As you probably know, Google makes many changes to how its search algorithm works every year. Any single one of these can affect your search ranking and may require you to make changes to your SEO strategy just to stay ahead of the game. As an SEO expert, keeping abreast of the current SEO trends is vital to your success. Even those who aren’t in the search optimization business can’t ignore what is happening, especially if they want their webpages and blogs to generate revenue.
So, what are the trends to be wary of in 2020 and what can you do to incorporate them into your campaigns? Let’s have a look at a few:
Voice search is set to boom
In 2017 there were 33 million voice search queries alone and data suggests that 20% of all searches performed on mobile devices now come from voice. The problem with voice search is that queries tend to be in a natural voice, not the shortened text we’ve become accustomed to. This will make long-tail keywords increasingly important over the coming months and years.
Featured snippets are going to continue to dominate search results
Google displays the featured snippet at the top of the search result, above any paid or organic ads. These snippets give you an approximate answer to your query based on the best answer available. Over the years snippets have reduced the need to click on search result links, with some estimates suggesting almost half of all Google searches lead to no clicks.
To combat this, question-based keywords will need to be employed in SEO so that you can tap into more detailed queries and provide in-depth answers.
Video will become the new king of the Internet (or already has)
Google owns YouTube and YouTube does video, so Google loves video, right? Kind of. Everybody loves video on the Internet these days. Take a look at the popular social media platforms and you’ll find most content comes with a video attached. Google (and the other search engines) have adapted to our habits and, according to research, are now 50 times more likely to show video on the first page of search results than text.
Creating useful video content and embedding this on your webpages as part of your SEO strategy is going to be vital in future years.
Bring on the influencers
There’s no getting past the influence of… er… influencers these days and statistics suggest that 17% of all businesses spent half (or more) of their marketing budgets on influencers each year. Influencers are becoming incredibly important for marketing campaigns and getting one to push your products or services is a sure-fire way to increase revenue.
But how do influencers affect SEO. Well, an influencer will generate traffic for your website and increase your online visibility. Online visibility and traffic are key factors in the Google search algorithm. By combining the extra traffic generated by an influencer and good basic SEO on your pages, you can increase your reach exponentially.
And finally…
Just when you feel you have a grasp of SEO, search engine algorithms change. This makes keeping abreast of trends incredibly important for anyone with a passing interest in SEO. I hope you enjoyed our discussion on the SEO trends to look out for in 2020. Keep an eye on our pages for more news, tips and information.