2019 SEO: A Game of Poker with Google
As most would expect, SEO will be changing this year. As Google continues to downplay traditional SEO with the increase in no-click searches (searches answered without the need to click for more answers) and voice searches with Amazon Echo and Google Home, industry professionals must change their game plan to focus on their website’s strengths and prepare for the new additions in user search technology.
This week, Mike Murray from Content Marketing Institute explains how you can break down your strategy into a Poker Game with Google as your dealer. At this virtual table, you are playing against thousands who all looking to win Google Rewards. Each targeted keyword phrase is a hand and every time an new keyword is targeted, Google deals you a new set of cards. Instead of the cards being random as they are in Poker, your cards are associated with what your website brings to the table. In order to receive the best hand and ultimately rewards from Google, you have to recognize and double down on your SEO strengths.
In Mike’s article, he shows us how to structure your SEO strategy to put you in the best position to receive the most ideal hands by covering ranking factors starting with Domain and Page Authority. Competition for audience engagement is intense. Just posting and sharing content to your social profiles and email lists will not amplify your content to reach the next level. What you need to focus on are shares and backlinks. Are you augmenting your strategies to produce more shares and backlinks? Mike mentions another CMI article covering the best strategies to amplify your content and steadily grow your audience here.
Next, Mike goes on to mention Content and Website Size followed by On-Page Essentials. Quality is always paramount when creating content, but if you are able to produce a high quantity while making it helpful, insightful, and entertaining, you will be set up for success. The argument for quantity + quality is pushed again when Mike mentions that larger websites with more pages have a much better chance of ranking higher than smaller websites with only 5-10 pages. This is because Google can recognizes serious players by the size of their website. As Mike will point out in his case-studies, administrators must go the extra mile to make sure that their on-page structure is set up for Google to reward them. Adding H1 tags to headers, creating SEO Page Meta Titles and Descriptions, and customizing Page URLs to be concise will all be taken into account when your cards are dealt.
To further back his insight, Mike compares three websites and points out what they are doing right and where they can improve to position themselves to receive the best rewards from Google through 2019.
To conclude, Mike mentions one last point to help wrap our heads around what to focus on. It’s not about understanding Google, it’s about understanding users. To see the full article click here.
