SEO Is Changing In 2016

by KaitAU
20 replies
  • SEO
  • |
As you already know, SEO has changed drastically over this past year. It's that ever-changing monster that we're all desperate to trap before we're eaten alive. This next year won't be any different -- from changes that have already happened, to ones we can anticipate, there is much to discuss.

Personally, I blame the general population. Everyone wants to point their finger at Google and say they're the ones to blame for the constant battle. But when it comes down to it, you need to admit -- sure, Google seems to have all the power, but these changes are ultimately a direct reflection of what Google believes the end user wants. It's the online users, the consumers, who are driving these changes. Google might be the one implementing and enforcing them, but can you blame them? Their main priority is to give people what they want. Curse them all you want, but really it's the impatient, demanding internet users you should be pointing the finger at.

Most (if not all) of the changes we're going to see this year, or have seen already, can be directly attributed to Google aiming to please their users. We've reached a point where people no longer want to see a long list of blue hyperlinks when they pose a question on Google - they want to see the answer to their question. They want a reliable solution from Google - not more information. That's simply too much work.

So what are the major changes we should expect to see in 2016 and beyond?


Here's what I have found and I'd like to know what everyone else expects to see coming too.



QUALITY CONTENT

Creating and distributing quality content isn't something new, but its level of importance is. This is now one of the largest factors in getting your page ranked well on the search engines. They have the ability to scan your URL for keywords, dig into the tags from your images and check your content to see what you're writing about. These are the important factors; it's not about pushing out the most content or having the most keywords. They are looking at the structural components, and then taking into account how long people stayed on your site, what they did on it, and if they shared it on social media. These are the variables that need to connect with the site and what scream to the search engines, "We found quality content!"


SOCIAL SHARING
The exposure you get from social media will continue to be important. Now one of the factors considered for your ranking, it's important for businesses to invest in having a social presence. When people are sharing your content, it signals to the search engines that your content is good, valuable, and worth reading. This shows Google that people like and want what you're putting out there. From the other side, when people share your content, this will cause your website to get increased traffic. Social media sharing has the power to significantly impact the results of your SEO, and the benefits are plenty.

MOBILE
Mobile optimization will continue to be a trend, but I hope we've reached a point where businesses are finally paying attention to the consumer experience, rather than just focusing on having a mobile version of their website. That might be the trend this upcoming year -- we're no longer optimizing our mobile sites, but we're optimizing our mobile sites to ensure we provide the absolute best customer experience. It's no longer good enough to have a site that displays nicely on mobile. In order to keep mobile customers happy, you really need to put yourself their shoes. Something as simple as requiring a person to type in their address can be enough to derail the purchase. Take those extra steps to remove any barriers, and make purchasing as easy and painless as possible. This is what consumers expect in 2016.

If you're not sure whether your site is optimized for mobile or not, Google can tell you with their mobile-friendliness checker.


QUALITY BACKLINKS
I won't lie, I too felt for s short period that back links just didn't matter anymore. But it turns out, they still do. The importance may not be as high, but getting quality backlinks to your content continues to be an important part of SEO. The main thing to understand in this area is that backlinks are not created equal. For something to actually benefit you, the backlink must be coming from a site that has high domain authority.

KEYWORDS
While keywords have been the foundation for all SEO campaigns, it's safe to say that your strategy in 2016 can no longer remain the same. Long-tailed keywords that transition into natural language are where you need to focus. Previously, you would do your keyword research and use the selected terms within your content as often as you could get away with. Now, your approach needs to be different. Google is focused on understanding customer intent. They are using keywords and trying to interpret what the consumer actually wants to find, and understanding natural language is a huge part of this. So those long-tailed keyword searches are what you want to weave into the natural language of your content. This is the new keyword research.

BE ORGANIC
While this may seem obvious, given the fact that we're talking about organic search traffic, it's really not that cut and dry. Many businesses and marketers continue to buy links or cram their preferred keywords into their website as many times as possible. But guess what? No one buys it, especially not Google. Because Google is prioritizing giving consumers what they want, it's more important than ever that you don't raise the alarm bells with inauthentic or outdated tactics. Everything you do must to appear natural and genuine. When you're creating content, the search engines can tell if it doesn't make any sense. Creating pointless content around terms you want to optimize for will only hurt your site's ranking. While getting quality backlinks is important, you can't go out and buy them. Well, you could, but Google would know. Your focus should be on creating quality content that your readers will love and want to engage with. Don't try the other tactics to increase your organic reach, because you can't trick Google or the readers.


So all this says to me:


Create quality content that your consumers will love, and weave natural, long-tailed keywords into your content. Ensure your customers have a phenomenal mobile experience, and get active on social media. Create content that is SO good that other great sites want to link back to it. Don't be fake or try too hard. Just be awesome, and eventually you'll get rewarded.
#2016 #changing #seo
  • Profile picture of the author KylieSweet
    SEO today focuses in On Page Optimization in which every site pages is interesting to engage successfully with the target audience then established website can produce conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author TomWest
    I totally agrre with you!
    Content has always been the most important part in SEO. But it is true that not any content, but only good quality and valuable content!
    Social sharing is also very important, as many people use different social media networks!
    And sure, mobile optimization is also common for SEO because more and more people use online resources on their tablets and mobile phones instead of PC.
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    • Profile picture of the author sparrow
      Originally Posted by TomWest View Post

      I totally agrre with you!
      Content has always been the most important part in SEO. But it is true that not any content, but only good quality and valuable content!
      Social sharing is also very important, as many people use different social media networks!
      And sure, mobile optimization is also common for SEO because more and more people use online resources on their tablets and mobile phones instead of PC.
      If content is the most important part then how do you explain websites with no content only an image

      You see these types of websites ranking in many high branded types of keywords

      If you are a brand you don't need content, you don't even need the keywordson the website your ranking for, Google does this all the time if your a brand

      I see this all the time in jewelry and frangrances especially

      Content is good but it is niche and keyword specific that it works
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  • Profile picture of the author maxcburger
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author dp40oz
    SEO has always been changing. Its funny though... being in this business for over 10 years now most of the same things still work. Decent content with good quality links is almost always a winner.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Yep, still ranking pages years later with plain text and followed links.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gndronacharya
    Hi Cat your article is very helpful for seo excutive.
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  • Profile picture of the author HayleyS
    As for me, it is always interesting and useful to get new input on the changing sphere of SEO. It is not a secret that SEO is a changing field, so it is necessary to be kept with all the changes. I fully agree with you about mobile optimization, because mobile devices are used for almost everything, not just for communication with friend and family.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Have you done any SEO on your own? Ever? This article reads like you have no experience and just took a bunch of BS other "gurus" are sharing and regurgitated it.

    SOCIAL SHARING
    The exposure you get from social media will continue to be important. Now one of the factors considered for your ranking, it’s important for businesses to invest in having a social presence. When people are sharing your content, it signals to the search engines that your content is good, valuable, and worth reading. This shows Google that people like and want what you’re putting out there. From the other side, when people share your content, this will cause your website to get increased traffic. Social media sharing has the power to significantly impact the results of your SEO, and the benefits are plenty.
    Google has said over, and over, and over again that they are not using social signals for rankings. Social shares will not help you to rank.

    There has been zero evidence produced in any worthwhile test by anyone to disprove that.

    Also, why would Google base their algorithm on data they could easily be blocked from. Twitter has blocked them before. Their relationship with Facebook is far from friendly.

    From a business standpoint, it would be a horrible risk.

    QUALITY BACKLINKS
    I won’t lie, I too felt for s short period that back links just didn’t matter anymore. But it turns out, they still do. The importance may not be as high, but getting quality backlinks to your content continues to be an important part of SEO. The main thing to understand in this area is that backlinks are not created equal. For something to actually benefit you, the backlink must be coming from a site that has high domain authority.
    High domain authority based on what? Moz? Google doesn't use Moz's calculation.

    And a link can have benefit without the domain having high authority. There are a lot of other factors, the main one being relevance.

    I would go on more, but I know, like the other new article blasters here, you are not actually interested in having a discussion about this topic (and maybe not even capable of it). You are just interested in collecting your bounty for posting your article.
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  • Profile picture of the author Francisco PIW
    Yes, SEO is changing, but it has been changing since the very beginning.

    Something people don't talk much about are sitemaps and content structure, it affects to your SEO too. I mean, no directly, but I've been in the case in where I did a lot of SEO including quality backlinks and I didn't experience any organic traffic.

    Then, I figured out that the problem is that I didn't have my sitemap configured in the right way.

    I think it worths mention it at some point.

    Other than that, perfect post.
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  • Profile picture of the author bookmarking
    Thank you cordially for these infos. I agree with you in every point, especially quality contents and backlinks. At least now people should understand that quality matters more then numbers
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  • Profile picture of the author smt
    The new changes in SEO has quality back link and unique content more important changes in SEO 2016.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEObod
    Any opinion with regards to the coding of a website, platforms used? Streamlined code results in a faster performance, hence AMP.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mylesjones
    Yes SEO Changed Much now a days..

    But thing is sure that if you have unique Fresh content and submit it in some Good authority sites for quality backlinks will always works in 2016 also
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  • Profile picture of the author Hemantkumar
    Yeah SEO keeps changing its features fastly to help the people getting more out of internet and to stop the craps or to stop cheating.
    Now SEO mainly focus on quality of backlinks and the quality of content.
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  • Profile picture of the author adamjones36
    A useful article within 2016. Thank you
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Mwape
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      You've linked to this crap on 5 or 6 threads I follow. Can you stop it. It's not good SEO, it's not a good site, in general, lots of ads and some misinformation (based on the page you keep linking to).

      Originally Posted by Marvin Mwape View Post

      It's 2016 and SEO has really changed. But guess what, I stumbled upon this article with fresh new content and it is the best SEO guidelines so far. I didn't believe it but it honestly helped my rankings.
      How To SEO A Blog Post & Rank In Google - Simple Tech Steps
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Stewart
    These threads are so full of misinformation that it's becoming hilarious. You have one guy with 20 posts write a long article full of regurgitated information. Then you have those that actually KNOW what they're talking about because it's what they do, like Mike Friedman and Yukon, denouncing it as crap. Then you've got several other clueless individuals who are trying to pad their post count.

    Gee, this was helpful. Gimme a break! Lol
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  • Profile picture of the author 3wCorner
    web design. Use responsive themes and apply it to your website. More useful if the template has automatic dashboard for SEO e.g. title, description, tags
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  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    Another inane thread.

    You waited until half the year is over to worry about 2016?

    You should be talking about 2017.

    Paul
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    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author XenG
    I have been waiting to read updates on SEO this year. I haven't been in warrior forum in awhile. It's a good visit to warrior forum today. Glad I found this thread.
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