2013 will bring a big shift for SEO strategies, once again. If you haven’t already realized this, in particular after Panda and Penguin, it might be already too late!
2013 will without any doubt prove that SEO will be even more about high quality, user focused content – even more so than what could already be observed throughout 2012.
Shift from “Link Building” To Content Marketing and Content Creation
There is still SEO providers out there who adhere to the old-fashioned idea of “link building” where the big priority is solely”the link”.
They see the content itself as an inconvenience, merely as a medium which is needed to get a backlink.
The first big shift in SEO will happen when SEO providers realize that without producing top quality and well researched content there won’t be any links.
There will be no more “link building” if a provider does not also have a dedicated area in their SEO business focusing on top content marketing and content creation.
I am not talking about “article” writing – you can safely scrap that entire idea. I am also not talking about buying a $4 article from a forum which will serve only the purpose so a link can be “embedded”. I am not talking about writing the 500th piece on “reverse phone directories” or a 500 words pseudo review on some random clickbank product. You saw ONE, you saw ALL.
The Shift Towards Proper Content Marketing and Creation
… means that you will need to be able to produce (or get) top-notch quality content which is not only user engaging and “unique” ( in a sense that it is different from whatever else is out there) – it will mean that this will become utmost priority also for link building.
Without stellar content there will not be any link!
SEOs will have to stop “link building” but put their priorities into content creation where the link is seen as something which will come as a natural result from the content.
I would go so far as to say that the end of “traditional” link building is pretty much near – 2013 will show this, take my word!
Author Rank: Miss This And You Will Lose The SEO Game!
Pretty much the biggest change in 2013 will be the introduction of author rank.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-in-2013-the-rising-influence-of-authorrank/52346/
“Content quality, as measured by search engines, is no longer based solely on the authority of a domain or Web page. It is increasingly based on the reputation and authority of the individual that authored the content.”
Which is actually the most profound thing I read in a while, makes you wonder why it took them so long to come up with this “wisdom”.
Author Rank Will Change The Search Engine Optimization Landscape
Pagerank will become even less important, it might still play a minor factor, however, brace for author rank if you still want to be in business next year, this is serious!
Aside from a shift from traditional SEO like “link building” to “content marketing” as being the crucial foundation for it, it is also easy to foresee another change in 2013:
High Quality Content Producers Will See More and More Demand
In the last few days I was scouring the usual forums again where “articles” and writing services are offered, and I say it straight out: Every time I see those people offering “articles” I am tempted to jump out of the window because those “article writers” still haven’t “gotten it” respective there is still some fools around who (literally) buy into this.
PLR content, rewritten PLR content, 450 word “articles” and “ezine quality” articles will not cut it anymore, by a long shot. Your nice foreign writer that can supply you cheap content for $4 a piece laced with errors won’t do it either, I am afraid.
On the plus side, this will also mean an increased demand for top content providers and writers.
Let Google get into full force with author rank and let the shift from “link building” to content marketing happen – I can predict that a big number of so called “writers” will be out of business within the next 6 months or so.
Big changes are happening and you have to adapt to them to stay in the SEO game. Content was always one very important factor – but 2013 will be THE year where it will be made very clear it’s the most important component, before anything else.
