SEO in 2017: How Are You Stacking Up?

As you refine and tweak your marketing calendars throughout the year, how many 2017 SEO items have you crossed off the list yet? How many are you planning on addressing?

Are you https yet? Have you adopted schema? AMP? Removed pop ups from mobile? Researched fresh new keywords to target in your content strategy? And you are regularly looking at the data from Google Search Console, right?

I recently co-presented a session at WordCamp Atlanta 2017, aptly titled, “SEO in 2017.”

Take a look and assess how well you’ve done this year, and what you still need to add in before the year starts getting ahead.

Here are a few notes I’ll expand on to supplement the presentation:

2017 SEO Mindset

Improving SEO is much like improving your health:

  • You might have to shed some weight and bad habits (factors negatively impacting your SEO success) just to get to neutral ground
  • Everyone’s body, genetics, and history is different (a plan is good, and may work for others, but you’ll need to adjust it to accommodate your specific situation)
  • It requires a mindset change and adopting healthy new habits (you have to know those purposeful things to do on a regular basis that contribute positively)
  • To really get fit, you have to work at it on a regular basis (not every day, but you have to actively do activities that continue to take you to the next level)

Schema Markup: Critical for Everyone, Non-Negotiable for Certain Industries

Marking up your content with structured data continues to be important. (Ignore the 2015 publishing date) I love the visuals and clear understanding in this article of what schema could work for you: http://searchengineland.com/schema-markup-structured-data-seo-opportunities-site-type-231077. A few additional notes:

  • Google also encourages the use of structured data by giving information regarding it in Search Console and by offering a structured data testing tool.
  • Leverage this to enhance your brand in the SERPS
  • At this moment in time, structured data does not affect your rankings, it helps search engines better interpret your content. However: anytime you can help Google understand your data, that is absolutely something you WANT to do

RankBrain:

RankBrain is Google’s machine learning, AI system that is now baked into its algorithm (meaning how Google sorts and ranks website pages). Google’s algorithm, announced in 2013 as Hummingbird (because it is “precise and fast”) factors over 200 signals into how it ranks content: including but not limited to freshness, terms on websites, authority, etc. The confirmed top 3 ranking factors are content, links, and RankBrain.

RankBrain

Licking your chops for more?

Check out the rest of the SEO in 2017 presentation for many more tips and insights on search engine optimization.

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Jenny Munn

Jenny is an independent SEO Consultant with more than 14 years of experience helping companies, brands, and marketing teams generate brand awareness, traffic, and conversions with SEO. She is a frequent speaker and trainer, and has taught SEO to thousands of marketers, web designers, and content creators over the years.
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