3 SEO Updates for 2017

1. SEO is now about focusing on user experience: As the search engines become more sophisticated (really? I still can’t find what I’m looking for), they’ve begun changing their algorithms to focus on the user experience, rather than on page rank. For example, in 2015, Google released an update called “Mobilegeddon,” which gives more weight to the mobile friendliness of your site when ranking it. In fact, in a recent report by HubSpot they found that, “websites that aren’t mobile organized had an average of 5 percent decline in mobile traffic.” While that may not seem like a lot, it’s just going to grow exponentially.
2. It’s content, content, content: To improve your search experience, you need to pay attention to metrics like bounce rates, time on page, page views per visit and how far a person scrolls down a page. If your content isn’t good, your metrics will drag down the findability of your site. Investing in good content is like having magnets on your site, bringing in your desired audiences–and keeping them there.
3. How important is that H1 tag?: We just keep arguing about that, don’t we? It seems the current thinking is that your H1 is super important, but not the MOST important thing on your page. That kind of thinking is sort of unsophisticated in general—we know the algorithms are complex and made up of hundreds of factors, so there can’t be “one most important thing.” However, best practices are best practices—use keywords or keyphrases in your H1s.

Make good choices about your SEO in 2017—more people will find your content!