Over time, SEO best practices have evolved; however, the importance of inbound linking has remained relatively consistent. If anything, the primary change has been the search engine approach to scoring each link, which combats link-stuffing and suspicious link-building tricks.

If you're a marketing professional trying to optimize your business for search, you likely understand the practice of link-building. Additionally, you probably recognize the importance of avoiding questionable tactics that do more harm than good. But there are other, less-common strategies that leverage emerging marketing trends and attempt to create linking advantages through partnerships and business relationships. Here are three such practices to strengthen your approach to SEO.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can make content more user-friendly and empower marketers to work efficiently. However, discussions about AI and content marketing often center on the potential for machines to eventually replace writers. While the technology is already used to generate sports and financial news updates, creating bots smart enough to write with nuance, creativity, original research and critical thinking is far off.

Still, AI's major role in search has significant implications for content marketers.

Search engines are one of the most important ways your audience will find your business. That means search engine optimization (SEO) can't be ignored: small business owners need to understand the rules and best practices for creating valuable online content.

If you take time to figure out what to know about SEO before you invest time and energy into creating online content, you'll save yourself time, money and headaches down the road. Here are six best practices to get started shaping your company's SEO.

Don't Go Overboard With External Links

There's no hard-and-fast rule for the number of external links to include in your content, but if you're adding links just to try and improve your rank, there's a chance you might sabotage your own efforts. Google's best advice regarding external links is to include them when a citation or other service to the reader is needed. These links should be anchored to relevant keyword text.

Major tech companies including Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft all offer their own personal assistants through a number of in-home and mobile devices. Like it or not, the personal voice assistant has become a significant player in driving online traffic and engagement, especially when it comes to search.

This trend is forcing marketers to understand the new challenges and opportunities that come with voice-driven search. While voice queries represent a fundamental shift in how brands target online search traffic, it isn't a doomsday scenario for your current SEO strategy. All it takes is some flexibility and a willingness to adapt to new circumstances. Here are some tips to get ahead of the curve.

You understand the importance of creating your own content, and you've been told that your content needs to feature keywords aimed at reaching your audience. But with several different factors to consider, choosing those organic search keywords can be overwhelming.

If you're not sure whether your marketing campaigns need optimizing for voice search, just ask Siri, Alexa or Cortana. They assist us with our hands-free browsing and shopping on a daily basis, thanks to voice recognition and interpretation. If you want your product or service to be found, optimize for voice search.

Why Is Voice Search Important?

It's easier for us to ask our smart devices a question than try to type into a tiny search box. Since it's predicted that 50% of all searches will come from voice and images by 2020, it's worth knowing how to make business information found when a user speaks.

At 2017's Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West Conference, digital marketing expert Benu Aggarwal revealed that 82 percent of mobile users search for local businesses, and 18 percent of local searches lead to a sale within 24 hours. This means SMBs should take voice search seriously to compete in the expanding online marketplace.

Email marketing is one of those tactics that can produce impressive results when done right, and can hurt your brand's reputation when done wrong. Send a helpful, targeted message and you just might have a customer for life; send a misdirected blast and you could see your unsubscribe rate skyrocket. 

It's not hard to see why this is the case. Just look at your own inbox and, if you dare, your spam folder. There are a lot of people trying to reach you through email, some with dubious intentions and others with a self-serving purpose. Don't be one of those senders.

The problem with most email marketing is that messages are sent purely to build awareness or make an announcement, which is unappealing to recipients who receive several such messages every hour.

Your business website needs content, so you've shared stories about product launches, helpful tips for your readers and engaging staff bios complete with professional photos. Then, silence. The website traffic is stagnant despite updating the blog each week like your colleagues told you to do. What's going on?

Chances are your content simply isn't getting indexed by search engines, which means your customers aren't finding your hard work either. Luckily, you can change that by implementing SEO, or search engine optimization.

Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) can help content creators and advertisers reduce bounce rates and increase conversions with fast-loading pages. But what is Google AMP exactly, and how can small and midsize businesses leverage the technology?

In this post, we'll give you an overview of the AMP Project and actionable tips on how you can improve your digital marketing strategy for mobile.

Prioritizing Page Speed

Page speed is just one factor on a long checklist of items digital marketers need to consider when optimizing a site for search. But it's one you shouldn't overlook — your customers' time is precious and even a few seconds can mean the difference between a bounce and a lead.

Video marketing has exploded in recent years, and it shows no signs of slowing down. One study by Cisco reported that by 2021, video will represent more than 80 percent of all internet traffic. According to research by Vidyard, businesses are publishing an average of 18 videos per month.

With so much video content being created, you're probably wondering how you can make your videos stand out.

To help make sure your videos reach your target audience and generate enough ROI to keep your video machine humming, we've compiled the top video SEO tips. But first, the basics: