Last updated on August 16th, 2017 at 04:13 pm
If you haven’t already done so, now is absolutely the time to start getting your digital marketing plans in place for this year, and even into next year. One of the most critical components of any good digital marketing plan is an SEO strategy.
SEO is never a set it and forget it concept, because Google is always changing their algorithms and that means best SEO practices also change extremely quickly. It’s probably one of the most rapidly evolving aspects of digital marketing, so marketers and businesses need to make sure they’re keeping up.
What worked just last year, or even a few months ago, may need to be tweaked or completely overhauled to avoid damaging your rankings and your site.
Below are some things to keep in mind as you prepare your SEO tactics for the year.
Schema Markup
Schema markup is becoming increasingly important in Google rankings, and as part of this, Google now includes answers to search users’ questions in one box. For example, when a Google user searches for “my flights,” they’ll get answers from across their Google Drive, calendars, Gmail and more. What this means for marketers is that by adding markup to emails, there will be the opportunity for certain components of emails to show up in these relevant search boxes.
Also related to schema markup is the use of rich snippets. When you put your focus on creating the best and most relevant possible snippet boxes, it will help improve your rankings.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
There’s constantly talk about the importance of making sure sites are fast, including when they’re loading on mobile devices.
One way marketers can help themselves here is through the use of Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP. AMP is a version of the mobile web which uses HTML.
It’s a good way for sites to be sped up, and according to research from sites like Search Engine Watch, there’s the potential for AMP to improve load times by anywhere from 15 to 85%.
Mobile and Local
The concepts of mobile and locally-driven SEO aren’t new, but they’re even more important in 2017. Many SEO and digital marketing experts are recommending companies shift the majority of their budgets to these areas, especially as such as a huge portion of incoming traffic is typically from mobile.
For example, if you want shoppers not just to find your site in general, but you want to find your local store where you sell what they’re looking for, make sure you’re optimizing your mobile pages for local search, and that you offer a simple, user-friendly interface including a mobile store finder.
You should also put mobile intent at the forefront of your strategy as you’re naming your mobile pages and creating content.
Improve the Quality of Your Videos
If you’re focused on having a strong digital and content marketing strategy, it’s very likely that you already have videos as part of that.
Now, however, simply having video content isn’t enough.
Your audience is becoming more discerning, and they’re very turned off by low-quality videos. You’ll need to ensure that you’re creating video content that’s not just compelling and engaging, but is also creative, offers useful information, and is excellent quality.
Many of the concepts that are important regarding SEO in 2017 aren’t necessarily entirely new, but rather are about refining your current methods, and expanding in certain areas, such as local marketing and videos.
Feature image source: superfactice
