Here are four ways you can adjust your site SEO strategy to account for the new face of SERPs.

1) Start aiming for the answer box

Stay in the SERP spotlight by getting your website selected to be featured in the answer box. The answer box still falls below paid results (if there are any), but it is prominently called out.

2) Make local optimization a priority

If you have brick and mortar business locations, getting in that local pack is more important than ever. Otherwise, organic search space on page one of this SERP is virtually non-existent after four paid results and the local pack.

3) Stop writing for keywords, start writing for topics

Hopefully, you aren’t still targeting one specific keyword with your content. Keywords aren’t dead by any means, but it’s always a better idea now to write pieces that target topics, using a variety of semantically linked keywords.

4) Form a closer alignment with paid search

Paid and organic search teams need to coordinate to maximize brand exposure in search. As noted recently by Thomas Stern, a mutually-beneficial relationship between the two will allow paid search to boost visibility while organic search identifies gaps in the competitive landscape.

Controlling the conversation around your brand is critical to upholding and improving reputation and converting more customers. Here's how to make sure you monopolize all the available paid and organic brand real estate on the first page of Google.

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Paid Search

While it seems obvious to buy your brand terms in paid search to acquire more real estate, many additional tactics exist to maximize this space. The following are ad extensions available in Google that increase the depth of your brand listing:

• Location extensions
• Call extensions
• Offer extensions
• Sitelinks extensions
• Product extensions
• Social extensions
• Dynamic search ad extensions
• App extensions

Google+

Brands that have verified Google+ accounts can capture side rail real estate for brand terms by utilizing rel="publisher". This works similarly to authorship but is tied to Google+ pages as opposed to individual accounts. The result is a rather large piece of real estate that includes your follower count and a link with image to your latest post.

Google Images

Optimizing key images on your site such as your logos is another great way to take up potential search engine results page (SERP) real estate. Image search has the potential to drive more incremental visits than you might expect.

YouTube & Other Video

In an effort for Google to continually promote their own properties, videos from YouTube are becoming more prevalent for a variety of different search queries, including brand terms. Having branded YouTube videos is a great way to own your brand terms. In order to take advantage you need to have at least one video hosted on YouTube.

Google+ Local

Local presents another great opportunity to occupy additional brand real estate. Make sure you have a verified business listing and your feed is optimized.

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