For those of us who have been in business for a while it can be easy to forget that search engine optimization (SEO for short) is a relatively new phenomenon. It feels like it’s been around forever. In reality, though, it was only a couple of decades ago that forward-thinking entrepreneurs started looking for ways to be more prominent on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
In those early days you could get tons of traffic to a website just by optimizing pages for keywords and inbound links. Things have gotten a lot more complicated since then. In 2024, there are two big principles that drive search engine optimization innovation: narrow authority and engagement signals.
Today’s post will take a closer look at each one…
The Importance of Narrow Topical Authority
As the internet has gotten bigger and bigger, there has been more and more information for search engine spiders to crawl. It’s estimated that Google’s automated software tools look through billions of pages each week.
In order to separate sites and pages from one another, particularly when topics are similar or related, search engine programmers have to dial down to specificity. That means examining not only a page of content, but also the context in which it falls. Does the rest of the site have similar search phrase groupings? Are the grammar and tone consistent? How recent is the content, and is the creator located close to the searcher?
As more and more factors weigh into search engine rankings, it’s up to marketers to focus and tightly on their most important audiences. In other words, you want to make your website as specific as it can be without making your focus so narrow that it doesn’t appeal to anyone.
The better job you do of this, this easier it will be to get Google to notice your content.
Why Engagement Signals Matter
Not only has the web grown, but marketers have gotten more sophisticated. Quality web content was easy to identify when no one is actively optimizing their pages. Now it can be tough for automated tools to tell the difference between a highly informative page in one that is simply built up to appear as if it were.
After more than a decade of adjusting for things like keyword density and inbound links strength, Google is starting to approach the problem from a different angle. Now it is looking at human interactions to judge content strength. If lots of people visit a page, or view an article, that’s a positive signal. If most searchers click away immediately then that’s a sign of a low-quality search result.
The takeaway for marketers is that optimizing content for search engines is no longer the only priority. It might not even be the most important step. Instead, you have to put together articles, videos, and resources that appeal to your customers first. Then, their actions will lead more people to find what you’ve posted online.
Are Your 2024 SEO Campaigns Producing Measurable Results?
There are a lot of companies out there pushing outdated and ineffective search engine optimization strategies. There are also a few that have interesting and innovative ideas that haven’t been proven in the real world. What most business owners and entrepreneurs need is a partner who can stay ahead of the curve while still delivering results. And specifically, the kinds of results that make a difference in the bottom line.
That’s where we come in. If you want to know what a working and profitable SEO campaign in 2024 looks like, then we need to talk. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation! See what we have been able to do for other business owners just like you.
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