Each year there is a new list of SEO trends to review and possibly incorporate into your overall SEO strategy. As time goes by, each year’s list of trends tends to have a fewer number of “shock and awe” predictions that very few experts or analysts anticipated. This certainly does not mean that SEO has become stale, lost its usefulness, or reached a plateau from which there can be little growth.
Search engine optimisation for online content remains a critical part of developing and distributing useful, engaging, valuable and ultimately rank-worthy websites and web pages. Unless you simply couldn’t care less about whether or not someone finds or finds interesting whatever you have to say in your online content, you need to utilise SEO to attract visitors, no matter where your online presence may be. A stand-alone website that focuses on your company? Industry-specific blog? Tips and tricks posted via Instagram imagery? Wherever you are on the web, SEO helps make you more visible to your intended audience.
With that in mind, here are eleven SEO trends applicable to the coming year that also have evergreen qualities that keep them effective and successful long after the year has come to a close.
#1: Increased use of voice search via smart devices (like phones, tablets, and watches) will require a greater focus on natural language queries. The past several years have seen a shift in search input, with more users now making voice queries rather than typed ones. If you have ever tried to use the talk-to-text feature of an earlier generation smartphone or other device, you know that it can be frustrating, especially when information gets lost during translation. Devices are becoming more capable of capturing the user’s vocal input, which means that content must be adapted to conform to search indexing that matches results with more conversational ways of speaking.
#2: Unparalleled user experience (UXO) remains vital in SEO. Key focal points of the user experience should be readability, navigation, and site speed. As noted elsewhere in this article, search engines remain dedicated to delivering content that as precisely matches a user’s needs or interests as possible. Whether this is done via intuitive A.I. features like Google’s RankBrain, mobile-first optimisation of content, adopting natural language keywords and phrases as part of on-page SEO, or one of many other actions, the user is the vital link in the success or failure of any web-based content. The internet is definitely a “user’s market” too because there is no shortage of information that does not already have a handful of identical or extremely similar content already in existence. It is critical that you deliver what the user wants in the most engaging, informative, and appealing way possible. If you don’t, there are a dozen other web pages out there that are striving to do the same.
#3: Capitalising on mobile optimisation continues to be an important aspect of SEO. This is even more critical now that Google has made it known that search indexing of online content will consider the mobile version of a web page to be the official or “real” version. Delivering mobile-first content will be the norm, whether a user is searching from a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer. The use of mobile devices continues to steadily grow and more people than ever before are using those mobile devices to perform nearly all of their Internet-related activities while they are on the go. As a marketer, you not only have to meet the need for content that concisely conforms to what users are searching for but also the device they are using to find it.
#4: Delivering comprehensive, high quality, original content to users should be considered one of the most important aspects of your SEO strategy. Page rank no longer depends almost entirely on having the right title tags, headings, and keywords. Search engines are now also evaluating how well your content covers a topic in terms of authority, originality, and comprehensive data delivery. The internet is already over-saturated with content on practically every topic imaginable; indeed, it is nearly impossible to find a subject that doesn’t have at least a dozen web pages focused on it already. Because of this abundance of data and the greater user demand for more precise information, marketers remain under pressure to provide unique content that fulfills a user’s needs as much as possible.
#5: In addition to the continued delivery of high quality content, marketers will need to perform thorough auditing of existing content as part of an effective SEO strategy. As soon as content is published on the internet, it begins to depreciate in terms of value to the user. This is even true for evergreen content, even though it does have a longer shelf life. This depreciation generally means that content becomes outdated and stale within a matter of months. Some content on the internet, however, has remained in place without revision for several years (even a decade or longer). Marketers and website owners need to go through every piece of their online content to ensure that it remains useful and valuable to searchers and consumers. Implementing a periodic content auditing plan can help you keep your content relevant, engaging, valuable, and rank-worthy.
#6: The use of proper analytics tools will become almost mandatory for SEO. While many marketers and business professionals already use some type of analytics program to measure the performance of their online content and marketing material, it will be essential to do so in the coming year. Search engine features and functions continue to become more user-focused, which requires marketers to step up and deliver content that precisely and comprehensively responds to a user’s needs. Performance metrics across marketing channels varies to such an extent that a centralised analytics tool is necessary to track what channels you are using, which content is currently offered, and how effective your material is at reaching your desired audience.
#7: Understanding Google’s RankBrain and making it work for you (because it isn’t going to go away). In short, RankBrain is an artificially intelligent system that evaluates various user behaviours, among other things, and uses those factors to rank search results. Google has already stated that RankBrain is one of the top three ranking signals and they continue to evolve their A.I. processes, so it is obvious that you need to get on board with what RankBrain is and how it works. Two of the most significant user behaviours that RankBrain evaluates are click through rate (CTR) and on-page dwell time.
The CTR is how quickly a user clicks to and away from a search result, and the dwell time is how long the user spends on the selected search result. Search relevance, keywords, and headlines can make an impact on a search result’s initial appeal to a user, but the on-page content is what keeps their attention. Research shows that a dwell time of three minutes is considered average; higher quality content that delivers comprehensive and in-depth information about the subject matter can increase that dwell time. RankBrain takes that information, along with the click through rate, and uses those factors (plus others) to raise or lower the ranking position of search results.
#8: Enhancing content to deliver local results in SERPs. People are using mobile devices to search for information while they are on the go, and a large percentage of what they are looking for has to do with what is being offered near home. Tailoring your content to capitalise on ranking well in local search results won’t impact your overall page rank but it can make a dramatic difference locally. While you may not have the most visible brick-and-mortar location or you cannot afford roadside billboards, television commercials, or radio advertisements, you can let people know who and where you are in their area (the “near me” search results). Best of all, local SERP inclusion is relatively easy and ridiculously inexpensive, with the potential for a huge ROI from local consumers.
#9: Less focus on premium ranking in SERPs and greater focus on capturing user attention with featured results and the “quick answer” box. Google’s search results often provide a quick answer box before providing a list of links relevant to a searcher’s query and featured content (like videos or snippets) also ranks higher than the traditional list of search results. While a top ten ranking is still desirable, attention is shifting away from SEO focused solely on achieving a coveted spot on the first SERP. For users who are on the go and in need of immediate information, featured content and Google’s “quick answer” often provide all the data they want or are willing to review before making a decision or clicking a link.
#10: Increased reduction in on-page monetization components in favor of value-added, user-focused content. Google has already implemented an algorithm that down-ranks web pages that have more advertisements than actual subject matter, and this trend is going to continue in the future (much to the pleasure of users everywhere). Users do not want to be assaulted by marketing material when they visit a web page and search engines are quickly catching on by providing higher ranking in SERPs for online content that has fewer ads and less overt salesmanship. If your content is engaging, useful, and highly valuable to a potential consumer, they will reward you with their patronage.
#11: To reduce page errors and possible penalties from search engines, link maintenance should be near the top of the list of core components to an effective and successful SEO strategy. While the use of authoritative and legitimate backlinks stays necessary, link maintenance involves a much more thorough analysis of the links included in your online content. Links need to be checked periodically to ensure that their destinations are still viable and valuable, or updated where necessary to direct a user to online content that may be more useful than the previously linked information. Marketers and website owners should also make sure links are checked across a variety of devices; some links that work properly on a desktop may not work on a tablet or smartphone, and vice versa.
Last but not least, don’t forget the basics of SEO. While you might be cracking the whip over your SEO and content editing teams to make sure they are implementing as many new trends and predictions as possible, keep in mind that the foundation aspects of SEO still work. If your efforts seem to be getting you nowhere fast (or going downhill quickly), give some thought to starting over from scratch as much as you can and applying the tried-and-true principles of SEO to your online marketing efforts. At the very least, it will provide you with a solid platform upon which to add and build and, at best, a strong “go with what you know” effort will keep your online presence visible, viable, and competitive while you revamp your SEO and marketing strategies.
