Tagged as the search decade to be remembered, 2003-2013 is a long evolutionary period for SEO. When Google began to display authoritative websites from relevant queries until it reaches point where everything that can be seen in SERP are useful and user-friendly, the naysayers insistence of SEO as a dying breed seemed to be eliminated. SEO is striving, it still exists and getting more mature.
The progress of SEO became more notable and more and more businesses include this strategy in their business plans. The drastic changes that Google implemented gave a new face to what we have known how SEO works 10 years ago. Black hat SEO has been extraneous but its death didn't shatter SEO, in a general perspective. SEO is more alive today, however, for the year 2014, Google seemed to place more pressure on webmasters and SEO consultant. The last quarter of 2013 was a tip of what we should expect in the year of the horse. You have to be Google friendly, unless you want to be totally kicked out of the SERP.
Major Changes/Updates in 2013
Hopefully, you still remembered what you passed through last year. Earlier of the year Panda and Penguin updates were rolled over. Have you felt the Panda Dance? Aside from that July 19th, 2013 marked the expansion of the Knowledge Graph that answered the exact queries rather than showing up the optimized keywords. After knowing about these pets in the algorithm, Google added Hummingbird on action. The bird changes or transformed the algorithm. Before the year ends, Google employees seemed to be stricter in terms of links and contents.
Aside from that Google has stopped its generosity by keeping the keywords used by searchers when querying. The “unprovided keywords” mark the beginning of independent user profiling and planning of what keywords should be optimized or should you really use keywords for the modern SEO. Moreover, when Penguin 2.1 was introduced in October, unnatural links should have been killed.
2013 is more than just an eventful year because it creates a massive shift in how we should deal SEO in 2014. This year, doors are open to a world of search that provide less priorities with keyword data and penalizes link networks. It forces a focus on conversion rates and site traffic more than exact rankings.
What to expect in 2014?
At the start of the year you can think of the worst thing to happen this year. But you can't really tell what's up with Google or with Matt Cutts. There's a lot of things you can expect. All kinds of changes should be welcomed. All updates are being scared. Some expects a new pet such as the zebra on the field while others think of eliminating link building in the customer-centered SEO campaigns.
Looking back at how SEO changes through time, it has reached its pinnacle in 2014 where in Google plays a major role. However, in B2B marketing, Baidu in China seemed to outcast Google because it captures 63.55% of the search engine market share in China. Does it imply that other search engines might as well take the place of Google. It may happen in the future, but not yet in 2014. So, Google seemed to continuously reign in searches.
In this case, you will need to cope with the demands of Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird ( and zebra?). Google will be in closed fight with spam and so you should be more careful of your links. Intentional or not, it might dump you in the “not in top 100” spot.
Content is more important this year. Content is linked to social signal. Its “shareability” makes it a significant factor in audience and relationship building. You have to focus on your audience and the niche you are into.
On the other hand, architecture and urls should be simple and easy to remember. While you should always use canonical directives to ensure non-duplicate contents. Remember that the Google is the major search engine, there are other search engines that rise in the field.
In short you are still pressured to focus on your content strategy, on-page strategies, conversion rates and overall revenue. Rankings are mere indicators of your spot in Google and not in the mind of your potential consumers.
SEO stays alive and kicking. This year, it is more vibrant and energetic. Expect new more changes, fluctuations and unexpected updates. Google is headed for challenges; your SEO expertise should be amplified!
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