Remember the days when keywords ruled in the search engine game of SEO? Fast forward to 2015 and the game has changed.
Keywords still matter but they are no longer the most important component of your SEO campaign. Ranking for keywords used to be number one on the list of importance and website owners even stuffed their pages full of them!
I remember a time when website owners put lots of keywords on the page all lumped together and change the color to white so they could be read by a search engine but hidden from readers.
Crazy stuff!
That’s all changed. Who would ever do that now?
Keywords are still a valuable part of search engine optimization. With that said, take some time to understand it and be sure to write posts around a keyword theme. Here’s a great training on keyword research. This training was prior to the Google Keyword Planner redesign but the concepts are the same. Click here for your free training.
SEO is More than Just Keyword Research
Google’s search engine algorithm’s used to focus heavily on keywords and links on a website. No more!
Although there is more to it in 2015, bear in mind that SEO is still an important subset of content marketing.
Here are tips for SEO in 2015 that go beyond keywords:
- Keyword placement. Have you considered where you are placing your keywords in website content? Make a checklist to adhere to ensure that your keyword appears in the meta description, heading text, and body copy. Break down your content with subheadings that include your keyword or some variant there of.
- Keyword phrases. It’s not necessary to repeat the same exact keyword over and over. Google gets it. Be creative and come up with variants of your keyword phrase. There are many interchangeable words like MLM and network marketing. These 2 words have the same meaning to Google search. Watch the keyword research training video here.
- Quality content. This is nothing new but always good to remind yourself that fluff content won’t get your web pages too far in search engine optimization. When you distribute quality content that delivers value to users, the search engines will love you.
- Mobile SEO. If you have not paid attention to this, make it your first priority. Did you get an email from Google warning you about compliance to their mobile guideline? I won’t get into it here but you can read my blog post all about it – click here.
- Social networks. In the old days, the focus for SEO was primarily of a technical nature. All types of SEO voodoo that only technically savvy website owners knew how to do. Welcome to 2015. Building relationships is a key factor in search engine optimization. With so many social networks out there, engaging in social media and building relationships with influencers has become part of your optimization. Social media impacts your search engine rankings.
As you can see, keyword research for SEO still matters but it’s not the only factor. This is not a comprehensive list. Instead, I highlighted the items that are most important to incorporate into your daily or weekly method of operation.
What are your thoughts on Google Keyword research and SEO? Leave a comment and shares are always appreciated! Don’t forget to grab your free keyword research training – click here.
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