SEO - THE FUTURE NOW

• Google makes major algorithm changes about six times per year and minor ones practically daily.  This algorithm determines rankings organically and has more and more of an impact on Google Maps – Google My Business listings in the “snack pack.”

The last several algorithms penalized more and more websites for keyword stuffed “crappy” content and started to reward sites that have quality content.  Also it appears that quality content is starting to include YouTube videos which Google can literally read as if they are articles themselves.

The other major trends include:

• Long-form content outperforms shorter content.  Blog posts and even web page content in general needs to be longer.  Web pages that averaged around 1800 words tended to rank higher than shorter – lower content pages
• Images / Visuals that help tell the story also help Google understand your content and helps rankings.  Make sure you have the appropriate “Alt” tags
• Social Media is starting to count!  As Google continues to keep back-links as the number one organic factor Social Media anchors / links are starting to become more important then in the past.  Keep your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc up!
• Speed Baby – As it has been for a little while – a fast loading website will perform better with converting visitors into customers and ranking on Google

Many of the trends will remain and some – especially content and YouTube – will be more and more dominant with every algorithm update.  Also social media, which, not too long ago, was inconsequential to Google is starting to matter… a lot!