Everyone has goals for the new year, and if you run your own business, your list likely includes learning how to market your business online. However, before you start discussing website design and other details with online marketing companies, you need to know exactly what you’re looking for. It isn’t enough to simply rank highly for certain, broad keywords or be the first website on Google’s search listing anymore; instead, experts are predicting that 2015 will bring a number of changes to the SEO industry, changing how businesses market themselves online. Stay ahead of the curve: read on to learn about how you should start marketing your company this year!
Focus on ROI Metrics, Not Keywords
While every website SEO company worth their salt will tell you that keywords are a vital part of marketing your business online, they should not be the overall focus of your SEO campaign. Instead, you and your SEO marketing agency should be working to attract users, convert them into customers and increase your revenues. Ranking highly for broad keywords or keywords that don’t help your business are tactics best left in the past: in 2015, work on targeting effective long-tail keywords, improving your website quality, earning links, and other goals that will increase the return on your investment.
Look Beyond Google
You have likely heard that Google controls most of the search engine market and planned to focus your efforts accordingly. However, Google is currently being threatened by competitors like Yahoo and Bing: the industry giant’s contract with Firefox ended as 2014 was drawing to a close, causing the popular web browser to replace the company with Yahoo as their default search engine. Safari’s contract with Google is also coming to a close in 2015, causing many to speculate that the browser will make a similar change. It’s too early for any definitive news or predictions, but smart companies will prepare for a shift in search engine traffic, just in case.
Earn Links Instead of Building Them
Inbound links are one of the most influential components of a successful SEO campaign: they demonstrate trustworthiness and quality, increasing both your search rankings and site traffic. Thanks to Google’s algorithm changes at the end of 2014, having high quality links is more important than ever, which is why your website SEO company shouldn’t be building links on irrelevant, low-quality sites, or worse, buying them. Instead, look for a website SEO company that blends traditional PR and SEO to help you earn links to relevant, high quality sites. This may mean less links in general, but the connections you do have will mean more.
The steps businesses should take to market themselves online are always changing. However, by making the right choices and working with the right agencies, it is possible to adjust to these changes in the SEO industry and help your company in the process. Ask yourself: are you and your company ready for 2015? To see more, read this.
