SES 2012 Recap: The Future of SEO

SEO—Searching for Answers

This past November in Chicago, I attended the SES Conference & Expo, an annual gathering of marketers, brand advertisers, and agency professionals. The event is a can’t-miss opportunity for anyone who works in digital marketing, social media, content development, and especially search engine optimization (SEO). The latter topic was clearly foremost in the conference consciousness, because there were at least five sessions a day devoted to cracking the search code: SEO and keyword basics, link-building best practices, the most useful SEO tools, the search/social dynamic, local search strategies; the list goes on and on. As the digital landscape continues to evolve and our appetite for new content grows more insatiable, search engine marketers and SEO specialists are preoccupied with one question: What does the future of SEO look like?

The Future of SEO

On day two of the SES Conference, I attended a keynote session presented by a panel of experts from some of the most prestigious search marketing firms in the world. The topic—”SEO 2013: The Future of Search.” The discussion addressed everything from the importance of tracking your web stats, to the explosion of new social networks like Pinterest, to Google’s changing rules. In all that talk, I jotted down three predictions that seemed especially relevant to continued search success. Keep these tips in mind as you develop your 2013 SEO strategy:

1. TO GET FOUND WITH SEARCH, YOU GOTTA BE SOCIAL—Google and other search engines are paying more attention to social media in 2013 than they ever have before. Your odds of getting found through search go up the larger your social network is. In fact, some experts are predicting that social activity surrounding your brand (how many people are talking about it and how often) will be as important to search success as standard SEO practices like link building and good keywords. So get social! And see tip #2 for how to leverage those networks.
2. FRESH CONTENT IS KING—Yes, your website is awesome (especially if it was designed and built by MorningStar Media Group). All the text is fully optimized with great keywords; all your images have relevant alt tags. According to SEO rules of the past, you’ve done everything you can do. Unfortunately, these rules no longer apply. Of course you still need great keywords in your text and search-ready images, but now you also need FRESH content on a regular basis. And you need to share that content throughout your networks. Write blogs, post new images and videos, run contests—in other words, don’t be static. Engage with your audience constantly, and in doing so, you’re training them to find you.
3. MEDIA MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE—Studies show that adding media (images, video, infographics) to posts you create in your social network can increase audience engagement by 77%. We’ve all grown so used to status updates that contain a song lyric, a boring remark about the traffic, or a pithy quote that we simply do not pay attention to them anymore. Your followers want to consume media, and if it’s good, they’ll share it in their networks, which is a HUGE bonus for your search results. Remember tip #1—you want people talking about you, and great media is the way to start that conversation. ajmalseotips.blogspot.com