SEO is the only topic on the internet that can be very confusing. Whenever you find a solution for an existing strategy, Google creates another algorithm for you to battle. So if you say SEO has changed a lot, this would be an understatement. We often come across a lot of updates per year from Google including last year’s Mobilegeddon and don’t forget how Google’s Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates totally shook up the world of SEO.

SEO has changed so much in the past several years that SEO agencies and marketers aren’t sure what’s current and what’s outdated, what’s important, and what to avoid. This guide is a good reference point for more advanced SEOs. Learn how and act wisely.

#1 Is content the real king?

Content is the backbone of SEO and a mantra that is repeated more often than any other term in the world of SEO, so it is the right place to get introduced. Google always ping its customers, to rank websites, you should focus on creating content. So writing a unique and amazing article is enough to bring your website on top? Content is like a product and even the best products need promotions. Check out the chart here that shows the advertising budgets of some of the world’s biggest brands.

This clearly shows content is the top strategy to get your website in front of the right eyeballs.

#2 Does social signal influence rankings?

Yes, of course, social signals do have a huge indirect effect through the links they can subsequently generate as it drives referral traffic and increased visibility.

#3 Does Google use page loading time as a ranking factor?

A post from Google says that it affects less than 1% of queries, but there can be no doubt that optimizing a site’s load time will definitely be good for both the site’s SEO and also of course your visitors.

#4Imagine ranking your webpage without text content.

Captivatingly, I’m going to contradict what I have just said above…

While for most sites, it is going to be pretty difficult to rank without text content, this can all be trumped when: –

a) The site is an authority/500lb gorilla

b) The page attracts enough links/shares/buzz

#5 Does Google have a team of manual reviewers?

Before we discuss this, you must go through the video given here:

https://youtu.be/Mb3ZiXno4Dw

Here the spam king Matt Cuts himself has discussed the very issue. The things that are likely to trigger a manual review of your site include broken links, duplicate content, adding too much content too quickly, and building links too quickly.

#6 Are keywords in URL and Domain a ranking factor?

Every list of ranking factors has included keywords in the URL, however, the actual difference this makes these days is probably very marginal. Certainly, you shouldn’t spam and should just include two or three keywords maximum. Similar to keywords in URLs, the weighting of keywords in domains as a ranking factor has considerably decreased over the past couple of years.

To make this guide short, we are keeping you excited for the next week. Wait and explore more next week. Till then here is a surprise for you. Google has pushed a core ranking algorithm update over Jan 8th & 9th 2016. Google has confirmed on Twitter that what webmasters were seeing over the weekend was not the Penguin update we are expecting, but rather a core ranking algorithm update.

To get more updates on the latest SEO news and solutions, contact Digital Evolutions

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