12 Aug SEO Tips 2016
There is no doubt that SEO has become crucial for marketing in the Internet age, but it’s also a very volatile industry. There was a time when getting search engine hits involved using certain keywords and phrases several times within your web content, but Google’s constantly-changing algorithms have basically killed that SEO strategy. That doesn’t mean that SEO should be ignored in 2016, only that marketers need to change with the times and adopt new strategies to get their websites near the top of search engine results.
Optimize for Rich Answers
If you’ve entered a common question into Google’s search engine in the last several months, you’ve probably come across Rich Answers. These are short excerpts from websites that show up at the top of Google search results that provide you with a quick answer to your question. According to a recent study by Stone Temple Consulting, Rich Answers show up on 19.45 percent of Google search results. That may not seem like a high number, but it is almost certain to increase with time.
To optimize your content for Rich Answers, you should first rank your site well for the query you want to answer. This is the most important part, and it is probably the element that is closest to “traditional” SEO. You need to optimize your content for the keyword in the query, which should help you get onto the first page of a Google search result. Start your sentences with command words to sound more authoritative to Google, and keep your heading as clear and unambiguous as possible.
Google’s Rich Answers algorithm is still fairly new and cannot be boiled down to an exact science, but these simple techniques should give your content a good chance of showing up as a Rich Answer.
Measure and Improve User Engagement
User engagement refers to statistics such as how long users stay at a website, how often (or if) they return and where they click when they are using the site. It’s obviously very important and a good indicator of how successful a website is, but it is also very difficult to measure. Tools such as Heat Maps from SumoMe and Crazy Egg can help you determine where your visitors are clicking and how long they stick around, but it will be up to you to optimize your content by improving CTA links and other features based on the data you accumulate.
Mobile App Optimization
The mobile market is huge right now, and it only stands to get bigger. Google has recognized this and has updated its algorithm to encourage site owners to develop mobile-friendly versions of their websites. This not only means developing what are essentially new websites that can be easily viewed on smartphones and tablets, but it could soon mean developing ASO – app store optimization – strategies that are designed to get apps ranked highly on app stores. Apps aren’t indexed on Google searches now, but they are indexed on App Store and Google Play, making ASO the potential future of SEO.
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