Take advantage of these hot marketing trends in 2013

If 2012 is any indication of what search marketing would be in 2013, here is a fearless forecast of what could be the biggest and hottest internet marketing trends you should leverage on.

Content will continue to reign as king

According to a study conducted by SEO online publication Search Engine Watch, strengthening their content development competency is the topmost priority among SEO experts for 2013. The recent search algorithm updates put the spotlight on high quality and unique content versus the thin and duplicate content that prevailed during SEO's dark ages.

A separate survey conducted by Econsultancy, an online digital marketing resource organisation, revealed that 90% of all CMOs believe that content will be an integral part of online marketing in the succeeding 12 months and 73% agree that businesses are becoming content publishers.

A more sophisticated approach to link building

In fact, many argue that link building is an outdated SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practice and link earning is the new and more effective way to generate a steady stream of link juice to your site. This came about when Google started penalising sites with spammy and low quality link profiles.

In 2013, make it your search marketing New Year's resolution not to do any more cheap shortcuts when it comes to earning links for your site. Forget about the substandard directories and submission sites and earn high quality inbound links through great content and across various channels such as social media. To be perfectly candid, building links for Google's sake is passé. Create links for humans and make sure that you have something useful and compelling to say.

Seeing new opportunities in Google's new search results

Google is the perfect embodiment of how internet marketing and the Internet itself is constantly shifting. If there's a key lesson that every marketer should learn from Google is having the mindset to embrace change and seeing it as an opportunity instead of a hurdle.

Okay, enough with the motherhood statements. 2012 witnessed what could probably be the most dramatic changes in how Google displays search results. From being a straightforward no-nonsense list, Google's SERP is now more information-rich. Incorporating several additional elements including Wikipedia entries, social, Google authorship via Google+ and reviews, Google is basically telling marketers to broaden their marketing spectrum and embark on a more holistic marketing approach. Variety will play a key role in internet marketing in 2013 and if you want to be a step ahead, make sure you got all these bases covered.

No room for the lazy in 2013

Clearly, 2013 is all about quality and sophistication, attributes that cannot be achieved by internet marketers who got stuck with the second-rate and tawdry SEO practices of the past. Having the will to bring your search marketing tactics to a whole new level is necessary. With that being said, keep in mind these hot search marketing trends in 2013 so as to avoid being scorched by your competitors.