What’s your New Year’s resolution? To lose weight? Make more money? Or finally crack the SEO barrier and get your site to page 1 for that awesome key phrase that gets loads of searches? If you said the latter, this post is for you!
As a result of working as a freelance SEO, I get a pretty close look at what is really going on in the SEO world, and right now I can tell you that it is slowly but steadily changing. Here are some tips on how you should proceed with the SEO on your site in 2012. Enjoy!
User Behaviour Matters
It has been talked about for a while, and often speculated on, but since Matt Cutts actually acknowledged it we can now be sure: Google is no longer just looking at what’s on your site and who’s linked to it. Any time they send you any traffic they are also going to be watching what that traffic does and how successful your page is at satisfying it.
What That Means For You
If your page appears in a search result and doesn’t get clicked on as often as it should, then your rankings are going to slip. In short, your page title and description matter more than ever, because these are the bits that display in the SERP’s. Get the meta data right by writing titles and descriptions that get users to actually click on your page and not the result above you. Click-through rate is THAT important.
Additionally, what if a user clicks on your result, but then returns to the search engine and clicks on a different result for the same query? To me that screams to Google that your site didn’t solve the user’s problem, so they tried again. Action plan? Check your bounce rates and navigation paths — there is no good or bad, it all depends on your niche, but one thing is for sure: actively trying to improve usability and bounce rates will help your site and your SEO.
Google Bot Chrome
This has been speculated upon but not proven, though the evidence is compelling (Google it). You know those previews that appear at the side of search results when you hover over them? They show you what a website looks like, and they even show you where the ‘fold’ is on the page.
The scary but amazing conclusion from this and some other evidence and anecdotal study is that Googlebot can actually render a page and ‘appreciate’ how a page actually looks, where content is and which bits have most precedence on the page.
What That Means For You
If your site looks spammy or just poor it might actually hurt you in SEO terms. So if the first thing in your content is a big ad, then Google ‘knows’ that you are prioritizing monetization over user satisfaction. Also, if your navigation looks messy or if your code has errors that make your images overlap your text Google will probably figure that out.
Remember that Google is constantly monitoring user behavior and finding patterns that might indicate good sites or bad sites. So if your site happens to have similar indicators as those found in ‘bad’ sites, you might get pegged as a baddy yourself. Maybe it’s time to review template through fresh eyes and make the necessary improvements.
Anchor Text Engineering Is A Risky Game
More and more Google is cracking down on link building that games the system. Think about it: if 100 sites linked to yours out of the goodness of their own hearts, without you asking them to, what are the chances of having more than a handful of them using exactly the right anchor text?
It’s likely that you might get 10 or 20 links using close keywords, maybe another 20 using vaguely related terms, and the other 60-70 might use ‘click here’, ‘more info’ or just your URL.
What That Means For You
So in reality those numbers will vary wildly depending on the context and maybe for certain pages your hit rate of anchor texts would be much better, but the point is, you are never going to naturally get a ‘perfect’ link profile. So when you try to build a perfect link profile you actually might be hurting yourself more.
The key takeaway here is that you need to vary it naturally, and sometimes that might even mean the occasional non-SEO’d link. There are of course many more intricacies to this which vary from niche to niche, but the focus is on making it natural and ethical; don’t try to game the system because you will lose.
In Summary
What I have discussed here is based on research, logic, SEO biz scuttlebutt, and mostly personal experience. That said, these ideas make sense to me. We can all see the direction Google is heading in, and it is clear that they have the technology available to work this way.
I hope that the ideas above will help you start thinking in a different way about how your site looks, reads, works, etc. Improving your site has always been a good goal to have, but now you have an extra incentive to do so.
And finally, link building is certainly not going anywhere. Quality link building is just as important as ever, it’s just that there are now a few newer and more important concerns to deal with as well.
Thanks for reading! Please use the comments box below to thank me for imparting my wisdom or to hurl abuse at me.
Photo credits: www.dreamtemplate.com, www.techankit.com
The Discussion
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I love the features of the Google chrome browser, however I do still prefer using firefox.
It’s interesting how search is coming back around, somewhat…looking at title and description tags. As far as ‘cracking down on backlinking’, I’m not certain how Google could dramatically change their approach. Regardless, spammers will always find a way.
Yupz, after Google Algorithm update, I started to eliminate some of the ads on my blog and leave only 1 ads
but, SOPA and PIPA maybe the biggest problem for us now…
For me, google chrome is the best when it comes to SEO and it is really user friendly too. It truly amaze me how they make thing simpler
I’ve always disliked websites with all these ads. Glad to hear Google does as well.
I came upon this totally by accident & am glad I did. Going to go thru meta tags & keywords to make sure I’m there.
Thanks!
Nice information.I also work in online marketing and your article absolutely help me.
Thanks for these tips. Surely, to understand google, these will be a big help
Google and Its Updates are not easy to understand,Search Engine Optimizer must be update his/herself from Google new policies to make his website in good results.
This all makes good business sense to me. And it seems that Google is really setting themselves apart by bringing up quality rather than quantity. I’m all for this and always have been. Just “don’t game the system” as you mention and we will start seeing much more quality business sites. Thanks for sharing this very informative info.
Google has made SEO’s life a very challenging one. Updates are almost every quarterly and every update seemed to rack the SEO world. But on the bright side, because of this business owners are obliged to do SEO for their websites because if they can;t keep up with the trend I’m sure they will be on the back pages of Google.
This article is very unusual for me.
Thank you for sharing.
Your article is very helpful.
I’ve heard that Google is constantly working on matching keywords with ads and its quality of content for better search results. For right now I am experimenting with my personal blog using different browsers to make sure it looks as natural but effective as possible.
~Anja~
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I just heard that Google search goes social! So they say they are relying on the +1 rather than the keywords. Hmmm…
As far as ‘cracking down on backlinking’, I’m not certain how Google could dramatically change their approach. Regardless, spammers will always find a way.
Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Seo…
2012 bring us the Social Media Marketing with Seo as Google said.
Forget all old seo works without get quality backlinks !!
Good contents, blogs, social media and seo …this is real in 2012,13,14,15…
Thanks for such a great tips and it really helps me a lot. one more things, it’s almost 4 weeks that I am optimizing my site but still no results, I think my strategy in linbuilding is not effective and I build links 60 to 80 links a day but there is no result in ranking.. Looking forward hearing from you guys regarding on my problem, any suggestions or tips I really appreciate it.. Thanks
link building is not easy as it is actually…as a newbie i really need assistant to do such a thing. your posting was great and i wish this beneficial for my site. all the best.
I think the possible penalty for over optimization has always existed. Overuse of the exact same anchor text has been concern for years and all part of the striving for ‘natural’ looking backlinks.
In fact it’s a huge pointer towards spammy automated services.
Sparkplug, if you’re building links and nothing’s happening, look at the links you’re building or be more patient. SEO wasn’t built in a day.
After Panda Algorithm now page layout algorithm. Google is trying to make web better but at the same time giving a tough time to webmasters. Ads are the one of main source of income for bloggers but this will algorithm might be coming as a big hinderens to it!
I doubt even god knows how Google works behind the scenes.
I was always wondering wether backlinking with ONLY a variation of your targeted keyword would actually look natural to Google – and didn´t worry too much about anchor text… And get my sites to rank anyway!
I totally agree with you! I noticed it also that Google algorithm is slightly changing. I believe backlink is still important but now there are lots to consider in making one. Interesting article, this was a good read.
Well there are several points which site owner have to discuss, actually backlink plays a vital role while doing with SEO. Thanks to Google & ToMakeALiving.
It seems that Google is really setting themselves apart by bringing up quality rather than quantity. I’m all for this and always have been. Just “don’t game the system” as you mention and we will start seeing much more quality business sites. Thanks for sharing this very informative info.
Well there are several points which site owner have to discuss, actually backlink plays a vital role while doing with SEO but it is must to focus other aspects. Thanks to Google & ToMakeALiving.
Well for me or most webmasters the greatest trouble has definitely been the Google Panda Updates.. Lets wait and watch what it brings in for us this year…
In my opinion, it isn’t worth trying to guess what Google will do next or to engineer your website so that Google like the keywords that you’ve used.
Think more about the site visitor. If a human likes your content and links then you can bet that Google will too!
Yes, couple of changes are happening in Google, specially on search. I’ve read an article about Google Search Plus, it’s a search that will enable you to find personal search result along with G+ profiles. As long as changes could add up to SEO deeds, it would be good.
I’m interested how Google perceives an Adsense click. The visitor searches Google, clicks on your site, views the page, sees an interesting Adsense ad and then clicks it. Bounce rate goes up, but so does your Adsense account money. Does Google see this as a negative or a positive for your site overall?
This google’s new algorithm is a bit weird that even one good SEO tools stops functioning well. Many websites are experience different google dance..
Thanks for such a great tips and it really helps me a lot
This was an amazing article about google and will surely help me
Hey…
Nice post containing lots of info about the Google..
But can you explain me the criteria of Google to make page rank….
Thanks….
Nice post. about google seo. I think this will help to improve search engine rankings.
I consider that it is high time, system of dull purchase of ssylkok on a shit sites ustarevaet already.
Although I do not see nothing unusual here, but vsezh thank you for a post interestingly to honour
Finally Google is going toward quality rather than quantity which i really like. This will give a fare chance to the newer websites to rise and get better ranking because now it all comes to the quality of a website. in other words, getting a better ranking is up to the hard work a webmaster does it self not the back-links that are generated by some softwares.
Its all about quality which is great. No more spammy sites with little content. If you want to succeed in the web business you need to satisfy your visitors and provide them with useful content. Great post!
Good post.The Seo trends are changing and so the webmasters have to keep pace with it.Unless we implement the changes,we cant say much but yes we can expect how it will work.After implementation and analyzing results,we can actually know the the trends.
Glad to see a greater step toward quality of content. Unfortunately I feel scammers will always find ways through. I would always recommend to people to be open, friendly and concentrate on good quality articles and content, regardless.
This article great..
I have to do more about SEO
Google is not stupid, although neither are black hats, so it’s an ever changing game.
Great article! This will help a lot thanks!
Thanks for such a great post.It is the to think about quality over quantity.Always write for your readers and try to satisfy them with your contents.
One more vote to google chrome.Mainly due to faster browsing.And abt seo its a never ending game
Such a great post , thanks for sharing this great news.
I recall the story of a big name blogger, John C*** who instructed his readers to all link to him using a particular anchor text, this example of un-natural linking caused the ranking of his blog to submerge for a time, there was another blogger using a parody of his name who actually ended up ranking higher than the original.
The Latest In SEO: What’s New With Google? – The article was very good.
I have learnt a great from your article ‘The Latest In SEO: What’s New With Google”. The very interesting part is Google is monitoring user behavior, which really makes sense because what better way is there of judging the quality of a webpage than by monitoring what the reader’s reaction is to it.
Well its hard to crack Google’s SERP algorithm. Thank you for the article, I wasn’t aware of the fact that the clicks on search results do matter to stay on the list.
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