Below is a list of the top 7 SEO Best Practices for 2015 so far

The SEO best practices that were popular in 2014 are almost unrecognizable from that of 2010, and earlier, and in 2015, we expect to see even more changes in best practices for the industry. Let us look at what has changed in recent months, what you should expect over the next few years.

If we missed anything important, make sure to add yours in the comments below.

Here are our top SEO best practices for 2015:

1. SEO will focus the technical aspects, while content marketing will act as a driver for higher search engine rankings:

In 2010 and earlier, the terms SEO and content marketing were used interchangeably, which was not surprising as both used to have almost similar characteristics. However, in 2015, and in the coming years, SEO will increasingly take care of the technical aspect of online marketing, while content marketing will drive search engine rankings.

That means SEO will continue to be a valuable part of content marketing. SEO will deal with technical aspects such as keyword research, Meta tags, page optimization, indexing, and penalty recovery. On the other hand, content marketing will become the driver of the search engine visibility.

That means businesses continue to focus on SEO only without having a proper content marketing plan will fail. They need to balance their focus by allowing equal time and energy for SEO as well as the creation and distribution of high quality content if they wish to achieve higher search engine rankings for their web page(s) and site.

2. Sites not optimized for human being and mobile will fail:

Last year (2014), it was obvious that Google was placing more importance on mobile devices. Google used a mobile-friendly icons next to their search result pages, and added a mobile usability section in the Google webmaster tool allowing users analyze how their sites performs on mobile devices.

In just over a year, Google has started to penalize sites that do not properly load on mobile devices. Does that mean mobile usability is one of the factors for search engine rankings? Please comment below!

3. Content is still “King”:

Google latest search engine algorithms puts more focus on content. This means there will be less focus on the keyword saturation on the page and more focus on the readability (easy to read) and relevancy of the content to the keywords.

This means that in 2015, you should focus on generating high quality content that uses relevant keywords, or alternative keywords, in an appropriate way. However, the focus must always be on the content – it has to be easy to read and add value to the readers – than the words itself.

4. ‘Proper’ online security measures will become even more important in regards to rankings: –

If your website uses an online payment system such as PayPal, Credit Card, and any other online payment systems, and handles sensitive customer information (credit card information, account username and password), your site has to user proper security measures to safeguard those information, in 2015.

Using an “https” or security certificates instead of just “http” will help your site grow in the search engine rankings of Google and other search engines in 2105. If you want to confirm the security features of your site, please search whether your web hosting provider or domain registrar for support.

5. Social signals will be essential to elevate your site higher in search engine ladder:

Recent changes in the search engine algorithms have not simply placed more importance on the technical aspects of SEO and the content marketing plan (as described above), but they have also began to depend more on social signals to determine the true search engine rankings of a particular site.

In 2015 and beyond, we are expecting to see both content and social signals overlap, with high quality content getting more social share, which will eventually elevate sites higher in the search engine ladder.

6. “Long tail keyword phrases” will be more important for SEO in 2015

After the 2013 Google’s Hummingbird update, semantic search became a huge issue for many search engine and online marketers. Today, search engines are using meaning, context, and intent of words in a search query to display ‘accurate’ results for their users, instead of simply focusing on matches based on keywords alone.

Instead of keywords, now the focus is more on conversations!

This means that conversational keywords, or long-tail keyword phrases will have more importance for SEO in 2015, and you should definitely start optimizing your web pages that will enhance communication with your audience.

Related article: How not to do SEO

7. Visual elements on your page will get more priority on SERPs:

In 2015, there will more visual-based SEO.

Original content that features rich text media such as images, graphics (infographics), and videos will become high performing assets for higher search engine rankings in 2015, as it did throughout 2014.

Rich text elements will get more priority in SERPs than sites that only just text. Likewise, video marketing on social sharing sites such as YouTube will generate more social shares and backlinks to your sites.

Related article: 5 Unlikely Sources to Generate HIGH PR Backlinks

SEO Best Practices for 2015: Conclusion

The Internet is a huge thing in how marketing is done these days, and keeping up with the recent best SEO practices and trends is very important to keep yourself ahead of your game. This is even true when ‘traditional’ push marketing are being replace by more cost-efficient inbound marketing tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), that drives ‘targeted’ traffic to you as opposed to outbound marketing where you market to the masses hoping you reach the ‘right’ audience.

Make sure you bookmark this page as your SEO best practices for 2015!