Is SEO on its deathbed?

This is the question that almost every SEO professional has been hearing since the last few year. This surely is quite intimidating if you are associated with SEO in some way or the other.

But the fact is, SEO is not dead. It is, in fact, in a transforming stage. So, new SEO trends are emerging every other day. And with the advent of a new year, 2015, new SEO trends are expected to surface now. It’s important for you to remain abreast of the latest trends in SEO that are likely to remain important in 2015.

Here’s a quick look at some of these SEO trends for 2015.

Semantic Searches will Gain Ground

It’s no more a keyword based search on Google these days. Since the Hummingbird Update in September 2013, it’s all about Semantic search on Google.

So, what’s this change that the Hummingbird Update has caused? Here’s how Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land puts it: “Hummingbird is paying more attention to each word in a query, ensuring that the whole query—the whole sentence or conversation or meaning—is taken into account, rather than particular words.” So, with these, the meaning of the words typed in the search box will have a role to play. The pages that match with the meanings of the terms typed in will perform better than those having just the words in them. Hence, more specific terms will gain prominence in searches.

Some of the types of searches that are likely to gain ground in 2015 include:

• Latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords
• Long-tail keywords

With the growing importance of semantic search, keyword research is likely to become more and more important.

Local Citation Building will Drive Local Search

Citation building is likely to play a major role in SEO in 2015. It refers to the mention of the address and contact information of your business. If this contact information is available in the search engines, such as Google, Bing and others, it will play a major role in helping local search. Besides, it will also be a form of link building, thus driving traffic to your website. This, in turn, is likely to help your business gain more customers and make maximum profit.

Mobile Search Optimization will be in Focus

One of the most important landmarks in the field of SEO in 2014 was the increasing importance of mobile searches. Mobile search finally exceeded PC searches. And this is going to continue in 2015 as well. Hence, the SEO strategies this year should also be focused on the mobile internet users. In fact, a significant rise in the number of mobile-only users is also expected in 2015. So, mobile search optimization is expected to play a major role in the SEO sector during the year.

Importance of Earned Links will Increase

In one his interviews, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam team, admitted that he "regrets not acting sooner on paid links and content farms". That’s why paid link exchange took a huge shape in the past. But after Google has acted on it, the websites need to change their strategy. But one fact remains: content is still the king when it comes to internet marketing. And links are important even now. But a site now has to earn the link with high-quality content. For this, it is essential to focus on content marketing as well.

Use of Video and Images will Rise

In addition to textual content, there is going to be a sharp increase in the importance of images and video as well. Different types of multimedia content are likely to drive user engagement in 2015. The use of stock images is likely to decline gradually. But businesses are likely to make full use of the video sharing websites, which allow posting short videos for marketing.

Map Marketing will be Helpful

Do you have a retail business? Only focusing on online discovery will not be enough for you. It is important for you to include something in your marketing plan with which you can attract the customers to your store.

So, what can it be?

It is essential to focus on map marketing as well. By optimizing the maps of your business online, you will be making it easier for the customers to find you. This is also important keeping in mind the fact that in-vehicle communication as well as the use of GPS services is increasing at a fast pace.

The world of SEO has evolved significantly over the past few years. The transformation will continue in 2015 as well. And the changed focus for the companies in line with the top SEO trends for 2015 will help them perform better and earn more profit.