SEO & Online Marketing Strategies for 2015

By now it's clear that the only constant in SEO is change. This can be confusing to people just entering the online scene, who receive vastly different advice depending on when that advice hails from (hint: don’t heed anything older than two years). However, the ever-mutating demands of SEO can also weigh heavily on those who’ve been in the online marketing world for a long time and must constantly adjust to its ever-mutating demands.

With a new year rolling in, it’s once again time to figure out which SEO and marketing strategies will pay off in 2015, and which will go the way of the dinosaur. Is it overwhelming? Sure. Is it useful knowledge? You bet. Instead of hiding and playing the same game you’ve always played, absorb this advice and apply it to your online marketing strategy. Early adoption will put you ahead of the curve, with concurrent increases in your customer base and profits, so why wait?

Go Mobile or Go Home

Let’s face it: mobile is here to stay. If you’re pursuing a purely desktop strategy, tsk tsk. Not only are more customers than ever performing searches and purchasing from smartphones and tablets, but consumers put a lot of stock in how well your mobile site functions. In fact, 57 percent of users will not recommend a company if it has a poor mobile site, reports Search Engine Journal, adding that 85 percent of users prefer native mobile apps to mobile websites.

Become One With Your Link Profile

Your link profile is one of the most important assets you have when it comes to building a good online presence. For SEO purposes, there is no better way to spend your time than in trying to build a great link profile. So just what is a link profile? It’s the list of all the links that lead back to your site. High-quality links from trusted sites count in your favor, while spammy, meaningless links count against you. Where possible, try to cultivate relationships with other sites that will link back to you, and spread the love: one link from a site is enough, and twenty more from the same site won’t improve your rankings.

Unfortunately, you can’t do much to control how other sites link back to you. You can, however, remove low-quality backlinks that you or your company may have built in the past. Links through article directory sites, for instance, do not hold much water now, and may even hurt you with the new algorithms Google has been rolling out, so wherever possible, remove those.

Increase Focus on Social Media

It’s time to stop seeing social media as a chore and start viewing it as an excellent tool for customer engagement. Oh, and it will help your SEO too. Google is now throwing some serious weight behind Twitter and Facebook, so in addition to using these channels for customer service, use them for constant engagement too.

Create the Best Website Using 2015 SEO Trends

You might be confused about the difference between homepage and landing page, so here’s a crash course. A landing page is somewhere you send people to from somewhere else. Think the link you put in your Facebook or Twitter post in hopes of driving traffic. And your homepage is still, thankfully, just your homepage. For most people, though, your homepage is your landing page, the place people will flock to when they find out about you, so it better be good. Include your value statement and purpose right up front, as well as your city and state in the H tags.

Cultivate Brand Mentions and Citations

It used to be that links were everything, but that’s no longer the case. Web bots now also give credit to the brand mention or “implied link,” which is a mention of your brand or company without actually linking to your page. According to Forbes, Google is placing higher emphasis on these in response to link abuse as they are “are less likely and less easy to be manipulated for the purpose of achieving higher search rankings.” These brand mentions and no follow links are gaining importance in 2015, so you should work on cultivating a widespread presence and good relations with reputable marketing partners.

Remember that Content Is Key

As stated above, you cannot control what other sites do with your URL. However, you can encourage quality links by providing relevant content that other good websites will want to use in theirs. Don’t be spammy with your keywords, but use them, both in text and in headings. Offer value to readers above all else. And since the freshness of links counts, you should provide a constant stream of new content. Additionally, you can create evergreen content that will stay good for a few years or more. These tips and others will help you adapt to the changing face of the SEO landscape.

Utah Internet Marketing

We are passionate about getting SEO right the first time. Whether you’re looking to rank a website locally or nationally, we can help your business. Utah SEO Pros provides professional on-going SEO Services, Web Design, PPC Management, Social Media Optimization, and More! If are looking for more clients or exposure, Call 801-413-7734 or visit the Utah SEO Pros website for more information.