In recent years, Google has given greater importance to websites that provide quality content, and have good reviews and social media presence. These factors are considered “social signals” by Google, which help to drive traffic to a website. As a result, the importance of backlink volume and purely organic forms of search query have decreased. Instead, new signals like social signals and content have gained prominence. Listed below are some of the key changes that have impacted the growth of SEO in recent years.
Google’s latest update, called Vince, boosted the rankings of big brands and increased the trust of its algorithm. It also improved site indexing speed, a key ranking factor for the search engine. In 2010, Google announced that site speed is a ranking factor. In 2009, Microsoft launched Bing, a competitor to Google, and the Open Directory Project joined forces to produce more relevant search results. These changes impacted SEO practices significantly.
Although backlinks are still an important factor in SEO, their importance has shifted dramatically. The search engine giant has been constantly tweaking its algorithms, and marketers need to get smarter about their SEO strategies. The days of building mass quantities of backlinks are gone, and businesses need to take a more holistic approach to content distribution, including PR and strategic outreach opportunities. There is no longer any such thing as a perfect strategy.
