing specifically on local mobile SEO, you still need to ensure you follow standard SEO best practices, which means high-quality content optimized for mobile users.

Utilize PPC Advertising

Targeting users in mobile search does not just involve SEO—you could also make use of PPC. PPC has come a long way in recent years, and strategies now exist that are designed specifically for searches made using mobile devices.

One tactic you could employ is Click to Call in AdWords. This is where you can display your phone number to mobile searchers, which they can then click on directly to call you.

You can also target your ads to only show up for users based in certain locations, as explained by Google. Choosing for your ads to show based on the searcher’s physical location could be an ideal way to target local customers.

You can also use location extensions, which display your address, number, and a map along with your ads. On mobiles, they also contain a link with directions to your business, which could encourage more people to visit your premises.

Sign Up to ‘Google My Business’

Many companies choose to hire help from specialists like the Singapore SEO company for their local mobile SEO strategies, but one thing that any business can do is sign up with ‘Google My Business.’ This can be an important influencer for SEO rankings both for desktop and mobile searches.

The key to getting the most from this is to publish content regularly, build up positive reviews, and manage your account on a regular basis. It’s a great way for local businesses to target mobile users who are out and about.

Include Your Location Info

People who search using their mobile phones are often looking for local products and services. According to Google, 56% of searches on smartphones on-the-go have local intent, so make it easy for them to find you.

Include your location info in your mobile marketing so that searchers can quickly find where you are. Use maps and provide directions. By making this clear you could improve your mobile campaign performance. Also, ensure that your contact details are the same across all online directories.

What About Multi-Location Businesses?

How to optimize for local when you have various locations? This can be a challenge. The most important thing is to sort out who will be responsible for optimization. If every location goes about their mobile optimization completely independently of the others, this could lead to problems.

It may be better to have just one domain for the company and to then use sub-domains for the different locations. This saves you having to manage multiple websites, and it can help to improve your SEO. In addition, you can set up a Google My Business account for each location to help them get more visibility in the search engines.

You may want to give each location control over its content and social activity, or you may want everything managed from one central location. It depends on your business, but either can work.

Maximize Your Local SEO For Mobile

Mobile search is one of the key areas to target if you want to improve your local SEO. Now is the time to start thinking seriously about your local mobile strategies to take advantage of the growth in mobile search that is already occurring and will continue to increase in the coming years. Don’t get left behind, and make sure you are ready to take full advantage of the local business that you could generate through mobile search.

Courtesy of: business2community.com

TWO DAYS AFTER “MOBILEGEDDON” WE EXAMINE THE FALLOUT

On April 21st Google introduced its much anticipated mobile update.  The mobile update was designed to reshape Google’s results page; favouring websites that had converted to a mobile-friendly format.  Google informed us of their intentions back in February – to give us all time to prepare ourselves and our sites for this game changing update.   The countdown had begun and we scrambled to make our preparations in time for this final reckoning.

So, what does our reshaped SERP environment look like?

Two days on and the ash cloud is beginning to clear – as we step out from our shelters; dazed and confused, to survey the new, queer landscape that Google’s results page has become.  Strangely enough, however, after all the hysteria, this new world does not seem as alien as one might have expected.

On the face of it, it doesn’t seem like the mobile-friendliness of a site is as significant a ranking factor as was first anticipated.  No sites are reporting any major falls and there hasn’t been any huge difference in sites’ rankings on desktop searches when compared to mobile SERPs.  All-in-all the first two days of this apocalyptic event have been relatively quiet.

Does this mean it was all a lot of hype over nothing?

Whilst this may be starting to look like December 22 2012, as we all breathed a heavy sigh of relief when we awoke to realise that the Mayans’ predictions hadn’t come true, it is unlikely that we have yet seen the full repercussions that this update will have.

One thing that we can say for certain is that Google have made their intentions clear.  Whilst their stance on the mobile-friendliness of websites has been known for some time, this is by far the biggest step they have made towards making it a significant ranking factor.

Things are certainly moving in one direction and it is unlikely that this will change anytime soon.

Are Google the biggest winners here?

Google has certainly achieved one thing with this update, they convinced a lot of us to change our websites so that they were mobile-friendly.  This could well have been their plan all along.

Since Google originally announced that this update was going to happen around 4.7% of webmasters have switched their sites to a mobile-friendly design – according to their own figures.  This certainly represents a victory for Google’s mobile-friendly philosophy if nothing else.

This would also explain why Google chose to inform us all of this change so far in advance.

Google seldom give us a forewarning of such large changes to their algorithm, so why this time?

Should we choose to believe that they honestly wanted to give us all time to adapt, to make sure we weren’t all caught on our heels? – How nice of them.

Or should we believe that, as with many threatened Doomsday’s, the action caused by the fear of extinction was the largest effect of the whole process?

One thing is for sure, Google won’t be unhappy that we all scrambled to dance to their tune.

Courtesy of: jseo.com