For the last 5 or more years, I couldn’t pick up a newsletter or ezine without finding an article about search engine optimization. That is, until now.
Ten years ago, we focused on adding meta tags to our websites to get them ranked. Five years ago, it was about linking strategies. Then content became king. And with each change, SEO specialists like myself adapted. So how to you drive traffic to your site today?
The evolution of search today has taken on a real time emphasis. Looking for the news? Today the news finds you. Of course, you want the latest information on whatever you are searching for. Nothing is more frustrating than going to a website and finding information from 2006. Even if it’s still pertinent, chances are you will go on to a more current site.
Real search or live search focuses on delivering the most recent information. And that information is frequently not from a website. The most recent information is more likely a blog post or even a Twitter tweet. Yes, I said a Twitter tweet. Here’s a good example:
A Google search for “Iceland Volcano” resulted in a section for Latest News – that contains a live feed changing every few seconds. The listing below shows results from just minutes before.
Twitter Results in Google
Directly below the Latest News is a section for Video results that displays YouTube videos of the Iceland Volcano. What every happened to the Google we all knew that took 90 days to get your site found?
Video Results - YouTube
So should you abandon your website for a blog, Twitter account and YouTube channel? Not yet. I look at the social media like a big funnel. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube should be funneling people to your blog and your blog should be funneling people to your website, where browsers can find out details about you and your business and hopefully take action (but that’s another topic).
Another reason you can’t abandon search engine optimization (SEO) and your website is the permanency of social media. You might be ranking well with your current article, post, tweet or video, but as more recent media are found, yours will either drop in ranking or disappear all together. So you website is the anchor. A well designed, search engine optimized website should remain fairly stable (even in competitive keywords.) For example, search for “Tucson Interior Design” in Google. Of the top 4 results, 3 of the sites are ones that were optimized by 800biz.com several years ago. With little or no changes, these sites have maintained their top ranking consistently.
So for now, SEO is still alive and kicking. But today, you there are more pieces of the online marketing puzzle to put together.
Gary Wagnon and 800biz.com specialize in website design, hosting, search engine optimization and social media marketing for small and medium businesses.