Ranking in search engines is not just an action: it is a series of actions, knowledge, experience and efforts that you put into getting ranked.
People talk about it as if it were a goal and try to reach it by their own “rules”. Some trust their digital marketing companies to do it properly and without errors, while others do the work themselves based on the trends, tactics and best practices that the “SEO experts” suggest.
It’s impossible thought to simply make a list of actionable trends and repeat the same set of check marks for any great length of time. SEO is an ongoing process, monitoring the important marketing KPIs will always be crucial and SEO services will by no means stay the same year after year.
Staying on top of the competition is kind of like a chess game, where you need to try and think one step ahead.
Here are some of the current SEO trends that Google is putting the most weight on right now and will continue to be a ranking factor in the near future:
1. Mobile Optimization
You won’t find a marketing agency that won’t preach the importance of mobile optimization of websites. For any business, this is the bare minimum for success and high ranking. But, why is it so important?
The reason is that our society is make huge leaps in technology almost daily, with mobile devices at the center of most of it. Having a mobile-optimized website allows it to be accessible for everyone, regardless of the device they are looking at it on.
2. Page Load Speed
Speeding up your website is a powerful ranking factor. A different in 1-2 seconds of the time it takes your website to load can be the difference in ranking on page 1 of Google and page 1. So obviously this can have huge impact on SEO ranking and sales.
If you do not want get penalized by the search engines, you’ll need to optimize your website for all types of devices. Continual check through a speed test will greatly inform you about your website performance.
The best place to check the load speeds of both mobile and desktop is Googles PageSpeed Insights and to see what might be slowing it down, I tend to use Pingdoms tools.
3. Quality Content
There’s no doubt that content will continue to be an essential part of SEO. Search engine optimization is impossible without quality content, which means that its role in ranking probably won’t be changing much anytime soon.
Publishing relevant content (including images, videos, written content, etc.) provides more keywords and content for the search engines to learn about you, your business and will bring you up in the rankings through relevant keywords.
4. User Experience
As people continue to have more choices in what they read and who they can do business with, so increases the chance of them jumping from one business to another.
In avoid encountering a situation like that, you need to “persuade” your website visitors and the search engines that see your business as the best choice for them.
Your customer’s opinion, experience, feelings have become more than just a sale: it’s become a ranking factor for the search engines. The result of good user experience directly relates to your conversion rate, growth in sales, higher SEO rankings and positive reviews.
5. Voice Search
Currently you’ll probably find that people give preference to texting as their primary form of searching, voice search is quickly coming up as the next big form of search. I personally see it becoming the dominant method in the next few years, thanks to devices like Alexa, Echo and Google Home.
Searching something through voice search tools take you less time than texting it. Simply speaking into a device can sometimes generate better results. Because of this shift in how people search, it’s going to have a direct impact on SEO, as it has a direct connection to user experience. Your website, obviously, will soon need to be optimized for voice search. For this, you need to:
- Focus on website speed
- Use natural language in the copy on your site
- Include long-tail keywords
- Write more local content if you own a local business
One simple way to prepare for this is to make sure your site has an FAQ page that clearly posts common questions customers and clients have along with a detailed answer.
SEO in one form or another will always be integrated part of digital marketing strategies. Finding out the exact trends that will bring you success in future is not an easy task. However, taking a step out and making some predictions based on its statistics will be a good idea to plan future strategies.
Looking for more great tips on improving your SEO game?
Why SEO and Marketing Automation is so Important
Homepage SEO Tips to Help You Increase Organic Site Traffic
5 Ways Your SEO Can Benefit From Responsive Web Design
Author
Tigran is a marketing and creative content specialist at Smarketa.com with a primary focus on SEO, PPC and customer satisfaction for eCommerce business. Being a true humanist he draws inspiration from the simple thing as everyday life and the matters one come across on a daily bases doing his best and above to help everyone around.