Have SEO Fundamentals Changed? Or Are They Still the Same?
- Agency7
- Oct 23, 2024
- 4 min read
Search engine optimisation (SEO) has always been a crucial part of digital marketing.
But In this post, we’ll dive into what’s stayed consistent, what’s shifted, and how businesses can stay ahead in the SEO game in 2024 and beyond.
What Hasn’t Changed in SEO?
While SEO techniques have evolved over the years, certain core principles remain at the heart of every successful SEO strategy
1. Quality Content is Still King
The saying "content is king" has stood the test of time in SEO. Whether it’s blog posts, product descriptions, or multimedia, creating valuable, relevant, and engaging content continues to be the cornerstone of SEO success.
Search engines, particularly Google, still prioritise content that answers user queries effectively and provides genuine value. The key is to keep your content useful, well-structured, and aligned with user intent.
Actionable Tip: Focus on crafting content that directly addresses the questions and concerns of your target audience. Long-form, in-depth articles that are properly optimised for target keywords still perform well in 2024.
2. Backlinks Remain a Powerful Ranking Signal
High-quality backlinks continue to be a significant ranking factor. The more reputable sites linking back to your website, the more authority Google assumes your site holds.
However, the days of mass link-building schemes and low-quality directories are long gone. In 2024, it's all about earning links organically through valuable content and genuine relationships.
Actionable Tip: Prioritise earning backlinks through outreach, PR campaigns, and partnerships with high-authority websites within your niche. Natural, contextually relevant links from trusted sites still carry significant weight in boosting rankings.
3. Technical SEO is as Important as Ever
Optimising your website for speed, ensuring proper indexing, and maintaining a strong technical foundation remain essential. A fast-loading, mobile-friendly, and well-structured website is vital for both user experience and SEO.
While technical aspects of SEO have grown more complex, the fundamental principles of site speed, crawlability, and mobile responsiveness are unchanged.
Actionable Tip: Conduct regular technical SEO audits to identify issues such as broken links, slow loading times, or poor mobile optimisation. Tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights can help ensure your site is technically sound.
What Has Changed in SEO?
While the fundamentals remain intact, several key areas of SEO have evolved significantly over the past few years. Adapting to these changes is essential for success in the current landscape.
1. User Experience (UX) Now Plays a Bigger Role
In the past, SEO was often focused on keywords, meta tags, and backlink quantity. But as we move into 2024, user experience has become a central part of SEO.
Google’s Core Web Vitals update, introduced in 2021, placed even greater emphasis on how users experience websites in terms of loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. A well-designed site that is easy to navigate and provides a smooth experience will rank better in search results.
Actionable Tip: Focus on improving Core Web Vitals metrics—ensure that your website loads quickly, is responsive, and doesn't shift unexpectedly as users interact with it.
2. The Rise of Semantic Search
Google has evolved to better understand user intent, meaning it now focuses more on the context behind a search query rather than just matching exact keywords. This is known as semantic search.
Optimising for user intent is now crucial, as search engines are getting better at interpreting the meaning of content rather than just relying on specific keyword phrases.
Actionable Tip: Rather than focusing solely on exact-match keywords, optimise your content for topic clusters and related terms. This approach allows Google to understand the broader context of your content and how it fits into user intent.
3. Voice Search and Conversational Queries
With the growing use of voice search, particularly through devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home, SEO has had to adapt. Voice queries tend to be longer and more conversational than traditional text searches.
This shift requires businesses to rethink their keyword strategy and content format to better cater to how people speak rather than type.
Actionable Tip: Optimise for long-tail keywords and natural language phrases. Focus on answering common questions directly and concisely, as voice assistants often rely on snippets from well-structured content.
4. E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
Google’s focus on E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) has become more important in determining which sites rank highly.
Particularly for industries like healthcare, finance, or law, Google wants to ensure that the content users are accessing is created by qualified experts. Websites that demonstrate credibility, trust, and authority are favoured in rankings.
Actionable Tip: Highlight your expertise by building author profiles, citing reputable sources, and ensuring your website has strong credentials. Ensure your content is fact-checked, up-to-date, and written by qualified professionals where applicable.
Final Thoughts: Have SEO Fundamentals Changed?
At its core, SEO remains focused on creating valuable content, earning quality backlinks, and maintaining a technically sound website. These fundamentals haven’t changed. What has evolved, however, are the ways in which search engines interpret and prioritise this information.
User experience, voice search, and semantic search are shaping the future of SEO, but they all tie back to the same foundational principles.
In short, while the tools and techniques have evolved, the fundamentals of SEO are still very much alive. The key is in how you adapt these fundamentals to modern trends to stay competitive in the digital landscape.
Want to improve your SEO strategy for 2024? Contact Agency7 today for expert advice on how to navigate the evolving world of SEO.
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