Search engine optimization (SEO) tactics change often. If you aren’t sure how to keep up with the times, your company’s Google rankings could suffer.
With the rise in online competition and new websites and blogs, you will need to keep yourself up to date with the latest trends in SEO to rank higher. There will be a need to redefine to content strategy and the use of technology.
Before you search for more information on how to upgrade your SEO, why not check out what you can expect in the coming year? These are just some of the trends you can expect to see in SEO and digital marketing in 2020.
People Will Search How They Speak
An increasing number of people are using their smartphones’ voice assistants to search the internet while they’re on the go. When people type, they tend to go to with the shortest phrase possible to get the point across. The opposite is true when searching using voice commands. Because voice searches tend to use longer, more complicated phrases, companies need to adjust their SEO tactics.
Rather than using one- or two-word key phrases, they will need to use scalable phrases that are both long and short. Adding tables or bullet points to content can further chances of Google picking up your website as a result of a voice search.
There Will Be Even More Focus on Performance
The user experience on your website has always been important, but Google and other search engines are ramping up the game in the coming year. As the calendar changes over in a few months, you’ll want to focus on building faster websites that keep up with technological changes such as 5G mobile and fiber optic cables. The faster your site loads, the easier it is to navigate, and the better content it has, the more positive the user experience will be. Remember, Google changes page rankings often, but it almost never knocks down pages that people genuinely like.
Artificial Intelligence Will Become More Important
Artificial intelligence isn’t just available for service phone calls anymore. AI collects and analyzes data and has become an everyday occurrence and means of predicting what a client wants and providing it. The best time to familiarize yourself with artificial intelligence and what it means for your SEO strategy is now.
In the near future, Google intends to use it to read your website, understand any testimonials you provide and analyze any content related to your company name to evaluate where your business should rank in a search result.
Mobile Devices Are at the Forefront
Fewer people than ever are accessing the internet from laptop or desktop computers, which means your website won’t get far if it isn’t mobile-friendly. Beyond a responsive design that works for screens of all sizes, you also need to create rich snippets. These pieces of information show up on Google’s search engine results page and should include important information such as what you sell, your location, and your hours or phone number.
Whether you just created your website a few months ago, or you haven’t changed the homepage in a decade, now is the time to up your SEO game. Don’t stop there, either. Remember to keep abreast of changing trends in SEO and to update your website as needed to reflect those new trends.
Snippets to drive most of the traffic
Over the last few years, Google has renovated the search engine to make the user experience very easy and seamless. Featured Snippets are one fine example of improved user experience. On the basis of query searched by users, Google ranks the best result in the form of a snippet. This snippet is ranked above the #1 search result.
And no doubt, these featured snippets generate around 55% of the clicks. Hence, this trend can’t be taken lightly, considering that more than half of the clicks are driven through snippets. In 2020, the use of snippets will increase, and more queries will have featured snippets.
Video content
Just like the popularity of voice searches, the videos are also becoming equally popular medium for information. Video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are the new forms of televisions for people.
The new generation of internet users prefer browsing and getting information using videos because these are easier and consume lesser time. That’s why, you can’t miss out on making the most of video content for your business.
Many businesses are already using YouTube as a social media platform which is helping them to not only drive traffic but also acquire customers. To make the most of this trend, you’ll need to create videos with high-quality content and optimize it for SEO.
You should use video sitemap to let Google know about your keywords and related information. The keywords should be used properly in the metadata of videos and they should be shared on other social media platforms.
Informative content with high word-count
It is obvious that the content on your website and blog should be of very high quality to beat the competition. But along with quality, you will have to take care of quantity as well.
Quantity here means that the content should offer all the information related to the topic. Users like to get to know everything from a single place rather than visiting multiple websites for a single thing.
So, the key here is to include every possible detail in the article and make it very informative. Experts suggest an ideal word count of 2000 to 3000 words. The lengthy articles also increase the time users spend on the page, which eventually improves the SEO of that page.
Wrapping up:
These are the top SEO trends that you should be expecting in 2020. Know these trends and modify your SEO strategy accordingly to improve your search rankings, boost traffic to website, and eventually increase the conversion rate.
Which trend from these do you think should be the number one priority for websites? Let us know your thoughts via the comments below.