I am actually in a big discussion in another forum about SEO in 2015.
A pretty bright gentlemen over there dropped some pretty intellectual information on me that I have yet had the chance to sit down, open up and dive into.
I think Backlinks are going to be extremely important in 2015 and years to come. And everything now is going to be up in smoke. Why? Because google is changing their algorithms all the time. One of the biggest changes has been to the Hummingbird algorithm and conversational search.
Soon your current searches will be based off of your previous searches depending on the query asked. We are looking at the future and EVERYTHING will be voice activated. Your keywords WILL change into more conversational phrases and authority sites will probably kill you in ranking and SERPs because of prior searches.
YOu see, a person is bound to type in the name of a popular store like AMAZON before typing in the name of a website they don't know, probably due to the fact that THEY DON"T KNOW IT EXISTS. Which is why keyword ranking WAS important. BUT Most people that use key phrases when searching a product aren't savvy shoppers online and look for something general. As online shoppers become more aware of their places they usually shop at, they will just continue to go there and Google will soon show them only the results of places they previously visited.
Google has already stated that they want to focus less on keywords and more on continuing conversations.
Which brings me to what the member on the forum said.
He told me to check out the area of Computational Semiotics and gave me a list of things to study. As soon as I wrap my head around all of it, I will be back to post.
He also put me up on utilizing data aggregators the government uses instead of tools like scrapebox and such. If I thought SEO couldn't get anymore DEEP, down digs the rabbit a little more.