It is difficult to guess the future of SEO. For example, last year nobody would have guessed that the Google PageRank tool would only get two updates, and few people would have guessed that the Hummingbird update was on its way out. Here are a few predictions for 2014.
Longer articles and web pages will be more search engine friendly
Google wants more websites to have longer and more complex articles on them. They want websites to stop it with their lists of facts nestled on a page, or the pages that hold just a bit of information. They want full answers to questions that go into detail. Such web pages are not very search engine friendly at the moment, but the Google Hummingbird is supposed to change all of that.
SEO Forecast for 2014 300x150 SEO Forecast for 2014: The Future of Search
Google will finally put a stop to spun content
They are sure taking their time when it comes to fixing this little problem with their algorithm. For some reason people are still getting away with posting spun content onto the Internet and ranking highly because of it. Surely this year Google are going to clamp down on it so we do not have to see any more poorly written spun content.
Google will finally clamp down on over advertising
The web pages that are just packed full of adverts are annoying. They are almost as annoying as websites with auto start video and audio adverts, or are nearly as annoying as those websites that don’t let you see the content unless you agree to click “like” on Facebook. It would be nice if Google kicked those doozies out of bed, but surely Google are going to make over advertising a sin this year. They have already claimed that over advertising is not user friendly, so will they go that extra push and make it a punishable offense?
Read More: Top 5 Mistakes That Google Panda Sees And Slaps
Hopefully Hummingbird will get rid of slide-sharing
Slide show answers are just another way of advertising to us. They make us sit there and click through slide after stupid slide, with each showing us a new advert too. They are annoying and are too much for most people to bear looking at more than one or two slides. Let’s hope that Google kicks their ass this year. All on one page or get off the stage.
Infographics may take their own place as page elements
This is where Infographics become their own animal and are no longer viewed as just big images by Google. This year they may change in the same way that images did all those years ago. Infographics are seen more as images by the search engines. There is a chance that in 2014, they will become their own animal so that they are no longer bunched together with other images. A clear distinction between images and Infographics would be created.
Reactive/Responsive websites will become the standard
The argument over the merits of two websites or a single reactive/responsive website is still ranging, but it stands to reason that Google would decide the reactive/responsive websites are the future and would start giving them an SEO boost.
Videos will continue to be more search engine friendly
We still live in a world where information packed videos are not as search engine friendly as information packed articles, and this is hard to change. But, since Google took over YouTube they have worked to make videos more search engine friendly, and there is no reason why this trend will not continue over the year 2014.
Mobile Internet will continue to impress upon desktop search engines
Websites are changing because of mobile Internet, with the biggest changes being seen with Facebook and social media in general. This will surely continue to affect the search engines, although how the search engines will react to this is not yet clear.
Google Adsense websites will be more popular
They become more and more popular as every Google update comes out. They make more money for Google and it would be unsurprising if Google just came out and said that your website will rank higher if it has Google Adsense adverts on it.
Google+ and YouTube will be more influential
The shameless promotion of Google’s own social media is going to become more apparent. Google is making a bomb from adverts on YouTube and there is no reason why they would not cultivate this further to the point where those social media networks become more influential on the search engine results pages.