Internet Marketing is a dynamic field. It keeps changing every now and then and things are becoming tough for people engaged in online marketing activities. This article provides a brief of some of the most significant changes that the industry has witnessed. Link Building – Mandatory Part of SEO Link building was an essential activity that people used to perform routinely. More back links, better SERPs; that was the thinking and it was true. So, whole focus was on getting back links from every possible source.
Things have changed now. Link building is still relevant but with certain conditions. After Google’s penguin update millions of websites got penalized due to their inappropriate approach towards back linking. Google made it mandatory for people to acquire links only from relevant sources. Domain authority and page authority became more important rather than number of links pointing back to a website. Links from thousands of directories and articles submission websites (with duplicate contents) became useless and the concept of guest blogging flourished.
Social Media – New Mantra in Online Marketing
Social media is playing an important role in improving online presence of a brand or business. People started using all the marketing features of Facebook right from the day it evolved. But the industry witnessed transformation in use of social media platforms in online marketing. Apart from the Penguin we had following significant changes in social media in Year 2012:
Pinterest suddenly became a big thing (hottest development in social media)
Instagram was acquired for an undisclosed sum (people say for approx 1 Billion USD)
Google+ was transformed with several unique features
SlideShare acquired by LinkedIn
Responsive website’s became a necessity
However, Year 2013 accelerated the rate of social media improvements and we saw new face of SlideShare, Facebook Graph Search, Google’s Hummingbird update etc. Social signals for your website or brand became decisive factor for better SERPs.
Mobile Presence
A major chunk of internet users are mobile users who prefer to browse web or perform everyday social media activities and shopping through mobile only. So, it became mandatory for businesses across the globe to have impressive mobile presence. Responsive websites and mobile apps became the must have things for people promoting their products and services online. Online promotion activities included mobile specific to target as much customers as possible.
Future Trends
SEO and Online Marketing industry is changing every day. However, one thing which is constant is the quality of activities. Websites with quality SEO and link building practices never get penalized by Google. Two things always rules, quality content and relevant links from high authority sites. But in coming year 2014, the key focus will be on Social Media Analytics.
More and more businesses are trying to reach to only potential customers. So, analyzing people’s interest, their browsing trends, and strategically targeting them will help in maximizing ROI. All popular Web Analytics programs have started delivering such statistics to their users and framing an online marketing campaign based on the social analytics will guarantee success.
About the Author:
The author is associated with Easy Submission. Easy Submission offers organic search engine optimization, affordable seo packages, search engine seo, SEO and SEM package, online reputation management packages, web directory submission service, blog seo services and off page optimization globally. They help their clients to get high rank and generate only targeted traffic from genuine sources.