What does SEO mean to you in 2013 ?
Do you still thinking about commenting on other blogs just to get some "nofollow" links. In past that works to increase post rankings but do you think Google will let those spammers reach page 1 of any important keyword.
The answer is a big "NO".
Due to high competition in almost every niche searchers have wide range of choices while selecting a source of information.
As per me SEO in 2013 is more about how users takes your site while searching on Google.
1) Use authorship
If you are a blogger and posting articles, you should apply for Google authorship. It creates a personal brand. There are endless websites that people are unable to recall most of them but author's picture on search results with his name makes a deep impact on user's mind.
Author's picture ensures user that the web page is not a spam and he can visit the website safely and get useful content.
I took this picture from
Justin Briggs where he shared heatmap of searches. Searchers are more interested in knowing about the author.
I saw 40% growth in traffic from Google in one of my blogs just after applying Google authorship.
You can apply for authorship in two easy steps :-
- Put your Google plus profile link on every page where you want to apply authorship.
- Apply for authorship here.
You can find detailed tutorial to authorship on
Bloggingcage, a blog by
+Kulwant Nagi. He already wrote a nice tutorial so I don't want to waste my time on writing same stuff again.
2) Write "Useful" instead of "Catchy" titles
Till now everybody know that title of a web page and article headlines are one of the major ranking factor. You need to think like a searcher.
For example I need to make a CV last week so I need template. I search on Google - "How to make a CV".
First result was CV Maker. Why should I download a template and edit it in old school way. That CV Maker was great, I made an account and every time I make changes to my CV it is stored on cloud so that it is available to me everywhere. I never went to any other website to make CV.
Now give a look to result 2, this is an article from About.com and it almost matches my query but I was not interested in knowing how to make my resume better rather I just wanted to make a good looking CV. There is no way that I click about.com.
I am tracking "resume templates" keywords for some personal interests. This CV came to spot 1 so quickly because of high CTR. Google tends to increase rank of results having high CTR so that searchers need need to go down to get what they want.
3) Write Meta descriptions for searchers not Search engines
Adding target keyword in description is really helpful in getting higher ranks. Description is the second chance to attract searchers to click on your results.
Generally bloggers make this mistake frequently, You write a 800 words post and did everything to make it look good but when it comes to write meta description you copied the opening lines and paste it. I admit that I made this blunder in past many times.
You need to think as searcher and answer that why a searcher should choose you and invest his precious time on your web page. If the title is related he gets assured of related content. But before clicking on result searcher reads meta description to ensure that it is a useful website. Be truth full in what you have for visitors. If you provide free study material for IIT exam just write it.
4) Simplify URL structure
URL is one of the few things that a searcher can see while searching on Google. As I am using Blogger platform I am not allowed to change url structure. But if you are using WordPress then you can change permalink structure. Give a look to default Blogger permalink structure
http://www.thegoodblogger.com/2012/10/6-places-to-find-paid-reviews.html
User can see the date before clicking the search results and users tends to click on fresh content then on old content. Only thing I hate about this URL structure is when I update an old post which is getting good reader's attention, the post's url show that post is still old :(
As per me best url structure is
http://mysite.com/category/post-name
I hope you will find this post useful. Please share on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
