Google's Secure Search update in 2014 brought significant changes to SEO techniques. It required HTTPS for all searches and stopped passing keyword data to websites. This forced SEO strategies to shift focus to page-level optimization and metrics like traffic, conversions, and revenue based on analytics. While ranking is still important, the parameters now include social, mobile, global, and local factors. Rank and performance also need to be measured by device type. Content remains crucial to SEO success, but must now be written in a conversational style, as Hummingbird search interprets full questions instead of just keywords.

1. SEO TECHNIQUES IN 2015 :
THE SHIFTS THAT GOOGLE'S SECURE
SEARCH BROUGHT FOR US
By Shamit Khemka

2. INTRODUCTION
What a great year 2014 was for SEO! As much as 500 algorithm
changes - took the search industry on storm - brought some
bad news for many - yet provided great clarity for others. The
way we used to handle SEO has just changed for good, but not
in a way that will make all of us happy.
Having said that, we thought of discussing a few shift that SEO
supposedly brought for the current year; and let's start with
Google's Secure Search here.

3. WHAT IS SECURE SEARCH?
One of the major changes that SEO saw in recent past in
Google's Secure Search. According to this, now all the
searches are to be done through HTTPS and Google will no
longer pass keyword search data to websites. This change was
so big that many failed to adapt it; while the smarter one took a
giant innovative leap and are making most out of it.

4. 1. WANT THE TRUTH ABOUT ABOUT YOUR
SEO? BELIEVE ANALYTICS
The optimization efforts needs to shift to page level facilitating
the measuring of real business metrics. This shift also need
affirmation that you are measuring your traffic, conversions,
and revenue. To put it into simple words, one has to make
pages the center of their SEO world and pull data from page
level through Analytics.
Try and understand the changes Secure Search brought to
your traffic, conversions, and revenue; and plan your
strategies accordingly.

5. 2. RANKING WILL ALWAYS MATTER
The overall practices that sum-up SEO might have changed
upside down, but the its soul remains the same - Rank was the
prime motive then, and it is still the same. Only the parameters
of ranking have changed to social, mobile, global, and local.
The focus needs to be given on rise and drops in traffic and
not focusing on generic rank reports. And it is also advisable
to measure rank and performance by device type. This needs
no mentioning that the results are drastically different from
desktop to tablets or phones.

6. 3. CONTENT IS STILL THE KING
Content is always of prime importance to SEO. But as we are
discussing the strategies to be taken this year, so this needs to
be mentioned that the content that you aspire to devise this
year, needs to be done the "Hummingbird" way.
According to the hummingbird update, Google is now moved
on from "Keyword search" to "Conversational search".
Meaning, Google responds to whole statements and questions
in a way similar to how a human being would by looking at the
query as a whole, and not segmenting its keywords. Now you
know how to represent your content, and what to expect from
it.

7. CONCLUSION
To conclude we can say that the key elements that we need to
keep our focus on, to run our SEO strategies are: Social,
Analytics, Marketing and Content.

8. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING IT!