The first quarter of 2015 is almost up. Industry experts
drew out their crystal balls towards the end of last year and made countless
predictions for 2015, some of which have begun to take hold and others we are
yet to see. No doubt staying current is critical to the brand marketer’s
success if incremental wins will be realized for their brands.
Below is a list of important tips that should be at the
forefront of your digital marketing campaign if you want to stay ahead of the curve.
1.
Improving
natural link value
In-bound links have been around for a long time, but now
that even more consideration is being directed at the value and quality of
links, SEO marketers will need to dedicate more effort towards creating and
promoting relevant and value adding content in order to earn branded citation
from high-authority sites. Relevant citation from high-authority sites in
related industries not only improves SEO, it increases brand awareness with the
target market.
2.
Mobile,
mobile, mobile
2014 was important for mobile-targeted digital marketing
techniques, being the year that Internet access on mobile finally outdid
desktop Internet access. This impacted consumer behavior drastically, which in
turn led to a shift in SEO practices.
Mobile search algorithms have a different set of best
practices therefore, it’s important to understand the nature of the mobile
search scene to guide your SEO strategies for 2015. Your success as a brand
will be highly dependent on your ability to deliver superior quality mobile
experiences in an effective manner, coupled with mobile SEO strategies.
3.
Search
fragmentation
The nature of search is shifting from the keywords we’ve
known to long-tail phases, and these are also being fragmented depending on
channel, device and platform. Mobile devices, software apps and Internet
service providers are integrating their own search functions in devices to
offer better service to their audiences, at the expense of search engines
accessible via web browsers. Therefore, SEO will have to include brand
optimization across different platforms and search applications apart from
Google.
4.
Social
engagement and thought leadership
It becomes increasingly important for brands to distinguish
themselves as opinion leaders and experts in their own fields, and this has
become a pivotal aspect of content marketing efforts for most brands. However,
thought leadership cannot get very far apart from social engagement with
relevant/target audiences. The two in combination will lead to greater and more
sustainable success in search ranking optimization.
5.
Long-tail
search traffic
As mentioned earlier, the demand for one- or two-word
keywords is high, which makes SEO efforts very costly. Long-tail keywords have
been shown to give higher relevance and greater conversion for traffic earned
due to the increase in specificity. Brands which know how best to apply
long-tail keywords will notice a shift for the better in their search traffic
and conversion in 2015.
With search surveys revealing as
much as 20% of never-before-seen keyword queries, long-tail keywords open up
the playing field for smaller businesses to compete. This figure is expected to
increase, especially with the increase in occurrence of mobile search over
desktop search. Search engines too are becoming more knowledgeable in
deciphering the intent of long-tail queries, which makes long-tail keyword
focus an avenue worth pursuing in 2015 and thereafter.SEO Marketing trends in 2015 presented by Top3 Media
