As a business owner, staying on top of ever-changing search engine optimization (SEO) trends can be intimidating. Google constantly releases updates that affect how businesses appear in online searches, from keywords to content marketing strategies. Navigating these developments requires dedication—but it doesn’t have to be daunting or time-consuming. Here are 8 SEO trends every business owner should know.
1. Digital Marketing
Businesses are increasingly shifting their marketing efforts from traditional forms to digital. To capitalize on this shift, ensure that your website and blog content is optimized for mobile devices and voice search queries. Additionally, make sure you’re staying up-to-date with social media platforms; these are great places to increase user engagement and connect with potential customers. Additionally, digital marketing services can be extremely helpful in driving more eyes to your website. If you don’t have the in-house expertise, consider hiring an agency to help. Also, keep in mind that the majority of digital marketing campaigns are now focused on creating content that provides value to potential customers.
2. Structured Data
Google’s indexing technology has become more sophisticated, and the company is now crawling and understanding webpages’ structured data. This means that you can use syntax to describe your content to search engines in a way that they can better understand. Structured data also helps with voice search optimization as many queries are answered using featured snippets pulled from websites with properly annotated content. For instance, in the case of recipes, you should use schema or microdata to markup ingredients, cooking times, and other relevant information so it can be easily found by Google’s spiders.
3. Natural Language Processing
Natural language processing (NLP) is a computer science technique that helps machines understand and interpret human language. NLP helps search engines better understand the meaning behind words. As more people use voice commands to search, NLP will become increasingly important for SEO as it allows search engines to better process queries in natural language instead of relying on exact keyword matches. As technology continues to evolve, businesses should be aware of how they can leverage this trend to increase visibility and rank higher in search results. Additionally, by incorporating more natural language into content, websites may see increased engagement from users who are able to read and interact with webpages more easily.
4. HTTPS/SSL
HTTPS and SSL are becoming increasingly important in terms of SEO. Google has been actively pushing the use of HTTPS, and even announced that starting in July 2018, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as ‘not secure’. This means that if you don’t have an HTTPS website, visitors may be automatically warned against accessing your page. Getting an SSL Certificate (Secure Sockets Layer) is not too difficult, and it can make a huge difference to your SEO efforts and overall website security. Not only will it help with ranking higher on search engine results pages, but it also helps build trust between you and your customers.
5. User Experience
Google is now taking user experience into account when ranking websites. This means that if your website loads slowly or isn’t mobile-friendly, you may negatively impact your SEO efforts. To ensure a positive user experience, make sure that your website is loading quickly and use responsive design to maximize readability across different devices. Additionally, pay attention to page structure and navigation so visitors can easily find what they’re looking for on your site. While this may seem like a hassle, if done properly it can have a big impact on your website’s visibility and rankings.
6. Video Content
Video content is becoming increasingly important, both for organic and paid search campaigns. According to a report by Cisco, video content will account for over 80% of all internet traffic in the next two years. That means businesses need to start investing more time and energy into creating videos that appeal to their target audience. Videos can be used to showcase products or services, as well as to provide helpful information about your business and industry. Additionally, YouTube is now the second largest search engine after Google & it is essential for any SEO strategy. Creating compelling video content will help you stand out from the competition and reach a wider audience.
7. Mobile-First Indexing
Mobile-first indexing is a Google algorithm that prioritizes mobile pages for search engine rankings. As more users rely on their phones and other devices to browse the internet, it’s important that your website is optimized for smaller screens so visitors have a better experience. Make sure all of your content can be easily accessed—including videos, images, and links—from any device. Optimizing for mobile also means ensuring your website loads quickly; if it takes too long to load, you risk losing potential customers. Additionally, pay attention to how well your website works on different browsers and make sure there are no broken links or faulty redirects when someone visits from a mobile device.
8. Organic Share of Voice
Organic share of voice is a metric used to measure the visibility of a company or brand in organic search results. It’s important for businesses to pay attention to their organic share of voice, as it can be indicative of how they are performing compared to competitors. Companies should track and improve their organic share of voice over time, as this can lead to better rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). By staying up-to-date on the latest SEO trends, companies can ensure that their websites are optimized for maximum visibility in SERPs and have an edge over other competitors. Tracking your organic share of voice is a great way to stay ahead of the game and maximize your online presence.
Keeping up with the latest SEO trends can be a challenge, but it is essential for businesses to stay ahead of the curve. By taking advantage of some of the approaches discussed in this article—such as optimizing for mobile, creating video content, and tracking organic share of voice—businesses can ensure that their websites remain visible and competitive on SERPs. To stay on top of SEO trends, make sure to keep an eye out for changes and updates from Google.
