If you’re up on the game in SEO, you know a big name in it is Matt Cutts. The leader of the “webspam” team at Google, he’s a proclaimed “voice” in SEO and all things rankings. When he talks, people often listen; retweet; share; and reply.
The latest buzz from Matt Cutts was posted on January 20, 2014—just three days ago. And already it’s been viral in the Internet world. The reason for the intense, instant feedback was the topic he wrote about. Matt’s blog was entitled “The decay and fall of guest blogging for SEO” and posed the statement, guest blogging is dead.
“Google Will Take a Dim View” …The Worst The Blog Got
Matt Cutts, Photo Courtesy @ affordableseofl.com
The blog basically stated that all who were guest blogging should stop, and that guest blogging has gone from respectable to totally spammy. He said to stick a fork in the whole opportunity and don’t rely on it for SEO. Note, he never said it was entirely dead, not once in his whole blog; his most distinct ending words were that “Google will take a dim view of guest blogging going forward.”
Matt Takes It Back?
Matt actually added an “add-on” within 24 hours of writing his blog (possibly affected by the huge amounts of noted blogger voices on Twitter and other platforms denouncing his view) saying that he didn’t mean to “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” He stated very plainly that he did not mean to discount high quality and multi-author blogs, that he stated are “compelling, wonderful, and useful.”
He Actually Has A Point About The Spam
OK, so just like everything good, anyone—and on the Internet, seriously, anyone—can take it and turn it into something bad. Dirty, grimy hands have touched things like articles, blogs, press releases, web pages, and of course—guest blogging. I recently received a LinkedIN invitation to join a guest blog. I’ll put their name out there: SEO Libra. The invitation read, “Regarding For Free SEO Guest Blogging. Add Guest Posting for Free. Regards.” Ugh, it makes me shudder again.
Grimy fingers like these turn content into spam, spin and trash it, try to recycle it, and overall give content a bad name in various avenues. But does that mean content in general stops working for everyone? Of course not. It only stops working in the wrong hands. In the right hands, content becomes well-written. It is original. Creative. Powerful. It has the possibility to go viral and make a positive impact on the web.
Case Study
Express Writers started blogging on SocialMediaToday about 5 days ago. We’ve had over 300 social shares on each post that was a featured guest blog on SocialMediaToday; new followers on all our social media platforms; connections from other writers and peers; and more than 10 new client inquiries. Guest blogging, my friends, is powerful. It works.
What Did You Say, Cutts?
Don’t forget, Cutts has said other things in the past that were discounted. A couple years ago, Cutts said a statement in a Google forum stating that press releases no longer held value for SEO. He was since proven wrong by SearchEngineLand experts, who did an actual case study with screenshot results that showed exactly the opposite of Cutts’ statement—that in fact, PR links were being counted by Google.
Copyblogger’s CEO Weighs In
The CEO of Copyblogger, Brian Clark, said it best on Twitter: Why change because Matt Cutts said something? Build quality, no matter what. (For more, read Copyblogger’s blog on why guest blogging isn’t done yet.)
Excellent advice. Don’t change what’s working because one person said something. Keep it up, and always maintain quality—and you’ll always see results.
There’s nothing worse than noticing a drop or significant change in your site’s activity without knowing what caused it. On November 15th, MozCast reported a significant temperature spike hitting 102.2.
No, there wasn’t a glitch in the system and the chat on Google didn’t discuss any updates, but there was certainly something amiss. So, was it an unannounced Google Algorithm update? Something Google seems to be doing a lot more of as of late.
SERPs.com and SERPmetrics both reported spikes on November 15th. While one day shifts are nothing to panic about, it often means there is something in the mix that needs to be investigated further.
The Big Guys Win Again
According to a blog by Moz.com, the Big 10 websites saw a significant increase in their search results for the day of the spike — with a jump of 15.39 percent to 15.89 percent. You might not think this number is anything to fret over, but that small fraction of a leap is actually a huge amount if you consider the statistics historically. Sites that had the biggest range jump included eBay, Amazon and Wikipedia — all enjoying three to five percent gains.
Yes, some algorithm updates can cause leaps in numbers like this, but a jump doesn’t necessarily mean an update either. So was there an update for sure?
No one has officially released the word on whether or not there was another algorithm change. In some cases big websites can benefit from algorithm changes, while the little guys suffer. However, there are times where these changes benefit or hurt everyone.
There are two things for certain that website owners and SEO specialists should keep in mind:
There was a historical one-day change, which is something that cannot be ignored.
The Big 10 metric has now hit yet another historical high — with the last high being in April of 2012.
Wikipedia, for example, gained a few spots on the first page of search results for terms such as “Famous Footwear Store Hours.” In fact, Famous Footwear went from holding eight spots down to four spots while Wikipedia quickly filled up the rest on the search engine result page. It is theorized that this drop is because someone else dropped out, leaving Wikipedia to fill the gap.
There Was a Glitch Though…
Google did have DNS issues on November 14th and there were plenty of errors to go around for that 24 hour period while Google worked out their issues. According to the Search Engine Roundtable, the change in ranking reports coincides with the DNS errors, but Search Engine Roundtable doesn’t see any changes for themselves.
It’s hard to say if there was really an update on November 14th or if the entire situation was a glitch. Because the holiday season is upon us (with Black Friday gone and Cyber Monday hitting hard), it’s natural for commercial SERPs to fluctuate — and it doesn’t necessarily mean Google has released or updated anything.
Whatever did occur November 14th hasn’t happened again and there’s no further news to confirm or deny an update. Thus, for now, consider it a SERP mystery. While a one-day spike is something you traditionally see with an update, the holiday season might account for the changes as well. Until then, the big websites can enjoy their new spaces.
You’ve had it drilled into your head that you’re no longer writing for SEO when it comes to SEO content, and it’s all about the reader. Google’s Hummingbird was a wakeup call for those who snoozed through Panda and Penguin releases; the emphasis is all on high-quality content.
So how do you write high-quality, awesome SEO content for search engines and readers alike?
Before you sit down feeling frustrated and give up, let’s get one thing out of the way:
Yes, you can rank high and gain new readers for your website!
Doesn’t that make you feel better? To get high rankings and gain new readers it’s all about balancing between what search engines want and what readers need. Google has made it quite clear that they won’t tolerate fluff or irrelevant content in SEO writing and SEO content anymore. Hummingbird was their way of letting everyone know that.
If you read through Google’s quality guidelines you will see what they’re looking for pages written for users, unique content, valuable content, and no more tricks, just to name a few. If you look closely, however, you’ll see the biggest thing Google wants of all: optimized content that is unique. That means you will need to differentiate your website from the rest of the Internet, offer real value and have a selling point that pops.
To help you through it, here are several methods that generate killer content for your rank and your readers.
Be Relevant, Not Random
You might be tempted to write on a particular topic you’re passionate about, but if that topic isn’t relevant to your website, you need to skip it, according to About.com. People searching on the internet want something that is relevant to what they’re searching for. Readers and Google expects relevant content and when users don’t see what they are looking for they leave — and don’t come back.
If you’re writing a blog or article, make sure it’s relevant to your brand, products or the purpose of your website. For example, if you are writing about wedding planning, you shouldn’t have information about birthday parties, because your site focuses on weddings.
Be relevant above all else.
Define Your Brand, Then Your Quality Goal
Unfortunately quality is a subjective term. What you think is “quality” might be “poor quality” to a reader. So how do you write content that is quality to everyone?
Simple, you can’t.
But, you can write quality content that is considered “quality” to your brand. Consider your brand, target customer, and/or products you offer. Then ask yourself: what type of content would be considered quality to my target audience? Don’t copy other brands and the strategies they’re using — those strategies are what are considered “quality” to them, not you.
Find something that works for you and is quality to your brand.
Get to Know Your Readers
Content should be customer-centric. Anything you write — blogs, reports, etc. — should attract and establish a relationship with your ideal customer.
You can’t make a relationship with a stranger, so it’s imperative you first research who is reading your content before you write it.
Find out what your typical customer is interested in, the types of questions or concerns that would bring them to your site, what might hinder them from buying, what a reader’s goal might be, etc. The more questions you can answer about your reader, the more in-tune your posts can be for them.
Remember that Google wants to see SEO content that answers your readers’ concerns and questions and is relevant to your industry/brand.
Using the wedding planner example, your target customer would be couples about to get married.
What are engaged couples worried about? Getting married, the costs, where to start with planning, etc.
Why would they come to you for assistance? You’re the solution to their problems and know how to plan a wedding.
What would hold back a reader from hiring you? Cost perhaps.
See the point?
Use the Language
Google’s keyword tool is no longer around, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find awesome keywords to drive your content — and boost your rank. Instead of looking through endless lists on Google, listen to the customers you have.
What terms would your typical customer use to find your services? What phrases are common with your industry?
Put yourself into the shoes of your target customer and pretend you’re searching the Internet for your type of service, website, etc.
The words and phrases they’re using about your products/industry are the words you need to optimize in your content. By doing so you can easily optimize and keep your content natural. In return you’ll match search queries and increase your site’s traffic.
Stop Selling, Even If You’re Selling
If you have a blog it’s time to change up your strategy. Blogs aren’t landing pages and they certainly aren’t meant for sales advertisements. Always remember that. You should use your blogs and articles to generate brand awareness, answer questions and ease concerns — not stuff products and/or services down the throats of your readers.
Sure, you can link to sales pages in case the reader wants more or wants to see a viable solution to their issue, but there is no reason to sell in the content right there. According to an article by Entrepreneur, good writing is conversational. Do you sell to your friends when you’re having a conversation? Probably not.
So why do the same to your reader?
Establish a relationship with your reader and write content that makes them trust your brand. By building up your credibility the sales naturally come. This is true of SEO content. In fact, 61 percent of consumers make a purchase based on a blog post according to Social Media Today.
Be Predictable
No, we’re not talking about your blog topics — we’re talking about how regularly you post.
Consistently is the backbone of trust in the virtual world. Readers should be able to depend on you to post frequently and stick to a predictable schedule. Also, being predictable gains your website credibility — excellent for your rank!
The more content you produce, the more chances you have to rank with the search engines too. So, create a schedule — one that you can easily maintain — and get busy writing your content, whether SEO content, blogs, articles, web pages, you-name-it.
If you know you’ll be unavailable to write or post for a few days or weeks, write ahead of time and schedule your posts. Google doesn’t care too much about how often you post, but you need to post consistently. If you post every day for three months and then suddenly only post once every other month you won’t see a jump in your ranking — in fact you’ll probably see a heavy drop.
Go Above and Beyond
To be considered “high-quality” you need to write something that is better than what everyone else has to offer. That means it’s time to step up your game and take on the challenge. See what your competition is writing about and top it.
How do you top what’s already done over and over again?
Be creative. Add your own perspective, unique personality and spin on the topic. It can be something that is discussed over and over on other blogs and still be 100 percent unique if you just add your own personal touches to it.
Think outside of the box. You don’t have to approach your topics using a boring, time-tested method. Think outside of the box and be unique.
Use your expertise. You’re an industry expert — that’s why you have your website! Use your industry-specific knowledge and experiences to boost up your content. Have a funny story about something related to your website? Have you used products that you sell before? The more experience and insight you offer the better your rank.
Try Using Lists
Lists sell.
After all, the list-themed title blog you’re reading right now appealed to you because the information was bundled up in a list, right?
List posts, such as “Top X Ways To…”, “X Tips for…”, or “How to Sell Your Car in X Days…” always attract readers. These types of posts are popular because they do two important things:
They tell readers exactly what they’re getting from the content
They tell readers they won’t see a wall of text — things will be broken up to fulfill the list (or at least they should be)
Use lists to write your content every now and then. Lists are great for reading, help break up the content for you to write, and attract visitors. Also, list articles are more likely to be shared than other types of articles — especially those lists with flashy headlines.
Sprinkle In Eye Candy
Everyone needs a little eye candy — it sweetens the content just right.
Sprinkle in images or videos that are relevant to your content to help break it up and give readers something visual. Content with images is a lot easier to read than content that doesn’t have anything for the reader to picture.
You can use stock photos or even make your own (which is best considering it’s free and personalized) to add to your articles and blogs for a little extra something.
What Type of Writer Are You?
There are five types of writers out there: the part-timer, hobbyist, full-time pro, corporate, and entrepreneur, according to Social Media Today. Everyone can be categorized into at least one of these types of bloggers or writers. Deciding the type you are might help give your content purpose.
For example, if you’re a hobbyist writer you write for fun — not income. You spend some time on your blog, but it’s not your life’s work. Therefore your posts shouldn’t be sales-driven or serious — they should be fun and something people can tune into for a taste of something different.
If you’re an entrepreneur writer you write for a company you own. You use your blog or articles to gain recognition, share your expertise and attract clients. Your posts should be helpful, unique and still professional.
Decide the type of writer you are and why you’re writing your content. By having a purpose you’ll know how to work your content, both SEO content and general content.
Edit, Edit, Edit
It doesn’t matter how unique and awesome your content is if there are spelling errors strewn throughout the words. Typos and spelling errors turn readers away and tank your authority. Use spellcheck or hire someone to review your posts before you hit “publish” — that way you’re not tainting your reputation with a simple typo.
Format Like a Pro
Use a font people can read. Also, keep your sentences short. You should only use the words you need to convey your message and stop there. Avoid adding in fluff or sugar-coatings that don’t really add value to the sentence or the message you’re trying to deliver.
If you can, keep your paragraphs short too. Readers often get discouraged or bored if they see a chunk of text they need to sift through to find their answers.
This info won’t help you with search engines much, but it’s not always about the search engines. Having your work formatted in a reader-friendly way encourages readers to come back for more and share your content — something that does boost your rank.
Hire a Pro
If you’re not a writer, it might be best to hire one. Professional content writers can speak to your readers, do the research you don’t have time for it, and write content that sells to the search engines and the readers of your target market. You don’t have to pay thousands for high-quality content, but you will have to pay to get good content.
You can achieve a high rank and still keep your readers happy all on the same website. By integrating these methods your website will be written for the readers, attractive to the search engines, and influential for your brand. Remember that search engines want content to be for the reader first, and them second. So when you sit down to write your next piece, ask yourself what you or your target reader wants — worry about the search engines later.
Optimizing your content is like having a cake with all of the right toppings, a pie with scrumptious filling, and a gift with all of the adoring wrappings. Look at your content as the foundation of your (virtual) pie — the crust and filling — but proper optimization are those pieces that make your cake really pop to Google, and are what make your website rank. Your content shouldn’t just be written; it needs to be optimized, too.
Optimize Your Content The Google Friendly Way
So, how do you optimize content to make it ooze with delicious goodness and still look perfect to Google? Here are a few of our best practices, to get you started.
We take the holistic approach when it comes to content optimization. That means good SEO practices should be engrained throughout all aspects of your content, PR and online marketing. Therefore, it’s in your website’s best interest if you apply these tactics across the board.
The Elements of Optimization
There’s a lot of theories about what is right/wrong regarding content optimization. We certainly don’t claim our opinion to be the gospel of SEO, but there are some key elements to proper optimization:
Uniqueness
User Experience
Keyword-Targeted Content
Meta and Title Tag Optimization
Notice “keywords” is just one of many elements? We’ll touch on that in just a second.
Be Unique: No One Likes to Read What’s Been Done Before
We’ve driven this point through your head a few times, but we’re going to do it again as part of our best practices round-up. According to Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Your content should offer obvious value and not just be an “about me” promotional page
Your text, images and audio should be eye-catching and unique
Your content should set you apart from the crowd — offering real insight and showing off your obvious expertise
Your pages should be described by at least 80 percent of your visitors as “helpful” or “useful”
User Experience Matters
You’re not writing for just the search engines; you’re also writing for the reader. If readers are greeted with a wall of text and stuffed keywords, they aren’t going to do anything but click on the back button. You can’t just force your keywords onto the page. It’s much like filling a pie. If you cram every ingredient and make it overflow, it’s going to bubble and burn on the bottom of your oven — and that stinks.
For example:
Not even five years ago you could cram keywords into your headers and be the man (or woman) at content optimization. You’d rank high just for combining a mixture of keywords and calling it a header.
Say your keywords were “Los Angeles SEO Firm” you could title your pages as “Los Angeles SEO Firm | SEO Firm Los Angeles” but when Google caught on to the stuffing and unnatural usage, they changed the game. Today your headers have to read like a sentence, which means this unnatural, awkward way of using keywords is a thing of the past.
Using Keyword-Targeted Content
All of that keyword research you’ve done means nothing if your content doesn’t target keywords properly. Just as we mentioned above, optimizing your content means using keywords naturally within the content. Your content should make sense, read naturally and readers should enjoy what they’re looking at — all while search engines are indexing your content based on the keywords you’ve targeted.
Your primary keyword or targeted phrase should be sprinkled in your content, but don’t overdo it. We say three percent is a good density — anything more and your content might look stuffed.
Your content should be relative to your keywords, according to Search Engine Watch. So if your keyword is “Los Angeles SEO Firm” you should be writing something relevant to SEO practices or local Los Angeles businesses/individuals needing SEO services. There’s nothing worse than stumbling across a page using high-ranking keywords that don’t match the content — and trust us, Google will take care of your site soon enough if you don’t play by the rules.
You can check your content optimization by using plug-ins (available for free or a small fee). These plug-ins analyze your content based on your targeted keywords and can enhance the rankings of your posts.
Meta and Title Tag Optimization
Content optimization includes your meta descriptions and title tags. When you write content tags, you first need to write them for the reader. Write something that catches their attention; after all, it’s the readers who you need to click through and keep reading. Then, incorporate keywords, naturally, into those title tags.
Optimizing your content’s headlines can get you more clicks, get your content shared, and also rank your website higher, according to a recent blog by HubSpot.
Your meta descriptions are important — don’t leave these blank. However, also don’t stuff these with every keyword you have. Instead, stick to one keyword in your description. Since search engines cut your description off at 25 to 30 words, it’s best to keep it at maximum 25 to 30 words. Consider it a short little teaser — similar to a Facebook or Twitter post — that gets people to click. No need to spill it all out for them.
Content optimization isn’t rocket science. In fact, when you follow all of these best practices you can optimize your content and rank faster than just picking and following a select few.
Let’s face it; the New Year is less than a month away and that means it’s time for New Year Resolutions. While most people are talking about the usual — being a nicer person, losing weight, etc. — you should be focusing on how to boost your SEO content and rankings for 2014. If one of your personal resolutions is to make more money through your website, business and better conversions, having serious growth in your rankings is a great start.
3…2…1… Lift Off! Launch Your 2014 SEO Content Plan
You’re not the only one creating content. In fact, about 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared on the Internet every day, according to a blog by KISSMetrics. Yes, you read that right. This fact pretty much spells out this next one—if your content isn’t standing out among the millions, you’re probably not going to get very far with your website in 2014.
The Future (Or As We Call It 2014)
Content marketing is expected to overtake social media. Content will start to deliver in terms of brand awareness, value, links, discussions, etc. Also, 2014 is likely to bring along some better SEO measurement tools, which means you can see how well your content is doing and not keep hoping it’s doing well.
In 2013 it was already pointed out that most businesses and website owners don’t invest in their content. If you’re one of them there’s no need to be ashamed, but it is time to start moving. Content is crucial to the development of your website and brand. Google wants content — if you hadn’t already noticed from their headlines lately.
It means that if you want to get more traffic from Google, you first need to satisfy their thirst for content.
Your #1 on your New Year’s Resolution list should be to improve your website rankings. So where do you start? Well you won’t have to sift through the Webmaster Tools guides or even read multiple articles, because we’ve assembled the best of the best when it comes to boosting your rank for 2014.
Create a Content Calendar, Seriously
It’s time to fill out a calendar for 2014 and we’re not referring to anyone’s birthdates or appointments. A content calendar spells out what you’ll post and when during each month. All you need to get started is a blank calendar — yes, it really is that simple.
You’ll spend some time pre-planning — so don’t write anything down in permanent marker or pen just yet.
If a calendar and your handwriting aren’t appealing, there are more comprehensive planning tools available online (some are free), according to Forbes.
Plan Themes Monthly — Not By the Seat of Your Pants
There is always a time of the year or month that has something theme-worthy. This month, for example, you will have Christmas, New Year’s, etc. January, the first month of the New Year is the start of something new and fresh – a perfect theme for January blogs.
Month-inspired themes make writing more fun and are likely to attract more organic searches than you think. This is because around these times of the year people are searching about that holiday — and if you’re writing about it you might be seen.
Also, themed articles give you an opportunity to link to other articles in that same theme or keep readers coming back to see the newest post by letting them know to “stay tuned”, according to an article from Unbounce.com.
Not sure where to get started for themes? Here are just a few ideas:
January – Time for New Year’s Day, starting something new, resolutions for the New Year, winter, etc.
February – It’s the month of love, do we really need to give you more?
March – Everyone loves St. Patty’s Day -or just theme it on the color green.
April – Spring is in full bloom and so are the flowers. Use that for inspiration.
May – Summer is almost here and there are plenty of holidays to celebrate.
Identify Your Content Goals
What do you want from your content? If you don’t have an obtainable goal, you won’t really have much purpose to your content. For example, if your goal is to get viewers to visit your ecommerce store, do you include links or calls-to-action to encourage them to click over?
Or, for example, if you use your blog to get people to follow you on social media, do you tell them to follow you or include links to your social media account(s)?
Whatever your purpose might be, you need to define it before you write your content. 2014 is all about attracting more attention, but if you don’t know the type of attention you want, you cannot convince the Internet users to give it to you.
Develop your pieces with one of four of the common goals in mind. Don’t try to combine all four goals together. Instead, work all of your pieces toward a single goal each month.
The four most common goals for content include:
Getting Shared
Earning Links To Your Content
Encouraging Comments
Attracting New Leads
Making Sales
Pick one out of these four and use that as your purpose in your content. Your call-to-action should tell the reader your purpose too.
Pick Your Content Strategy
There are pieces of content that work for all strategies and some that should be left out — depending on the goal you choose. Once you’ve selected from the four goals above (remember you should only pick one) it’s time to decide which content types work for your objective.
Think about it: what types of content are shared the most within your goal? What type of content will get the most response?
Some common web content types to choose from include:
Blog posts
Videos
Podcasts
Info graphics
Slideshows
Articles
Tutorials
Press Releases
EBooks
Landing pages
If you’re not writing in the content category that appeals to your goal, you’re wasting time and money.
What you’ve just read is a quick rundown of what makes a good content strategy. At Express, we’ve discussed content strategies in detail quite a few times, but hopefully this refresher jogs your memory for 2014.
Go Long!
No, we aren’t talking about football. We’re talking about the length of your content. These days’ content matters and the days of writing 200 to 500 words are over. Search engines like to see length, because to them length is more in-depth and quality than a short 200 word blog.
So how long should your blogs and articles be? There’s no magic number really. However, Google is favoring longer blogs and guides by labeling them as “important” and ranking them at higher authority than those posting 200 to 500 words.
This doesn’t mean you have to write 10,000 or even 15,000 word blogs daily. But you should have a mixture of long and short posts on your website. Consider writing one or two posts a bit longer (somewhere over 1500 words) posts per week and leave the rest of the week to your short, sweet posts.
Quality Above All Else
Even if you post a 2,000 word blog, if it doesn’t have quality information you won’t get very far with the search engines.
Quality is #1 when it comes to Google. If your 2,000 word blog is nothing but you jabbering on and on about squat you won’t get a high rank for 2014.
Google’s Hummingbird sent a clear and direct message to all content marketers: Focus on the content — don’t worry about the keywords.
Even Google’s quality guidelines state they’re looking for pages that are written for users, not search engines. They want readers to learn and not be deceived. Also, web pages that use tricks to encourage higher rankings will be blacklisted.
So what is good content?
Write content with a purpose. Your content should have a purpose to it and the reader should be introduced to that purpose. You can be as complex or as simple as you’d like — but you need to deliver a message.
Create content with real value — not fluff. Your content should be engaging and useful to your target reader. This mean you will need to have entertaining and positive content that sparks a response of some sort from the reader.
Back up what you say with high-quality links. Links aren’t dead — regardless of what you’ve heard. Your content should be well-researched and attributed. If you use statistics, quote your source and link to a high-quality website. This will not only build your credibility with your readers, but those links to high-ranking sites can help boost your rank too.
If these don’t spell it out enough. Consider these attributes of fine, quality work:
Quality content is something Google feels is worth sharing.
Quality content has real answers to real questions.
Quality content is something people want to read and keep reading.
Quality content is something people are looking for and would talk with friends about.
Quality content gets shared after its read.
Unfortunately quality can be highly subjective. What you consider quality might not be what others consider quality. So where do you start? Your content should be quality as it is defined by your brand. What would your target or current customers expect from your brand’s content and products? The answer to this question is the answer to your level of quality.
8 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for 2014
You have gotten the basics above about what 2014 has to offer. Now it’s time to give you 12 tasks that you should complete before December 31st comes around. By preparing for 2014 now you’ll be a step ahead of the competition (the people likely to wait until January 1st to start optimizing properly).
Invest Now – Higher quality means you need to invest more. Bottom line. It’s time to hire the best writers and best graphic artists to create your content for 2014. If that means boosting the budget for content creation for 2014, find a way to wiggle a few extra bucks over to the content creation column.
Create a Calendar – Decide when and how often you’ll post and write those dates on your calendar. Stick with them — Google expects it from you.
Change Up Your Strategy – If you haven’t seen a budget in your rank for 2013, don’t expect much difference in 2014. Instead, change up your strategy and create a new one for 2014.
Get to Know Your Readers – Do some research and decide who your readers are. What do they want to read? What content talks best to them? Then, implement it.
Check for Duplicate Content – Run all of your content through a plagiarism checker and make sure it’s 100 percent unique.
Use SEO-Friendly Content – Still use keywords, but don’t stuff your content with them or write for the keywords only. Instead write for the reader first, search engine second.
Use Long Form and Short Form Together – Have a mixture of long and short posts in your content strategy. Try to integrate at least one long post per week to help boost your authority.
Quit Using Poor Quality Backlinks – Axe the backlinks and start focusing on how you can link to other high-ranking sites naturally.
By implementing these tips and preparing before 2014 comes around, you’ll be ready for whatever changes Google plans on making for the New Year. Also, by starting on a plan for 2014 now you can strategize and budget more efficiently, which means you won’t be scrambling like everyone else when a new change does come. Remember how Panda and Penguin hit websites hard (in some cases wiped them out)? Don’t let your website go down — boost it up for 2014.
