Experts on SEO rate the following changes in 2012 as significant:
1. Google took care of weaknesses and loopholes in their system (and cracked-down on sites that took advantage of it), by the introduction of algorithm changes (Panda in 2011 and Penguin in 2012), to detect patterns and identify quality content. The Penguin update changed how link workers operate, and the Panda update changed how SEOs write and organize content.
2. Google introduced the following changes to their search engines - “ exact match” domain algorithm, the “page layout” algorithm, and the DMCA algorithm - which resulted in sites falling off the charts
2. Google introduced the following changes to their search engines - “ exact match” domain algorithm, the “page layout” algorithm, and the DMCA algorithm - which resulted in sites falling off the charts
What the experts think SEOs should focus on now:
- Concentrate on writing content that is high quality and adds value to the user and not the search engine.
- Write content that will encourage prospective customers to visit the client’s site, which helps the client make more money.
- As SEO will become more complex in the future, it will have more data to analyze with new users like mobile device owners, and SEOs will have to keep up with changes and adjust accordingly.
- Google will be focusing on the identification of quality content, with the emphasis on ‘authorship’, and therefore relevant content will no longer be enough.
- As Google shifts tracks to become an ‘answer engine’, the smart SEO will have to focus on strategic SEO and become “content marketers”, as opposed to just SEOs, to survive beyond 2013.
- The overall advice from expert SEOs to newbies seem to be a consensus to “build quality content”. Learn how to become better content marketers to get the most effective movement in search engines leading to conversions. Focus on marketing content, and doing a good job of it, and the rest will take care of itself.