What’s Important in SEO in 2015

The Internet is constantly evolving and so too is Search Engine Optimisation. For a successful website it’s essential to keep up-to-date with these changes as ranking factors that may have been key last year might now have taken a back seat. As we enter the second half of 2015, here is a look at the most important factors in SEO this year.

Content
It may seem an obvious choice to start with but it comes as no surprise that content has and always will be essential in SEO. This is definitely still true in 2015 and the key focus this year should be on producing high quality content rather than just including the keywords. Overall user experience and quality is now a strong factor in ranking so craft your site to be relevant, user friendly and full of well-structured quality content.

Mobile Optimisation
Although mobile optimisation is far from a new concept it is becoming more important in 2015 than ever before. It is hard to come by someone who doesn’t own a smartphone or tablet of some kind and it is changing the way people get their information from the web.

With Google announcing earlier this year that more of their searches took place on mobiles rather than desktops, it is no wonder that search engines now include mobile friendliness as a ranking factor, so make sure your website is optimised for mobile use if it is not already.

Social Media
Just as the amount of smartphone users has boomed over the years so too has social media and its importance in SEO. Although in the past it has been seen as more of a success factor, it is possible that social signals could gain weight as a ranking factor. Be sure to keep up the social reputation of your site as gaining organic links will help determine your authority.

Links
Links are definitely playing a part in SEO importance this year, however the focus has moved more to the content quality and relevance of those links. Search engines will see your site as more trustworthy if it is linked to other high quality websites. As well as this, the more authority the site holds the better so building links with related branded websites will increase your chances of ranking.

It definitely is quality over quantity on this one though as too many links and your website may be seem as spam so try to keep the balance right.

Conversational Searching
2015 is seeing a shift away from standard keyword searching and move towards a more conversational style. More and more people are now asking search engines full questions rather than just typing in the essential words and your site should reflect this. This emphasises again the importance of ensuring your content produces relevant and high quality answers to the user’s questions.

Site Security
Making sure your site is secure should be top of your priorities. Search engines are not going to benefit from directing users to spammy sites, so this year Google are pushing the importance of good security by making it a ranking factor. Your site should be ran on HTTPS rather than HTTP as this ensures it cannot be hacked.

It is crucial to recognise that although these may be the most significant factors for 2015, there are hundreds more and SEO is always evolving and changing. The most important thing to remember is to keep up to speed with these changes and always focus on creating a bigger and better experience for the user.