What Quality Content Means for 2015 SEO

Chances are you will have heard a great deal as of late regarding the changes to come in SEO for 2015 and what these might mean for the average online business. Well, the truth is that big change is indeed coming for 2015 and has already started to filter through, but the good news is that it doesn’t need to be quite as frightening as some would have you believe.What must be remembered is that each and every Google update so far has been geared toward enriching the experience of the user…that’s it! Google doesn’t give a damn which businesses skyrocket and which crumble to the ground, which is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. Approached from the right angle, every Google update represents an incredible opportunity to take advantage of and a potentially more level playing field than ever before.      Going into 2015, nothing…as in literally nothing…will be more important for any website than its content. Technically, this should already be the case as what is a site without content? But in any case, Hummingbird has made it clear that content above all else will determine a site’s fate in 2015, so precisely what does quality content mean going forward?Keeping It RealRight off the bat, next year will mark the beginning of a period where to fake it means very much not to make it. Regardless of whether you outsource SEO to the pros or take care of everything yourself, trying to pass yourself off as an authority on a subject you haven’t a clue about/interest in will not work…period. There isn’t a niche out there that isn’t already done to death by hundreds or thousands of business owners – your content needs to make you stand out from all of them. Technically speaking you shouldn’t be in a business area you’re not an expert in and/or passionate about anyway, so this shouldn’t be a tricky box to tick.Keeping It CurrentBeing an authority and getting your content noticed in 2015 is all about keeping it current, engaging and generally interesting. This is the precise reason why so many, if not all of the biggest names in the world now operate their own corporate blogs, Twitter accounts, forum presences and so on – you need to be at the forefront of all there is to say and be the first to say it. Or if you can’t say it first, at least join the discussion and say your piece before it becomes yesterday’s news.Offering AnswersAnd finally, perhaps the most important thing to know about the whole Hummingbird era is the way in which it has come in to focus on long-tail search terms as opposed to traditional keywords. As such, content built around “London Plumber” searches will now have considerably less value than content built around “Where can I find a cheap plumber in Croydon?” for example. People are searching for you and your service because they have a question to ask or a problem that needs solving – use your content to solve it for them.