SEO New Years Resolutions for 2016

This is a guest contribution from Sarah Walsh.

The new year has undoubtedly brought to you resolutions or new ideas for your work.

You might be gung-ho to start out with fresh goals or you might acknowledge that a lot of resolutions are forgotten before February rolls around. Despite the pros and cons for creating resolutions, there’s no harm in setting new goals for the year to enhance your SEO skills, as long as you keep them realistic. With these simple resolutions focusing on upcoming SEO trends, you can take your know-how from average to impressive by December.

SEO New Years Resolutions for 2016

I resolve to conduct a monthly audit

The best way to start anything is to begin by taking stock of what’s going well and what could be improved. Knowing how you’re ranking and what kind of traffic you’re getting is essential to any site or client. But don’t limit your troubleshooting to just the first of the year. Take time on at least a monthly basis to see what strategies are working and where some tweaks could be useful. If you’re really pressed for time, you can even do an effective audit in five minutes with this guide from Search Engine Land.

I resolve to continue producing great content:

You’ve known for awhile that content is king, but you’ve also heard the rumors—content is dead. Or wait, was it resurrected to be more important than ever? No matter what your school of thought on the matter is, it never a bad idea to have good content readily available to your users. If the content is done well, your user will have an answer to their search and have had a positive experience with your site, increasing the likelihood of return visits. 

I resolve to try new tactics

You might have a wide array of tactics you use that get great results, but with opportunities to build links and create relationships constantly evolving, there’s at least one strategy that’s probably fallen off your radar. Instead of playing it safe, branch out to make new connections. Maybe there are a couple industry professionals that you’ve been meaning to reach out to via Twitter, but something else always seems to get in the way. Or maybe you’ve fallen back on your established contacts for clients you have an established relationship with. Much like your favorite pair of sweatpants, they might be comfortable but not have the best fit. Put a better foot forward by looking for new contacts that might be interested in linking to your content.

I resolve to read the SEO newsletters I’ve signed up for

Hopefully you have at least a couple SEO-related newsletters appearing in your inbox on the reg. If there are any quality ones missing from your subscription, make sure to sign up asap. You never know which one will have a piece of revolutionary information that will completely change your SEO game. And while signing up is all well and good, make sure to actually take the time to read said newsletters and digest the information. We’ve all been guilty of letting things we know we should read pile up in our inboxes, only to be later unceremoniously sent to trash.

I resolve to optimize my site for mobile viewing

Every year more and more searches are taking place on mobile devices. As eMarketer revealed earlier, mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches in volume. Instead of spending time focusing on how to optimize your content for desktop viewing, make sure that users can easily navigate your site on their mobile device. Don’t update your site without first checking to see if mobile compatible. This way you’ll make sure that your customer’s on-the-go experience is just as effective and pleasant as if they were at their desktop.

I resolve to increase my rich answer opportunities

Being featured in a rich answer is like being named SERPs prom queen; you were selected as the best of the best. If you’re already practicing resolution #2, you should be well on your way to reaching rich answer status.  With research on longtail keywords to find out what questions are being asked in your niche and direct reference to the question you wish to ask, you’ll significantly increase your likelihood of getting featured. Make sure all of your pages are crawlable; otherwise, all of your hard work will be for nothing

By sticking to these resolutions, you’re bound to become a better SEO this year whether you’re improving your own site or a client’s.  And remember that the key to successful resolutions is consistency so keep reading those newsletters and conducting audits!

Sarah Walsh is an Online PR Specialist at Web Talent Marketing, a full-service digital marketing agency based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that delivers exceptional results to clients.