If you approach SEO the same way you did in 2015 then your about to be disappointed. SEO has changed so much in the past 2 years that the old 10 blue organic searches on page 1 now account for only 3% of all searches!
In this SEO special episode, we’ve sourced the very best tips, tools and strategies that anybody can employ to kick Google’s butt in 2017.
Buzz 1 – Latest SEO News
Google Doubles Down on mobile. The Mobile First Index is coming soon. More news here: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/10/18/google-index-set-to-go-mobile-first-within-months/
Tips:
- Be careful if you have a cut down version of your site because things like keywords on a page for instance are still very important.
- Review the UX and content, look at what terms your pages are ranking for using a tool like SEMRush
- Use a tool like Screenfly to preview content on multiple devices
Speed up your website! This will be even more important with a mobile-first index.
Three free tools:
One paid tool:
Our Head of Development was able to speed up our website by 20% using these tools!
Before
After
Also making news, is LinkedIn updating it’s search to cater for more content and posts.
Buzz 2 – Preparing for SEO in 2017
Get a super quick exec summary of Rand Fishkin’s presentation in episode 40 – #INBOUND16 Day 4 Recap
Download entire slide deck: bit.ly/keepup2017
Or watch the video and slideshare below:
Slideshare:
The top ten thousand sites account for 2 thirds of Google’s traffic! Two thirds! Below are the 20 most popular sites that received Google traffic:
Action item: Get into those sites where relevant to your industry and personas!
Buzz 3 – Diversifying traffic
If Google knows 80% of your traffic comes from them, they might get suss. You need to diversify your traffic sources!
Don’t ignore a search channel because it is not Google! According to SimilarWeb:
Action item: Go into similarweb and check where your competitors are getting their visitors from
Buzz 4 – Keyword Research in 2017
You can’t just use adwords anymore! Google is conflating keywords and giving inconsistent ranges. Recommended tools:
MOZ will give you the opportunity, potential and difficulty score:
FREE Google Sheets Template for you to select themes, pick keywords and prioritise what type of search result you should go after.
Tool number 2 is SEMRush’s SEO Keyword Magic:
Buzz 5 – Link Building
Link building takes time. There is a ‘gap of disappointment’ as it can take 6-7 months:
Rand’s ink building fly wheel:
Tips by Neil Patel on increasing backlinks: http://neilpatel.com/2015/08/25/how-to-build-100-quality-links-without-writing-fresh-content/
