With 3.2 billion net users globally making multiple search queries each day (3.5 billion and counting) that lead to a huge number of websites, the digital landscape is a very competitive space — to say the least. To make certain that the right eyeballs are landing in your website (for example related to what you are offering — whether a product or service), well-planned SEO tactics are crucial.
Many businesses end up avoiding doing SEO because they find it daunting, or find that they have a much better yield from paid media. When it could be true that a short-term, high-spend paid campaign can get the outcome that you are after, for long-term brand achievement, SEO is a crucial pillar to your marketing strategy and overall efforts.
As we mentioned, the world of SEO is constantly changing. If you’re thinking about getting your SEO efforts going or getting your strategies in better shape, take a look at our definitive SEO how-to manual. Also, to prepare yourself in 2020, here are 7 key trends that will surface that you can further optimise :
SEO Trend#1: Voice search — whenever they speak, be discoveredVoice search is growing exponentially, and will be the biggest change to reach the search engine optimization space, with 50 percent of all online searches predicted to be voice-based by next year.
Voice search is all about asking questions in real time, meaning that the targeted terms in SEO are more conversational. However, when using voice searches that the search engine has to do a great deal more work to get the relevant information that the user is looking for at that moment. This makes short choppy key words not so important anymore.
To optimise for voice search, ensure your content is designed to answer genuine queries rather than targeted to a particular keyword or set of keywords.
46 percent of all Google searches are location-based, meaning nearly half the searches are primed for local targeting and optimising. 34 percent of”near me” searches done via background and tablets lead to store visits. Local optimisation brings your company to the attention of the audience that is most likely to see you. It also associates you as a recognized company to the particular search term they are found for.
Make sure you claim and optimise listings across Google My Business, Apple Maps and Bing Places, while encouraging your clients to leave a review to increase your brand’s trustworthiness. Also, confirm that your website is mobile friendly, as most of the local searches are done through a mobile device. Voice search ties in here as well, as many times folks are looking for businesses to visit as they are moving.
SEO Trend#3: Mobile-first index and UX — it’s all about the encounterYou could have a truly responsive website on desktop computer, but when your cellular variant is not user-friendly, you are going to miss out. 52% of global online traffic stems from cellular users, and this number is only growing with the increasing adoption of smartphones to people’s daily lives.
However, technology and the way people find information through their mobile devices is getting so advanced that it is not sufficient to just have a cellular site. The interface has to be easy to read, grab people’s attention and have the ability to answer their queries at least keep them entertained. You can check whether your site is fully optimised for mobile with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
SEO Trend #4: Video content — Capture their imaginationCurrent internet users want to acquire information through online videos, either for academic purposes or just for entertainment. This is especially true for millennials and younger audiences. That’s why executing online video ought to be on the radar for most companies. A quality video can attract many users if it’s dynamic and doesn’t put viewers to sleep.
To reach more people with your videos you need to optimise it to search users. The description and headline are prime real estate for appropriate keywords and phrases. This will make sure that the video creates maximum impact amongst the audience most likely to engage with that topic.
SEO Trend #5: Image search — Look great, feel goodIn fact, according to MIT, 90 percent of information transmitted into the human brain is visual. Image search, or visual search, is a climbing trend that has come with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI). Images are scanned by AI to understand the components, and showcase the relevant desired results.
