Year on year, more websites are being launched on the internet, meaning there is more competition than ever before to get your website and content noticed. Therefore, it is important that you continually update and evaluate your marketing strategy so that you keep up to speed and are ahead of the competition. If you run a website, then it is likely that you are already familiar with search engine optimization and how important it is to your website’s success.
However, with a new year comes with it the need for a new approach. It never hurts to be one step ahead of the trends for the coming year. Search engines now have specific requirements that websites must adhere to if they want to climb the search engine results. Therefore, by being aware of the potential requirements search engines may make, you can update your website and be prepared.
Voice Search Optimization
As technology is developing, so is the way we surf and search the internet. One of the biggest changes in how we use the internet today is the development of voice search. Long gone are the days of searching the internet by typing in what we are looking for into the search bar. Now we can speak to our innovative smartphones to find the answers we want.
While the use of voice search is a relatively new trend, with the growing use of smartphones and home-voice assistants, it is likely to be even more popular in 2020. Therefore, it is important that your website is voice-search friendly and that you structure your content and keywords with voice searches in mind.
Snippets Dominate Search Clicks
One of the reasons why Google has gone from strength to strength, which has resulted in them being the most popular and most used search engine on the internet, is because of their commitment to improving their users’ experience. This has led to the creation of Featured Snippets, which provides users with quick and easy answers to their searches.
It is important that your SEO strategy is aware of this feature of Google and takes advantage of it. Utilizing this feature could help drive more traffic to your website and boost your number of hits, so make sure that your website provides clear answers to frequently asked questions.
Influencers Should Be Used
Many people are put off by intrusive ads that feature while they are browsing, but they are more likely to trust the information provided by reviews. This, alongside the recent growth in popularity of social media influencers, is a great way to create more engagement online. Influencer marketing has grown yet again in 2019, so we can expect it to be just as popular, if not more popular, in 2020.
Many digital marketing companies are investing more in their influencer marketing campaigns, as the results have been impressive. Influencers can charge big money for their collaborations with websites and companies, but they can also deliver big results.
You Need Secure Websites
While user safety may not be one of the most obvious things that come to mind when you think about SEO, it is often one of the most important. Online traffic will not want to visit or stay on your website if they deem it to be unsafe. Therefore, if your website is not secure or it features a ‘not secure’ warning, you can expect to see a high bounce rate. This could then have an impact on your position in the search engine result listings. Internet users like to know that their data and personal information is secure, so you can expect to limit your visitors and traffic if you do not have the safety measures provided to make users feel safe.
Mobile Web Pages Will Determine Rankings
As discussed earlier, many of us now use our smart and mobile devices to access the internet, which means that if your website is not mobile user-friendly then you will likely struggle to gain more traffic and boost your rankings. This is already a popular trend amongst SEO in 2019, but mobile-friendly websites are expected to be even more important in 2020. To have a mobile user-friendly website, your website needs to be easy to read with an interface that is easy to navigate. Studies have shown that around four out of five local searches on search engines take place on mobile devices, so failing to make your website mobile user-friendly in 2020 will limit how much your website can grow and develop.
Videos, Videos, and More Videos
Internet users like to be able to find the information they are looking for quickly and effectively. This explains why videos are a much more popular source of information than they used to be. As well as voice searches, videos on the internet are becoming a sought-out form for users finding the information that they want online both easily and quickly. Therefore, this is a form of content that you should start to take more seriously in 2020. Research carried out by Google has found that six out of 10 people would much rather watch online videos, compared to television, which has explained why watching YouTube has become the modern-day television set for many internet users.
High-Quality Content
While it has always been important that your website has a good amount of varied and high-quality content, this should continue to be one of your main concerns while heading into 2020. The internet is full of content and every Google search creates thousands of hits. Every year, more websites are being created. Therefore, you need to give internet users a reason to visit your website as opposed to others in the same niche by creating high-quality content.
Concentrate on producing well-written long-form content, preferably 1,000+ words. Include relevant keywords and break up text with lists, bullets, and photos.
By being one step ahead of the SEO trends that are likely to dominate 2020, you can get ahead of your competition and create optimized content ready for the new year!