lundi 3 février 2014

Is Your SEO Strategy Ready for Google's New Algorithm?

Last fall, Google rolled out one of its largest changes of the past decade - an entirely new search algorithm, nicknamed "Hummingbird." In contrast to the past updates, Panda and Penguin, which modified existing search algorithms and affected roughly 2 to 5 percent of search queries, Hummingbird is believed to have affected nearly 90 percent of all queries and dramatically changed the way the engine processes user requests.
The impetus behind Hummingbird comes down to context. In the past, Google's algorithms processed user queries according to each individual word in the query string. As an example, a past search for the keyword phrase "hotels in Chicago" would require Google to parse through its index and find the best matches containing the words "hotels," "in" and "Chicago."

But now that users are more likely to enter complete questions -- for example, "what is the best hotel in Chicago?" -- into the engine, Google wants to understand the context behind the query in order to serve up the best possible results. Did you mean the best hotel in terms of price point or luxury level? Are you on the move in Chicago and looking for the best hotel nearest to your location? Hummingbird attempts to determine the context for your question, although it isn't immediately clear whether it does so successfully in all cases.
What is clear, though, is that there are some tweaks you'll want to make to your SEO strategy in response to this update -- especially if you're still using "old school" techniques. Here are a few of the strategies you'll want to incorporate into your day-to-day SEO routine:
Don't do keyword research -- do market research. As Google continues to evolve, it's clear that traditional keyword research -- as in, the measurement of volume and competition metrics for individual, granular search queries -- is on its way out. Google now cares less about whether you've optimized each individual page on your site to a particular keyword and more about whether your page's content answers the question presented by the search user.
So instead of spending a ton of time trying to find the magical combination of keyword metrics that'll guarantee you natural search traffic, brainstorm the questions your users are asking about your industry and brand. Then, make sure your website's content clearly answers these questions in a way that's easily understood by the search engines and provides extra value to your visitors.

Incorporate questions into your content. As you begin to incorporate the questions you've come up with into your site's content, there are a few new guidelines you'll want to keep in mind:
  • Unless your content is poorly written (and at risk of suffering from a future Panda penalty), there's no need to go back and rewrite every page you've ever created to target user questions instead of keywords. Add on extra content if you need to, but don't risk messing with content that's already performing successfully.
  • There's no need to follow a "one page, one question" rule, as many page managers used to do with traditional keywords. Pages can answer multiple questions, as long as the search engines can make sense of your content and each question is answered fully for your visitors.
  • Try to provide your readers with as much information as possible. Plenty of SEO managers are concerned about the potential of Google's new information card feature -- which displays answers to questions posed directly in the sidebar of the results page -- to steal away traffic that would otherwise arrive from search clickthroughs. While this feature is currently only available in Chrome browsers, there's no reason to think it won't be rolled out more widely in the future. To prevent possible traffic poaching, give your pages so much substance that it's worth your readers' time to take the extra step of visiting your site.
The more content, the better. Posting new content to your site on a regular schedule has been an SEO recommendation for some time, but with Google Hummingbird in place, this tweak becomes even more important. The more content you have, the more questions your site answers -- and the more likely it is to appear in the contextual search results. For maximum impact, focus on adding new content that explicitly answers user questions -- including "how to" posts, FAQs, process tutorials and other similar pieces.
Beyond these few tweaks, keep following the SEO best practices that have been put in place for this post-Panda, post-Penguin era. Build great content that accumulates high quality, relevant backlinks naturally on its own. Use a responsive design that makes it easy for readers to find information from you wherever they are. And above all, stop trying to outright manipulate the search rankings. Think long term about the direction Google appears to be going and make your site as attractive as possible by playing by the rules and being a good webmaster.

Simplify Your SEO Program With These 5 Strategies

The SEO industry is in a constant state of flux depending on Google's algorithms, but that doesn't mean that you need to revamp your entire strategy every time a new update rolls out. Instead, use the following five strategies to implement a simplified SEO program that'll stand the test of time -- no matter what changes the search engines make.
Focus less on keyword research. "Old school" SEO put a heavy emphasis on keyword research, requiring that webmasters spend hours measuring anticipated search volume against the relative competitiveness of each query. Not only does this take an excessively long amount of time, it's becoming a far less viable approach as Google restricts the amount of keyword data made available to SEO workers.
Instead of wasting time chasing data that isn't readily available (or accurate, when it can be found), simplify your research process by brainstorming a list of the keywords you believe your customers are most likely to search for and building content around these phrases. Check your stats after a month or so and then either add more content for phrases that are performing well or refocus your efforts on a new set of potential search queries.
Use SEO tools effectively. Even if fields such as page or post meta descriptions don't have the SEO impact they used to, it's still worth including them from a usability standpoint. If you write an extra-compelling meta description that displays in your search results listing and causes a user to click through to your site (versus your competitor's), that's a win for your site in terms of both overall performance and SEO.
Instead of coding these fields by hand, look for SEO tools that'll simplify the process for you. Wordpress extensions such as Yoast SEO (free) or All-in-One SEO (free) make managing blog SEO a snap, while programs such as QuickSprout Tools (free; paid versions available) or Moz SEO ($99+ a month) help you to tackle other SEO processes from a single, centralized location.
Invest in viral content pieces. Backlinking is a continual challenge for the SEO world. While it's important to obtain backlinks from well-regarded websites, it's best to do so in a natural fashion. But even if you do pursue links as part of an SEO campaign, you'll find that the backlinks that will do the most for your site's performance are also the hardest to get!
All of these challenges go away if you redirect your efforts towards producing viral-style content pieces, rather than proactively seeking link sources. As an example, one well-produced infographic could go on to earn you hundreds of backlinks from great sources -- with no extra effort on your part beyond the initial creation of the graphic and any early seeding of your content that you decide to do. While it's true that you won't "go viral" on every content piece you create, just a few wins using this strategy can do more for your site's external SEO than weeks or months spent trolling for backlinks.
Use responsive website design. When you use responsive website design on your site, both your desktop and mobile site versions come from the same URL -- only their relative displays are altered. Contrast this with hosting two separate sites for desktop versus mobile visitors. If you have two separate websites entirely, you've got to run two separate sets of SEO campaigns. Using a single site that displays differently depending on the platform can cut your SEO time in half!
Outsource repetitive monitoring tasks. Finally, consider outsourcing some of the repetitive monitoring tasks that are a part of any good SEO campaign. For example, a few of the tasks you could pass on to others include:
  • Checking your monthly search engine results page rankings (if you don't already have a tool that does this for you)
  • Conducting competitive research on the keywords and keyword phrases your competitors appear to be targeting
  • Making sure all the content on your site is accessible to the search engine spiders
  • Adding new page links to your website directory (if they aren't added automatically)
  • Monitoring SEO news sites for algorithm changes that could require your attention or substantially change your strategy
When outsourcing tasks, you can work with either SEO agencies or individuals who are knowledgeable about these tasks. Be sure to do your research and understand the relative pros and cons of each option before bringing on a person or a team to assist with your SEO. Instead of simplifying things, failing to do the proper due diligence could actually make your SEO strategy more complicated than ever!
Have you implemented any of these strategies? Or are there other things you've done to simplify your SEO strategy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!