Last year was an outrageously busy year with celebrity scandals, the World Cup, big floppy iPhones, flappy birds, a Referendum and of course Solange Knowles beating seven bells out of Jay-Z. However, I thought I’d focus our attentions to what has happened this year in the world of SEO. So here’s my overview of last year.

Mobile UX is paramount

It comes as no shock to anyone that more and more people are using smart devices to access the internet; so much so, that in January 2014, mobile search in the US exceeded desktop for the very first time.

As Google make no qualms in stating that they want to provide users with the best search results, this makes the mobile experience an integral part of any digital marketing campaign.

A particular focus was put on the load speed of mobile pages, which Google says takes seven seconds on average. To deliver a positive experience, Google wants pages to load in one second or less to keep users engaged. The impact this has on rankings is yet to be discovered, however if it improves UX it’s surely good for Google.

We have a prettier new Google

In March Google rolled out a few changes across the SERPs, which left us with less underlining, taller fonts, smaller URLs and the removal of the pink backdrop for all of those paid listings. Google also introduced dividers between the various SERP elements, argued by some to help with mobile and tablet users; showing they’re following their own previously mentioned guidelines.

In the grand scheme of things, how important is this? Not very, but the dividers do signify a step towards a more card-like format, as smart devices are becoming increasingly popular. Another point to bear in mind is that google expanded the font size, so some title tags will get cut off (especially with expanded sitelinks), which, in-turn, could impact CTR.

Google removed Authorship Photos

In June Google made a somewhat surprising announcement in the shape of their plan to drop the authorship photos from the SERPs. This was a feature favoured by the majority, as it increased brand visibility and introduced real people into search results, however take-up of the feature had been slower than anticipated.

The move raised a few questions in the SEO community about the uncertain future of Google+, along with damaging a few egos who enjoyed seeing their faces emblazoned on the first page.

Matt Cutts, Matt Cutts, Where for art thou Matt Cutts

One of the biggest upsets of the last 6 months is the severe lack of Sir Matthew of Cutts from my screen. Cutts announced in a blog post that he’d be taking a few months leave to spend more time with his wife, something they had agreed on 10 years prior, however had never gotten around to.

His initial leave of 4 months was hard enough, but now he has extended his leave onto 2015. Will we ever see the face of SEO again? Only he knows the true answer. But in all fairness they seem to be managing pretty well without him.

Google Algorithms

With an estimated 500-600 algorithm changes over 2014, Google offered no let-up in the way of updates. The first major update to land was the Payday Loans update in May.

Payday Loans

2.0 -This was a tweak and refresh of the “payday loans” update, initially launched in June 2013. Although specific details were limited, more payday loan companies received particularly hefty penalties.

3.0 – A matter of weeks later saw Google tweak the update again. This time targeting specific spammy queries, compared to the targeting of specific sites seen in the 2.0 loan update.

Panda 4.0

This was one of the most significant updates to the Panda algorithm for a while, designed to prevent sites with poor quality content from reaching the upper echelons of googles SERPs. It’s been suggested that it was probably both a data refresh and algorithm change, and impacted on approximately 7.5% of English-language queries.

Penguin 3.0

Penguin 3.0 was next to follow in the middle of October. There was an awful lot of confusion and hype around the first Penguin update in over a year, as many sites reported fluctuations, but details released by Google were few and far between. It was previously indicated that a new system was to be introduced in this instalment of Penguin to allow for more frequent refreshes of the Penguin data, but we’re yet to see any results if this is the case.

For a more in-depth view of the Google Algorithm changes, have a peruse at the Algorithm Update Timeline we created.

Content is still King

Easily one of the most overused phrases in SEO, but it’s still so very true. Long gone are those days of reciprocal links and endless directory submissions.

Instead, thanks to the likes of Panda and the development of semantic search, we find ourselves pining for that perfect piece of high quality and relevant content that will captivate, inspire, engross and encourage meaningful interactions with our audience in what Jayson DeMers suggests is more a “Cast a Net” rather than “throw a spear” approach.

So what next… What will happen throughout 2015?

There are two things I’m going to perhaps stick my neck on the line and say I think will happen.

Shock-horror, mobile will continue to grow. The mere fact that Google has added a “mobile usability” feature to its Webmaster Tools emphasises this. This suggests that if a business doesn’t want to see its visitors and conversions plummet, it needs to be savvy to get optimised for mobile use.

Another prediction doing the rounds, is that Google will continue to remove tools and cut snippets from analytics. As Nate Dame states, “the less data Google makes available to SEOs, the less that SEOs can do to create and test quick-win black/grey hat gimmicks to game higher rankings,” in turn meaning less time combatting spammy tactics, and more time spent increasing revenue.

It’s as simple as that.