Browse All Articles > What does 2011 have lined up for SEO?
We are nearing the end of 2010 so no better time than to start guessing what to expect in 2011 for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Much has taken place in SEO in 2010 and I’m sure same will happen in the next, here is one of the biggest talking points in SEO 2010…
Google's main May Day Update
Google don’t stop, they are constantly updating their search algorithms. They make a lot of little tweaks and changes throughout the year but every now and again they make one that causes people to sit up and take notice.
Around the 1st May something happened where a lot of sites reported great loses in long tail traffic, some of them saying they lost more than 10%, which is a big number!
The sites that were affected the most seemed to lack deep links. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, talked about May Day and explained the update –
• Long tail traffic WAS affected.
• It had nothing to do with Googles new search index – Caffeine.
• No algorithms had altered.
• The good and high quality sites would still come out on top.
We all want our sites to be ‘good and high quality sites’, and it is measured by lots of different metrics Google has collected e.g. bounce rate and amount of time spend on your site, as well as quality links, etc.
The Future of SEO - 2011
Changes will definitely happen, and I know it’s obvious, but it’s true! Search engines are constantly changing their search algorithms and so we have to keep changing the way we work. So what should we be expecting?
• Google is searching twitter, Bing likes Facebook ‘likes’, this means that social media is going to be a big impact on search.
• Ranking signals will be the top reason behind any major changes.
• Google is worryingly obsessed with performance, so changes will be made in that department.
• Broad statement time… Something major will happen at Google and Bing; Bing will be fighting furiously for a higher market share of search.
SEO King – It’s ALL about Unique Content
There will be more pressure on anyone who writes or posts on the internet now. Unique content will still need to have high value and be keyword rich, but you also need to allow people to comment or ask/ answer questions about it. A thing you should be thinking about when writing should be the interaction you want with people, the search engines will decide how good your site is by how much interaction there is going on, on the page. It might even get clever enough to read the remarks and decide if it’s good or bad from those. Links will still be a big factor, but also think about links from social media sites.
Chatting with people will be a major part of SEO. No matter how big or small the comment is, you should definitely respond to it, whether its asking the commenter a question, or just thanking them for taking the time to comment. Help others, write good blog posts for other people, but don’t give them a rubbish piece just to get a link, because no one will read it or link to it, making it a waste of your time.
There is a fantastic long term effect with chatting to people on your site, these comments will build and build, which means when you have a 1000+ great comments on your site, that’s something very hard for a new site to get quickly. This will help you to rank highly in search engines in the future.
Google's main May Day Update
Google don’t stop, they are constantly updating their search algorithms. They make a lot of little tweaks and changes throughout the year but every now and again they make one that causes people to sit up and take notice.
Around the 1st May something happened where a lot of sites reported great loses in long tail traffic, some of them saying they lost more than 10%, which is a big number!
The sites that were affected the most seemed to lack deep links. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, talked about May Day and explained the update –
• Long tail traffic WAS affected.
• It had nothing to do with Googles new search index – Caffeine.
• No algorithms had altered.
• The good and high quality sites would still come out on top.
We all want our sites to be ‘good and high quality sites’, and it is measured by lots of different metrics Google has collected e.g. bounce rate and amount of time spend on your site, as well as quality links, etc.
The Future of SEO - 2011
Changes will definitely happen, and I know it’s obvious, but it’s true! Search engines are constantly changing their search algorithms and so we have to keep changing the way we work. So what should we be expecting?
• Google is searching twitter, Bing likes Facebook ‘likes’, this means that social media is going to be a big impact on search.
• Ranking signals will be the top reason behind any major changes.
• Google is worryingly obsessed with performance, so changes will be made in that department.
• Broad statement time… Something major will happen at Google and Bing; Bing will be fighting furiously for a higher market share of search.
SEO King – It’s ALL about Unique Content
There will be more pressure on anyone who writes or posts on the internet now. Unique content will still need to have high value and be keyword rich, but you also need to allow people to comment or ask/ answer questions about it. A thing you should be thinking about when writing should be the interaction you want with people, the search engines will decide how good your site is by how much interaction there is going on, on the page. It might even get clever enough to read the remarks and decide if it’s good or bad from those. Links will still be a big factor, but also think about links from social media sites.
Chatting with people will be a major part of SEO. No matter how big or small the comment is, you should definitely respond to it, whether its asking the commenter a question, or just thanking them for taking the time to comment. Help others, write good blog posts for other people, but don’t give them a rubbish piece just to get a link, because no one will read it or link to it, making it a waste of your time.
There is a fantastic long term effect with chatting to people on your site, these comments will build and build, which means when you have a 1000+ great comments on your site, that’s something very hard for a new site to get quickly. This will help you to rank highly in search engines in the future.
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