How Have SEO Changed In The Last Five Years And What Can You Expect In The Future?

There is only one constant thing: change!

The same is the case with WordPress. It is a constantly evolving software. Every other day, new features are added. The functionality of WordPress websites is regularly being augmented.

One such component of WordPress that has changed over the years is its plugins. Numerous WordPress plugins exist, and new plugins are being introduced every now and then.

This makes one wonder, what is the difference between old and new WordPress SEO plugins?

Come, let’s explore this!

The most important SEO plugin developments in the last five years are:

• Keyword stuffing is no more acceptable

  Previously, it was a common perception that the more you stuff your WordPress website with keywords, the more is the chance of it having a higher search engine ranking. For instance, if you have a WordPress food blog and you stuff it with all the relevant keywords, it is more likely that your website will receive high traffic.

  This perception is no longer valid. Google has revised its search engine ranking criterion. Now, it doesn’t give a higher ranking to websites that are overloaded with keywords. In fact, it penalizes them.

  Google gives a higher ranking to only those websites that offer relevant and interesting content to the visitors. If your website is able to engage visitors, it will get a higher SEO ranking. The new Google SEO criterion is as simple as this!
  

• Only backlinks matter

  About five years ago, you needed A LOT of backlinks for your website. It did not matter what these backlinks are about and how relevant they are to your website. All that mattered was the quantity of these backlinks.

  Now, things have taken a turn. Google has rolled out its Penguin update. After this update, Google not only considers the number of backlinks but also their relevance to your website. In fact, now more emphasis is on quality rather than quantity. If you have only one backlink on your website, but it is of high quality, it is way more beneficial than having 100 backlinks on your website that are irrelevant. See more on link building for WordPress websites.

• Page rank has lost its importance

  Page rank was considered to be extremely significant. Google algorithm is used to decide the page rank of websites.

  However, now Google algorithm doesn’t give much importance to page rank. It is no longer considered important.

  Now, page authority has become more important. The quality of domains matters more. If your business website has high-quality backlinks, then it will automatically rank higher.

• Quantity of words in the content

  Previously, even in terms of content, the number of words mattered more than the quality of words. Even a web page that had 500-800 words was used to get a good search engine ranking. Quality was not taken into consideration.

  After the Web panda update was rolled out, 2416 became the average word count that was needed to get a good search engine ranking. However, only those pages that have a good quality 2416 word count receive a good search engine ranking.

  Once we get to compare the past with the present, we are left wondering what will become of the future?

  Let us shed some light on it too!

  

• Content discovery is shifting to mobile phones

  Previously, web browsing was mostly done on the computer. Now, it has shifted to mobile phones. Most people browse websites on the phone. This has also given rise to e-commerce too.

  One of the reasons for this change is the rise in the number of mobile users. This has also given rise to the concept of mobile media marketing. Statista has predicted that mobile internet penetration is likely to grow globally in the coming years.

  Even on mobile phones, applications are more widely being used. According to a report by Business Insiders, smartphone users spend most of their time on social networking apps and messaging apps.

  This clearly means that in the near future, these apps will be most widely used for content discovery.

  So, is your business prepared for it?

  If not, HIT US UP NOW!

• The role played by links is changing

  Links were important, are important, and are most likely to remain important in the future. However, it will no longer be possible to play around with Google. After all, over the years, Google has become smarter.

  Now that Panda and Penguin search engine algorithms are effective, it is no more possible to fool Google. Hence, you can totally expect that a few years down the lane, it will become impossible to manipulate Google.

  It is time to find quality links for your website. Or else, in the coming time, your organic traffic will drastically decrease.

• Social media sites and search engines are being used interchangeably

  Search engines have been around for way longer than social media sites. Yet, when it comes to SEO, social media sites have now become totally at par with search engines.

  Taking this into consideration, it is very likely that social profiles will be used for website indexing in the future. They have the tendency to serve in this capacity. This will lead to the integration of social media sites and search engines.

  Recently, Google and Twitter have partnered. Tweets that are tweeted from authoritative twitter handles will be indexed by Google.
  

Conclusion

Change is inevitable. No one can stop it. The best bet to deal with any and every form of change is to adapt to it.

The same holds true for changes in SEO plugins. The best possible way to deal with them is to upgrade your website and change your approach to SEO.

We do understand that adapting to change is often difficult. However, change becomes bearable if you have a helping hand.

Our team of experts can become that helping hand for you.

If you want to make your website compatible with the upcoming SEO trends our Sydney SEO company can help, call us today!