SEO in 2017 is more technical than ever before. The SEO industry has reached an era where, the true identity and importance of SEO services has started being spelt out.

Search engine algorithms now are more sophisticated and can see thru spam more efficiently. So, if you are trying to manipulate the search results using old black hat techniques then you should quit the SEO industry immediately.

The array of seven entities which will create the SEO spectrum for 2017 are:

1. Quality Content:

We all have heard since long that, Content is “King”. Content will continue to reign supreme. As, without quality content, no web presence can serve any purpose. Only when the content is original, informative, compelling, it answers the user queries and also is in the right format, the users will be interested in reading or viewing it. SEO efforts can only help in improving the search presence of the content. But if the bounce rates are high and the content does not serve the purpose of the user then the bots are also going to push the content back in the search results.

2. AMP Compliance and Mobile Friendly:

AMP is an open source initiative by Google launched in October 2015. After working on the AMP Project and indexing AMP, Google has started showing AMP in search results since September 2016.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are lightweight pages designed to load quickly on mobile devices. AMP-compliant pages use a subset of HTML with a few extensions. AMP improves the user experience by reducing the page load time by displaying the lighter version of the web page. If in case the website is not AMP compliant then having a responsive website is a must because mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor.

There are more number of mobile devices than the number of people in the world. Google soon is going to have a separate index for mobile which will be a primary one. If your website is not mobile-friendly or responsive and is neither AMP compliant then having a good mobile search presence is just not possible.

3. Structured Data And Schemas:

Structured data refers to kinds of data with a high level of organization, such as information in a relational database. When information is highly structured and predictable, search engines can more easily organize and display it in creative ways.

Structured data markup is a text-based organization of data that is included in a file and served from the web. It typically uses the schema.org vocabulary—an open community effort to promote standard structured data in a variety of online applications.

Structured Data on a web page can be provided by using:

• JSON-LD
• Microdata
• RDFa

JSON-LD is the recommended format. Google is in the process of adding JSON-LD support for all markup-powered features. By adding structured data you are adding meaning and relevance to it for the search engines to correlate better.

Google also encourages the use of structured data by giving information regarding it in Search Console and by offering a structured data testing tool.

The Semantic Web isn’t just about putting data on the web. It is about making links, so that a person or machine can explore the web of data. With linked data, when you have some of it, you can find other, related, data. Semantics or Structured Data add extra information to help you with the meaning of the information. Web sites using Schemas will be able to get more correlated to the contextual content.

4. Artificial Intelligence/RankBrain:

RankBrain by Google, the machine-learning artificial intelligence system is a software which is integrated into the algorithm to mathematically connect words and phrases. RankBrain uses artificial intelligence to embed vast amounts of written language into mathematical entities — called vectors — that the computer can understand.

When a search takes place on Google, the search query now gets accessed by the RankBrain program/software to deliver more relevant search results. Especially if the query is a rare one.

By making the query accessible to software (RankBrain), the software will essentially become able to understand knowledge, think about knowledge via mathematical computations using word and phrase vectors, and create new knowledge. In other words, the software will be able to be more intelligent – not as intelligent as humans perhaps, but more intelligent than say, the word to word mapping is today. Especially for rare queries which need to be understood to deliver results.

For quality search results, Google wants to move away from word to word mapping and reach a level of, understanding the meaning behind the search query. Algorithms today are getting tuned to understand the intent of the user and display results which will be more useful for the user to take decisions or will give him more detailed information about the topic he is searching.

5. Voice Search:

Voice search is the next big frontier which needs to be given importance. The Mobile Voice Study by the Mountain View, CA, a provider of search, online advertising technologies and other Internet products and services found that 55 percent of teens aged 13-18 use voice search every day, while 56 percent of adults said using voice search makes them feel tech-savvy. Voice search is not about rankings or listings but being a part of the conversation.

As we can see that people prefer the video content more than text content when browsing from smartphones and mobile devices. The trend is moving to viewing content and to other formats which save time. Voice search avoids the hassle of keying in the query which is going to be a next big search revolution.

Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller said in a Google hangout, at the 23-minute mark, that Google is looking for ways to show webmasters in the Google Search Console how people are finding their pages through voice search. 2017 is the time to prepare for the voice search scenario.

6. Social  Media Outreach & Engagement.

Social Media is a platform which is here to stay. The social media sites may gain or lose preference but people surely check the social media accounts to get an idea about the company approach towards its customers.

Search and Social integration will only become stronger by the day and search algorithms will also be smart to filter social spam. Social Media platforms also are working on making their search functionality stronger. Hence, if the user goes to search and then reaches the social media accounts for further information or the user goes to social media accounts and the uses its search/search engines for more details is not imperative. But, having a social media presence is a must for putting your best foot forward and your voice heard.

7. Security

It's been two years since Google started its active campaign for Web security and announced HTTP to be a ranking factor.

‘Trust’ is the icing of the multi layer semantic cake and signature and encryption as the two main structures.  Ensuring security for the user  can make the website trust worthy for the user.

Secure sites generate a better CTR and users feel more confident in sharing personal data. eCommerce sites with payment gateways cannot underestimate the importance of having a secure site.

Security is a top priority for Google. Google also gives a ranking boost to HTTPS/SSL sites, provided the site has quality content. Security of a site influences the trust factor. But, moving from HTTP to HTTPS has a series of SEO repercussions which need to be kept in mind.

Just as white light consists of a collection of colors, white hat SEO in 2017 will be the  result of the correct implementation of the above mentioned points.

SEO services are becoming niche and are getting a definite meaning and form eventually. Finally, the much-awaited era for genuine SEO is in the offing.

If you are passionate about SEO then www.searchengineland.com  has to be on your priority list for latest search updates. Hence, being passionate about SEO and the search industry, I have been an avid reader of the searchenginland.com content. After the official  Google Webmaster’s blog https://webmasters.googleblog.com/  the SEL blog is one of the most trusted and reliable sources for any SEO updates.

After my humble experience in this field, I have been a contributor to some reputed blogs like SEJ, SEW, MOZ, Level343 and of course my company blog. The Author profile links are as follows:

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/author/bharati-ahuja/

https://searchenginewatch.com/author/bharati-ahuja/

https://moz.com/community/users/170771?170771

http://level343.com/?s=bharati+ahuja&lang=en

https://www.webpro.in/blog/

I thank all the editors of these blogs for accepting my articles and publishing them. As 'guest posting' is a matter of great importance to every SEO, I would like to bring this to your notice. I do understand and respect the fact that, to accept or reject a post is entirely the prerogative of the editor and I surely respect that. I think all authors must have at times faced the dejection of their article being rejected. It is all part of the game.

But, the most frustrating point is when you send a post as per the procedure mentioned on the site you want to contribute to, and:

• You do not get any reply for more than 3 weeks
• You don’t know if the post has been received or not
• You do not have any idea if the post is under review or has been rejected

I have experienced this with SEL. I would like to bring to your notice that a lot of effort, time and resources are spent on writing a post. Especially for a reputed blog like yours, as every contributor would like to put their best foot forward. Hence if we get a timely reply for acceptance/rejection of the post, it would be very helpful. We can at least publish it on some other platform. I say timely response because as you know that due to the ever evolving nature of the SEO industry the post can be of less or no relevance if the publishing is delayed. This results in a sheer waste of valuable time and effort spent on writing that post.

I have also been communicating on Twitter and thanks for the replies but it does not lead to any definite answers.

https://twitter.com/sengineland/status/803287201681436672

As you mentioned in the Twitter conversation, you surely must be receiving many posts and it must be a challenging task to reply to all but I suggest that you at least mention the status (under review/rejected)  of the post in some way. Or, mention that if the contributor does not receive a reply in a specific time he/she should assume that the post is rejected and will not be published.

I am sure every well written, in-depth post, when published, is a mutually beneficial proposition for the writer as well as the blog on which it gets published.

Last but not the least, "Wishing A Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays" to everyone at Search Engine Land.

The first International Day of Yoga was observed world over on June 21st 2015 by PM Narendra Modi. The United Nations has declared June 21^st as the International Day Of Yoga. On this occasion I just thought of listing out the similarities between Yoga and SEO. 

Yoga is not about exercise but to find out the sense of individuality within one’s self, the world and the nature. Similarly, SEO is not about rankings but about establishing your brand online

In Vedic Sanskrit, yoga means "to add", "to join", "to unite", or "to attach" in its most common literal sense. Yoga can take on meanings such as "connection", "contact", "union", "method", "application", "addition" and "performance". In simpler words, Yoga also means "combined".

When we optimize a website we literally try to see that our website gets correlated to the targeted search queries and thereby the targeted audience. But, before this happens the site has to be as per the norms of the search engines and needs to be crawled and indexed regularly by the search engines. All this has to be achieved harmoniously via a step by step process .

Just as in Yoga the union of the body and soul is achieved gradually with regular practice and patience, the SEO results need patience and regular monitoring of the website.

According to David Gordon White, from the 5th century CE onward, the core principles of "yoga" were more or less in place, and variations of these principles developed in various forms over time:

1. Yoga, as an analysis of perception and cognition
2. Yoga, as the rising and expansion of consciousness
3. Yoga, as a path to omniscience
4. Yoga, as a technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments

 SEO also can be compared to Yoga as per the above 4 points:

1. SEO helps the search engines in the perception and cognition of the content of the website so that it can correlate it to the  relevant  search queries.
2. As a result of genuine SEO the website gradually expands its search presence by adding various formats of content so that the brand can be found on various platforms of search, like image search, blog search, videos, etc.
3. Hence, genuine SEO helps the website to be found on search engines via any devices and in various formats.
4. Apart from the content format and the type of search results, SEO also makes the website capable of being found globally by gradually attaining search presence on increasing no. of country domains like, Google.com, Google.co.in, Google.co.uk, Google.com.au, etc. (In short international SEO helps you to achieve international search presence)

Apart from the spiritual goals, the physical postures of yoga are used to alleviate health problems, reduce stress and make the spine supple in contemporary times. Yoga is also used as a complete exercise program and physical therapy routine.

The three prominent types of yoga are:

• Karma yoga: The yoga of action
• Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion
• Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge

Apart from attaining good search presence for targeted search queries, the main goal of SEO is to help build a brand for the business , win the trust of the users and help in retaining it for a long time.

All this can be possible by working on :

• On-page factors
• Technical factors and
• Off-page factors

While the practice of yoga continues to rise in contemporary American culture, sufficient and adequate knowledge of the practice’s origins does not. According to Andrea R. Jain, Yoga is undoubtedly a movement for spiritual meditation, but  now is being marketed as a supplement to a cardio routine. This scope "dilutes its identity." Contemporaries of this faith argue that the more popular yoga gets, the less concerned people become about its origins in history.

While the SEO industry shows a promising growth quantitatively and qualitatively, the true meaning of SEO is tarnished by black hat SEOs and newbies who promise quick results and measure its success by rankings alone. This dilutes the true meaning of SEO and defeats the main purpose of optimizing a site.

Yoga  is both an Art and a Science... 

SEO too is considered as an Art and a Science...