SEO has become more challenging in 2014

The basics of SEO never change. Create unique and good content, your users will definitely like to come back to your site. In recent few years, Social Media is becoming new SEO as it's more people-targeted rather than page-targeted (like Google). But still, search engines are quite powerful. Whenever I need to look for some information, I go to Google or Wikipedia. So, search engines like Google and Bing will still rule for years. You just need to make sure your content reaches these search engines in a proper manner.

 

Google wants all SEO to establish relation with users not search engine the main motive is to focus on users interest if our website satisfy users that Google definately promote us.

 

SEO technique is not change but changed the way of Google search after Hummingbird updates.

 

Yes totally agree with you Actually Now we need to do the smart work. Matt cuts says Guest blogging is spam now but we need natural links so now we need smart work. https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/natural-links.2715656/ check this discussion and you will get your answer.

 

By the way, it's the only way for new webmasters to have a chance to get a good ranking on their websites. This way, we should always be up to date with everything in the SEO industry and follow all rules!

 

The sad thing is that the websites with the best, most relevant content should occupy the first page of search results. But they often don't, and that's because (1) the search engines are still imperfect and (2) the web world is still full of SEOs working harder to game the system than they are working to put outstanding content on the internet. Hopefully, five or ten years from now the search engines will be sufficiently sophisticated that we will look back and laugh at the days when we worried about "search engine optimization," because good content will be (finally) scoring consistently at the top.

 

Just let me sum it up! At the end of the day no matter how often Google Algorithms are updated if your content stands out from the crowd will definitely keep your website strong. Always focus on giving in depth content which will be highly valued by your prospects. Add great infographics, images, videos that will boost up your content.

Always look at the sites and learn how they rank, it's not 100% due to the backlinks! The content that provides great solutions that plays the vital role! Focus on getting your website/blog enriched with valuable content!

 

Google is moving towards local results to get you the best information. We will have to concentrate on local backlinks and registering our businesses with local websites, directories and publications.

 

Content with high quality will help in keeping our sites top of search engine.

 

Everybody, please stop drinking the Cutts kool-aid. Google is about ranking sites for "natural" looking relevant AUTHORITY for sites and pages, not "high quality" content. Same bottom line, five years ago, now, or years from now. They created PageRANK, after all, not QUALITYRank, as a metric for measuring the authority of sites and pages. The algo tweaks Google has been doing seek to check for sufficiently "natural" content or link development, NOT for "quality."

Quality only enters in as a contributing factor in developing the authority of a site, but is not the overwhelming factor. A mediocre article on WebMD will outrank an outstanding medical article on a small site for the same keywords, that's just a fact. The future of effective ranking will continue to involve linking from other high authority sites/pages, or buying expired domains that have pre-existing authority. Authority, determined by multiple factors, is what ranks, not "quality."

 

I am totally agreed with Jim CONTENT are the keys these days....

 

You either adapt to changes or you die, its simple.
I have been performing SEO before Google on Yahoo and boy oh boy, when Google came along it was heaven sent and pretty easy to rank websites.
For any SEO that knows they're salt doesn't listen too much to Google but is aware of things that they say concerning updates and changes.
We have all been black hat at some time, what worked before was white hat but Google changed the goalposts somewhat.
A good SEO works on trial and error and now that Google doesn't show you immediate changes you make, patience is one of the main things a good SEO and there clients need, there is no googledance anymore lol.
You can still rank on competitive keywords but this takes a lot more patience and time and more money as link building will require purchasing links, ooh I said a naughty word.
I still do the same on page SEO I did 12 years ago with no problems. My rule of thumb is if nothing is not hidden, You will have no problems at all as long as keyword density is good and natural.
The biggest change for me was EMD's which did affect me a little but under-optimisation and link anchor keys sorted this.
I still hate Google though.

 

No, back links are still the most important ranking factor, yes good content helps but with good quality back links your site will succeed.
Google wants to see a mixture of links spread across your pages, if the backlinks all link to your homepage with the same anchor text, your in trouble.
I still hate Google though.

 

Unfortunately, probably true. I write what I hope others would consider high-quality content (I have an earned doctorate in the niche of my website - www.jimfeeney.org). BUT (confession time) I have not been as diligent as I could have been to build high-quality back links over the years. So yes, I agree with seowayne, that at least right now (2014), the mantra is "good content," but high-quality back links are still a major factor (maybe the major factor) in ranking.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I long for the day when the search algorithms are sufficiently sophisticated that they can genuinely evaluate the quality of the content and make that the #1 issue in ranking. One can only hope!

 

Absolutely Jim. Your website can have high quality content loads of social media likes, tweets and more and still struggle in the serps.
Back links are the backbone of the internet if you want to be popular enough to rank these days.
Let's see what happens in the next few months as Google roll out this soft panda update.
I still hate Google though.

 

Google only want that people who are doing the SEO, they are doing a quality work.

 

Seo define time by time. And its good. All spamming almost control. Content is still king in Seo. And for traffic we need to do social media marketing.

 

this will get tougher because there's a great deal of opposition as well as progress, nevertheless, you can certainly state that with regards to everything, the reality is how the folks that won't be able to adapt to your improvements decrease from the battle, rather than just throughout seo.

 

On the personal level, I fully agree. If we're not adding good-quality content to the internet, we're just making it a bigger garbage heap than it already is.

On the practical, 2014 rankings level, high-quality, relevant links are probably still king. Here's a hypothetical example: let's say I post on my website a poorly-written, error-filled article on engineering. Yet for some strange reason M.I.T. and Cal Tech post links from their .edu websites to my article, you can bet my lousy article will shoot toward the top of the rankings because of those two high-powered engineering school links.

 

Some sort of. As Google gets wiser and wiser, black hat practitioners double their effort in order to succeed ranking their sites or create some new tricks in ranking. They will, they have too. Black hat or even gray hat SEO will never die as long as there is Google.

Yes SEO has become harder (for lazy people) because it has made "quality" the best word for 2014. When I meant quality it involves creating long engaging link-worthy articles, a creative slideshow presentation, or an eye-catching infographic filled with very good information... which only few people have decided to do.