There has been the talk that SEO is dead. As we always maintain, this is far from the truth. Search Engine Optimization is much alive and effective and it’s one of our most popular classes! However, there are a number of things that have changed in the last few years. SEO has always been dynamic and keeps on changing as new knowledge and algorithms appear. So, what has changed in 2017? Here are a few highlights.
Mobile-friendly sites
Google realized that more than 50 percent of searches on its engine are performed on mobile phones. Therefore, it has been pushing for mobile-friendly websites. It is expected that by the end of the year 2018, Google will use a mobile-first index in the ranking of the sites. This includes the desktop users. Those with older sites need to redesign them to make them responsive.
Speed
Speed is also being used as a ranking factor for websites. The faster loading sites are gaining more traction when it comes to ranking. Currently, Google is applying the AMP (accelerated Mobile Pages) to enhance the speed at which the mobile users get the content.
Direct answers
Bing and Google are now showing direct answers to the questions posted by the users. Direct answers are plucked from web pages and appear above the regular list. Google calls the direct answers featured snippets. Most companies are fighting to provide the direct answers that are picked by Google robots for display. This is because many clients will start by clicking on the source website when they see the answers.
Strategies whose importance decreased
Personal and site search history
Google has downplayed the importance of the site’s age and history. This is not something that will bring you higher rankings into the future. While the search engines have not entirely dropped the factor, a lot more other features are being considered before the history makes a change. In the same light personal search history also has little importance nowadays,
Strategies that were dropped
Personal social sharing and Site identity
Google ended its support for Google Authorship which was the major way that identity seemed to have an impact. Google has since retaliated that authorship can be determined by other ways.
In the past few years, Google+ was the primary platform that Google was using for personal social sharing to influence the search results. Google+ continues to exist. However, its impact on the search results is not there anymore. It does not help much to be Google+ than to get traffic to your site.
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Digital Marketing Classes in Minneapolis; registration is now open for our career changing 2017 Fall classes.
Get the most comprehensive Digital Marketing training in the Twin Cities including Google Analytics, PPC (Google AdWords), Social Media Advertising & Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Attend our 4 most popular digital marketing classes, receive your Digital Marketing Certificate, and save $350! Register today for the best Digital Marketing Classes in Minneapolis.
Check our all our Digital Marketing Classes in Minneapolis; taught in-person by industry professionals at our school inNortheast. We’ve been teaching since 2011 and have helped many students get promotions and even land new jobs thanks to our in-depth training. Our classes are not hour-long intros. We will teach you how to properly set up, manage, optimize, report, and use your digital marketing techniques to the fullest with our 10-25 hour long class series.
Google AdWords – Sept 27 & 28, Oct 4, 5, & 12 from 1-5 pm: Learn how to create, manage and analyze high-performing online advertising campaigns. Learn what new features are available in your MCC, see a higher CTR and lower CPC & CPM, and prep for your Google AdWords Certification Test.
Google Analytics – Oct 16, 17, 19, & 20 from 1-5 pm: Learn how to navigate Google Analytics, analyze data and improve your overall business performance and ROI. Learn how to track web visitors and turn those visitors into qualified leads. Analytics is a powerful tool that will help you determine which practices are best for your business in terms of marketing and advertising online.
Search Engine Optimization – Sept 19 & 26 from 1-5: Learn how to make your website work for you! Learn how to optimize your website & landing pages so that they show up higher in search engine results organically.
Social Media Advertising – Oct 11 & 18 from 1-5: Options for advertising through social media channels have changed drastically in the last few years. Learn how to pick which platform is best for your business and how to create effective campaigns including geo-targeting, remarketing, analytics, and much more.
Register today or call Rachael at 612-460-8770 with any questions. We look forward to seeing you in class!
Thanks to everyone who came to Demand Quest for our National Small Business Week 2017 free Google workshops and training to get you on the map! We had a great turnout and we shared a lot of important resources for small businesses to use in their digital marketing strategies. Here are some of our favorite local business resources from #NSBW #AllForSmallBiz:
Also, if you’re sending ads to your website, you want to make sure that it is optimized to convert. Take a look at the website marketing grader tool here: http://marketing.grader.com
Learn how to create, manage and analyze high-performing online advertising campaigns in Google AdWords. Learn what new features are available in your MCC, see a higher CTR and lower CPC & CPM, and prep for your Google AdWords Certification Test.
Options for advertising through social media channels have changed drastically in the last few years. Learn how to pick which platform is best for your business (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram)and how to create effective campaigns including geo-targeting, remarketing, analytics, and much more.
Learn how to navigate Google Analytics, analyze data and improve your overall business performance and ROI. Learn how to analyze reports, track web visitors, and turn those visitors into qualified leads.
Google Tag Manager lets you launch new tags any time with a few clicks, so you never miss a measurement or marketing opportunity. This course will cover the basics of Google Tag Manager, and then we will get hands on with creating our own Google Tag Manager installation.
Get the most comprehensive Digital Marketing training including Analytics, PPC, Social & SEO. Attend our 4 most popular digital marketing classes, receive your Digital Marketing Certificate, and save $300!
Learn how to make your website work for you! Learn how to optimize your website & landing pages so that they show up higher in search engine results organically.
Become an AdWords and Analytics expert, receive your certificate of completion, and get prepped to take your Google Certification tests with this great series!
Learn Google AdWords, Social Media Advertising and Google Analytics. Perfect for small business owners, people new to Digital Marketing and anyone looking to learn introductory online marketing skills.
Learn everything you need to know to harness Google and boost the profitability of all your marketing operations. Dive deep into Google Adwords, Analytics, Social Media Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, and more. Earn your Digital Marketing Certificate and become a master digital marketer!
1. SEOs (& All Companies) Need to Make Everything Mobile-Friendly. Right Now.
Google made a big announcement in November that they are starting to consider mobile rankings as more relevant than desktop rankings. Google says that the majority of their searches now come from mobile so they need to make sure their algorithm mirrors the trend. From Google’s recent blog post: “To make our results more useful, we’ve begun experiments to make our index mobile-first. Although our search index will continue to be a single index of websites and apps, our algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a site’s content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results.” This means that non-mobile friendly sites are going to start being penalized in search engine results. This also means that if your site is not mobile-friendly, it’s time to call your local Search Engine Optimizer because your number one priority in 2017 is to make your site speedy and mobile-friendly. You can check how mobile-friendly your site is here: testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com and they will even send you a detailed report on how to fix any mobile compatibility issues you may have.
2. *Dense Content* Is Now Essential to Cut Through the Content Noise on Social Platforms
Holy overload of information, Batman! As we become more and more like the characters tied to their tech in the creepy yet mesmerizing Netflix series Black Mirror, we continue to post more (as do publishers and businesses) and in return, we have way more to filter through in our newsfeeds. Facebook changed its algorithm this summer to reduce the amount of publisher content that shows up in news feeds so we can see our “friends” stories more often and is currently taking aim at fake news on their streams. Even so, our attention spans keep getting shorter and we need to be bolder and more concise to stand out in an ever-growing ocean of white noise. In response, marketers should realize that dense content is necessary, making every line and every word count.
3. Live Video Streaming May Be a Way to Cut Through The Noise (Until It Isn’t)
Do you want to know what’s happening IRL, right now? Facebook has been pushing their live technology for months with some success, including the first Presidential debate of the season, and since most people have faster Internet and crave in-the-moment content, more and more apps and platforms will also push “live streaming”. Facebook also just announced this week that Two-Person Broadcasting is also coming to Facebook Live. The updated version, which will go live later this summer starting with verified Pages, will now allow for two people in different locations to share a live broadcast. Live been on the upward tick for a couple of years and it will only continue to be utilized in 2017. Will you be live?
4. Mobile May Win in 2017 But Video Ads Will Be Close Behind
Not only do you need to consider going “live”, you should also up your video advertising game. As we get used to more and more live videos in our Facebook feed and Instagram Stories this year, video advertising is expected to amass $13.5 billion in revenue in 2017 – almost double its projected revenue from 2016. If you’re not ready to fully immerse yourself in video advertising, at least make an effort to learn how to use some of Facebook’s video features in the new year. It’s a tool that can help massively increase your social media reach and is well worth the investment. Google also just made Video campaign management easier with AdWords Scripts. They announced on Tuesday that they’re rolling out AdWords scripts support for TrueView and six-second bumper ad which means you’ll be able to programmatically create and manage video ad groups, targeting and other campaign features alongside your Search, Display and Shopping campaigns. The new script support is available for standard YouTube ad campaign types like TrueView in-stream, TrueView discovery and bumper ads – and they’re hoping to eventually expand functionality to additional campaign types like shopping. Check out The Latest YouTube Stats on When, Where, and What People Watch from Think with Google.
5. All Google Ads Will Soon Be Expanded Text Ads.
This isn’t a prediction as much as it is a reality. We’ve been talking about Expanded Text ads for months and your deadline is officially approaching. As of January 31, 2017, AdWords will no longer support standard ads so you will not be able to edit or create standard ads but they will continue to exist alongside the new ads (until Google pulls them at some point in the future). Any ads created after that date must use the expanded ad format. You can read my post on how to easily update your current stand ads to expanded ads and how to optimize them in the new format: http://bit.ly/2cfdU0m
6. Bonus Prediction: The Tech Bubble will Pop Again (We Predict 2018).
Our founder Ted Kozlowski started his career in Silicon Valley and if you’ve ever wondered how insane the start-up industry is, check out this great new book, Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble, by Dan Lyons, who’s a writer for HBO’s Silicon Valley and who is brutally honest about his time at Hubspot (marketing automation software startup) as a “beached white whale” in an overly upbeat, frat/cult-like work environment.
We work with agencies all the time! Let us help your team bridge the gap between traditional marketing education and current technology trends and updates.
We love agencies! We work with agencies across the US and recognize their value. We want to help your team stay current and up to date with the latest digital marketing best practices, technology trends, and software applications. We have found that many employees at marketing and advertising agencies have a great foundation but are missing advanced skills in digital marketing, advertising, and analytics. We’ve actually had DemandQuest students who represent clients meet with agency reps and our students knew a lot more about digital marketing than the reps did. Save your agency that embarrassment and be the most educated team in the room. We want to help your employees bridge the gap so you can continue to offer a comprehensive, well-rounded solution to your clients all while saving you money. We offer a competitive rate for group training that is more cost effective than sending employees to individual classes. Take advantage of our group rate and custom training options, tailored to meet your company needs.
Custom Training in Google AdWords, Yahoo!/Bing Advertising, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & All Social Advertising Platforms, Search Engine Optimization, and More, All Tailored to Meet Your Specific Needs.
Clients know that they need to be online but most of them don’t know where to start or how to be effective, which is why they have engaged you as an agency. We can help ensure that you are creating the most effective online campaigns for your clients utilizing social media, comprehensive analytics, and online advertising. Show your clients tangible data that prove their online marketing efforts are creating conversions.
Make sure that your credentials are up to date when you pitch your next client. Are you employees Google AdWords or Google Analytics certified? Are they “social media experts”? How do you know the level of education and experience your team is bringing to your clients? We will ensure your reps have a full understanding of the technology and platforms that you offer to your clients with your custom digital marketing training.
Call Today for a Customized Experience! 888-336-1314 or email info@demandquest.com
