3 Predictions About the (Near) Future of SEO

By Scott Cohen

If there’s one sure thing about SEO, it’s that the game constantly changes. One year, keywords are all the rage. Then it’s more about context and content. Who can keep up when it’s ever evolving?

Here are a few predictions about where SEO is heading...at least for the moment.

1. Inbound links are key, but only the right ones.

We’ve long known that having links from quality sites is essential to boost a site in search engine results. But Google and other search engines are getting picky about what constitutes as “quality.”

Rather than a site simply ranking high on Moz’s Domain Authority or Alexa, it’s now (and will continue to be) essential that the sites that link to yours be relevant to your content. So if you sell pet supplies, spend your time looking for ways to get links from pet blogs and other industry sites rather than generic online publications, even if the latter rank higher.

Realize, though, that not all inbound links are created equal. Those that are “do follow”--meaning that search engines can crawl the links to connect back to your site--are gold, but getting harder to get. Many top-tier sites only offer “no follow” links in an effort to not bring down their own search ranking by linking to less popular sites. You can always ask site owners which type they use.

Google may still count a no follow link as SEO-worthy, depending on where it is placed on a page. If it’s in the footer, it’s less valuable than if it’s smack dab inside a relevant article.

Tip in Action: Guest blogging is a fantastic strategy to get high quality, relevant links back to your site. Even if the link is no follow, you are branding yourself as an expert in your field, and people can click the link in your bio to learn more about you.

2. Keyword optimization will shift to being topic-driven.

Including targeted keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, image tags, and tags hasn’t lost its importance, but there’s a move toward being centered around topics and ideas, not specific keywords.

While yes, you should continue to place appropriate keywords in each of these fields for a web page or blog post, think of the bigger picture: what is this page/post about, and how can you relay that through semantically natural language?

Tip in Action: If you’re stumped on how to fill out these fields effectively, see what your competitors are doing, then do it better.

3. Mobile SEO will be a thing (if it’s not already).

We know that we’ve passed the tipping point in terms of people spending more time on mobile devices than desktops, but what does that mean for your SEO efforts?

For the most part, the focus has been more on user experience for mobile than actual SEO, but there are a few things to consider. Given the confined space of a mobile web screen, it’s important to scale down your descriptions and title tags to fit. If you’re a local business, make sure to include geographic terms to help those millions of people searching for businesses on their phones find you. And yes, make sure your site is mobile friendly and takes advantage of mobile features like click-to-call and maps.

Tip in Action: Spend some time on your site on a few different mobile devices. Pay attention to how the description renders (does it get cut off?) and how easy it is to navigate. Based on your findings, make tweaks for improvement.

Every business owner benefits from staying on top of how SEO evolves. For the most part, focusing on value and relevant content will get you far. For the rest, these predictions and tips should help you stay well ranked.