Wow, in just few days we will leave 2013 behind already and I’m making myself ready for 2014. I’ve been (again) very busy with a lot of online and offline endeavors for the past months and I’m forgetting to update BlogDeManila.com.
I’ve been busy training for my run ( yes, I’m into Fun Runs and Marathons) for the whole year! So, I’m calling it quits, well temporarily. I’m taking a break and let my body absorb and enjoy all the food this season. 
It’s already my off-season for the rest of the month until the year ends. I’m just taking it easy and relaxing.
While doing this, I forced myself to study SEO for 2014. Looking at various online resources and listening to a lot SEO, experts and of course reading the mind of Google (specifically Matt Cutts), I was able to compile the five (5) most important steps you need to do if you want to be ahead in your SEO for 2014. You can arrange them in no particular order but personally I want to organize them from the least to the most important. Again, this is my personal preference only.
Here are the Top 5 SEO Tips For 2014
5. Load Speed for Mobile
Tablets and smartphone are already the main medium of most internet users. According to the latest report of IDC (International Data Corporation), PC boom is over as tablets and smartphones is now taking the lead. With broadband and wi-fi in almost every corner of all major cities around the world, speed matters really matter, we are an impatient society, it’s the same when you’re in the queue to use a cash-point, if you’re waiting too long you might well leave and find another available cash-point. A slow loading website is not going to help with your rankings, particularly in mobile.
4. Content
Content will still remain as king for SEO but not just any content. Content is still going to be bigger than ever for 2014 and the same rules apply, keep it relevant, regular and readily available via social sharing! A just about every SEO article/infographic/video you see bangs on about content marketing being HUGE and I think by now we all know how important it is so I won’t delve in to it again… for a while. The key here, anything worthwhile to share will surely gain the interest of not only the readers but search engines as well.
3. PPC (Pay-per-click)
I was having a little doubt on this when I’ve read on some Google blogs that PPC doesn’t have any effect on the page ranking. Maybe yes, but still if you have the right $$$ to bid a keyword then pretty much that your ads campaign will be on the first SERP! Furthermore, it might be worth investing a little bit more in PPC next year so that you have access to restricted keyword data via Google AdWords and the keyword planner. Since the keyword planner replaced the keyword tool the only way to access keyword data is by becoming an advertiser and using PPC on Google AdWords. If you’re thinking about trying out your first PPC campaign in the New Year then this is just another reason why you might want to give it a go!
2. Mobile
If you have noticed, I already mentioned the load speed for mobile. And why am I listing it again here? Well, the first one is about the speed of loading but on our no.2 it’s more about how the readers view your site in their tablets, smartphones and other mobile gadgets. Mobile will play a HUGE role in 2014; the hummingbird update was just a glance of things to come. A mobile optimised website really needs to be your main priority for 2014 and moving forward you need to design your website for mobile first and then think about desktop afterwards. You can do this in two ways – ensure you have a responsive design which changes to fit the screen size the user is viewing it from or create a mobile version of your website in addition to your desktop one. The latter option enables you to leave out irrelevant elements of your desktop version. However the responsive option means that whatever screen size the user is viewing your website on it will still be user friendly and it will adapt to fit your needs.
Tip: If you are using WordPress on your site, I will recommend you to try HeatMap AdAptive Theme. It’s the best responsive WordPress them out there. I’m using it on most of my money sites. It’s actually just as simple as plug-and-forget. Your site will be optimized for Mobile instantly!
1. Google+
Look at any Google’s SERP and you will surely see those are on top have thousands if not hundreds of Google+ on their profile. Moz recently confirmed in their study of ranking factors that Google+ does affect SEO ranking. Since Google is the number 1 search engine, it has also the authority to use Google+ as a ranking signal. Social media will be playing an even more important role in 2014 with the introduction of things such as Facebook Graph search and of course the value of Google+ and Google Authorship. Social signals such as ‘likes’ ‘shares’, instagrams, pinterest, retweets and other social signal all add up to determine your ranking factor based on social, but +1’s from Google will be an even bigger game player for future. If you’re not on Google+ then now is the best time to get on there! Fill-up your social profile!
I hope this post of mine will help you to reach your page ranking goal for the 2014 and beyond. SEO is not an easy task, but with the right information you can be sure that you are always one step ahead of your competitors. The question now is, when can you be ready? Act now!
