With all the talk about Google updates recently - that will no doubt continue until Lord knows when - we thought we would take things back to basics. SEO is a constantly evolving beast, and very hard to nail down. But, we've pulled everything we have heard from various experts on the scene to give you what is - probably - the right way to go about things. And if you're a Google search engineer, please feel free to let us know where we are going wrong.
Click through rates matter
Google are going to take click through rates with more seriousness in the not-too-distant future. It makes sense - it’s the ultimate sign of social proof. And, it’s evidence that Google are doing their job by providing a product people use. However, there will be other metrics that they will look at. If people click and leave, you will end up with a high bounce rate. And that’s not a good look. Find a good search engine optimization company who have proven results in converting customers, and you can halt the damage. For now, however, it’s important to make your site as sticky as possible, so you get a few page views each visit at the bare minimum.
Just because Google doesn't like it...
Not so long ago Google's Matt Cutts appeared to proclaim the Gospel about meta descriptions and keywords. To put it simply, he said they have no effect on the search engine rankings whatsoever. However, it can have a big effect on your click through rate. A better description of your site means people that have an interest in what you do will look further, no matter what page you are on. And, if click-through rates are going to be used to judge the quality of your site in the future, then we would hedge our bets against not tending to your meta descriptions.
Keyword rich is keyword poor
No more keyword stuffing - you should know about that one by now. In fact, if you are still keyword stuffing and haven’t noticed you are dropping down the rankings like a stone in water, then you’re probably in the wrong business. But you don’t need exact matches anymore, either. If you are writing about 'corporate accommodation', for example, you will also rank for 'business accommodation'. It's all down to Google's latent semantic indexing. Which is something you should be listening out for in the future
You have to go mobile
If you aren't designing your site so it is mobile-friendly, then Google's going to punish you. It's as simple as that. So make sure you are optimizing your site for mobile, even if it only gets seen by people on desktops. If you don't, you will soon find your rankings tail off. That said, it's an easy enough fix - but the longer you leave it, the harder it will be to pull back.
Care to share any SEO tips or news with us? We’re always on the hunt, so let us know in the comments section.
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