Search engines and social media sites also made changes that altered the entire digital landscape. Here are at least eight game changers that rocked the internet marketing industry:
1. Google+ Gained Traction
Google Places became Google+ Local, which changed the approach to local SEO. Users who log into their Google+ account while performing a search will see personalized results based on social data from Google+. Google+ Local has aimed to make reviews, recommendations and opinions of those in a user’s Google+ Circles a central part of their search experience. Bing also provides what’s known as “social results,” but because Google is still the search giant, users have more incentive to use Google+ more than ever before.
2. Author Rich Snippets
Author Rich Snippets have given internet marketers the opportunity to build their author rank by linking their Google + page to the content they write through what’s known as rel=author. Utilizing rich snippets allows the author to have their photo show up in the search results next to their content, and build author authority which increases click-through rates on those pages.
3. Social Media Accommodations for Brands
Throughout the year many of the big players in social media have made numerous updates to better their platform for users and businesses. One common change was making it easier for brands to standout:
- Facebook created Global Pages so brands can manage multiple accounts using one central dashboard
- Twitter announced cover photos so brands have more real estate to promote the company
- LinkedIn designed new company pages to showcase more company information and logos
- Pinterest allowed businesses to set up official business accounts
4. Panda Update
To continue the crusade against webspam, Google launched a number of Panda updates throughout the year. One of the major things that these updates cracked down on was page layout. The algorithm adjustments targeted sites with low quality content and ad-heavy page layouts. The update encouraged websites to deliver high quality content “above the fold.”
5. Penguin Update
In another step to reward high quality websites, Google introduced Penguin updates. The first Penguin update hit hard against “over-optimization.” Google cracked the whip to punish spam-like keyword stuffing, exact match anchor text, low quality content and other practices that attempt to manipulate the search engines.
6. Knowledge Graph
In an attempt to start building the next generation of search, Google rolled out the Knowledge Graph. The Knowledge Graph offers additional search results to help users find the right thing faster and receive a bigger summary that is relevant to the search topic. The idea is to help people do less time searching and more time discovering.
7. Google Disavow Link Tool
As the search engines get better at evaluating links, Google introduced the Disavow Link Tool to help websites clean up any suspicious and spam-like backlinks. Websites that receive warning concerning “unnatural links” can use this tool to remove the low quality links to their site to prevent penalties.
Moving Forward
As the way we communicated and even marketed continued to change throughout the year, one thing remained constant: the need for high quality content. The most effective (yet most difficult) SEO tactic of the year was content creation. Honest content marketing assists with social media and SEO efforts, and will surely be one of the best practices to follow in the upcoming year.
Things That Changed the Internet Marketing Industry in 2012