SEO is one of the most sought after solutions for generating traffic to a website. However, in order for SEO to work in your favor, the growth and marketing methods you have in place must be accurate and not outdated.
After all, there is no point in investing in the old and outdated SEO strategies that simply don’t work. The field of search engine optimization is a dynamic one, and with Google continually making changes all the time to their ranking factors and algorithms, it’s extremely important to always stay ahead of the curve and not stick with traditional methods that might no longer work as well today.
The concept of creating original and engaging content to rank higher in Google is always going through changes driven by advancements in technology and the algorithms that define the search results. If you want to stay ahead of the game and do your SEO, you must have a clear idea of the current SEO practices that can help you — and one of the best ways to accomplish this, is by staying updated with the latest news and talking points being discussed on top SEO blogs, websites and forms.
With all of that being said, let’s now take a closer look at seven current SEO trends that you should know. Working on these trends will help enhance the prospects of your online business.
Artificial Intelligence and SEO
AI or artificial intelligence is fast changing the ways people contact and interact with different forms of online content. For instance, RankBrain is an AI algorithm used by Google, and it has a powerful potential to learn new search information and grow in the process. For example, RankBrain only becomes more and more efficient with time.
As mentioned on the SEO Brisbane, it’s importance to make the most of the SEO strategies that work with RankBrain, companies should work with user experience signals. To make the most of AI, SEO experts can consider the factors like the time a user spends on the page and click-through rate. Besides helpful and captivating content, your primary focus needs to be on the development of backlinks.
Mobile-Friendliness of a Website
The recent changes in the Google algorithm focus on mobile-first indexing of websites which means that the algorithm considers a website’s mobile version as the main version of the website instead of the traditional desktop site. The reason is that most people these days make use of their smartphones to browse through websites. Recent statistics reveal about 73% of users worldwide will use smartphones by 2025 for browsing the internet.
Hence, you must have your website optimized in such a manner that Google can easily crawl through your URLs. Keep the meta robot tags for your mobile and desktop sites the same. This can also easily be tested through the mobile friendly site checker offered by Google.
The Growing Importance of the Voice Search
Voice search technology has improved tremendously in recent times and has given rise to technologies like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple’s Siri. Voice search amounts to a large number of searches these days. Hence, it is significant to optimize your site to make your site immediately discoverable as soon as someone uses voice search to find a product or service that you have to offer. Make sure that you use your keywords carefully when trying to optimize your site for voice search. Voice search optimization always works better with longer phrases that sound natural.
Using Long-Form Content to Generate Better SERP Results
It has been found time and again that long contents that are more than 3000 words have a better chance of generating higher traffic margins and even more shares. They also have a greater chance of generating backlinks used for boosting traffic. Hence, it makes sense to have long-form content well-researched and provide end-users with the value they are looking for. The content should include multiple H2 and H3 headings and have relevant keywords to make it easier to achieve proper ranking.
Longer content continually ranks better and if you’ve been looking around at any of the most shared content in reference to SEO, you will likely recognize the chart below. As pointed out by Hubspot, articles with word counts in the range of 2000-2500+ continually rank higher than sites with lesser word counts.
Video Optimization to Achieve Higher Traffic
Videos are some of the best tools to ensure better customer engagement. Whether it is retaining old customers or getting new buyers to show interest in what you have to offer, well-curated video content can genuinely get people interested in what you have to offer. Whether you choose to post your video on YouTube, your official website, or get it shared across multiple platforms, you can be sure that the video gets more people interested in your business than any other form of content. You should use keywords carefully while optimizing your video content. Additionally, you should use appropriate video descriptions and thumbnail images for the best results.
Featured Snippets can Garner Customer Attention
Featured snippets are short content with images that help generate customer interest telling them in brief about your product. When a prospective customer looks for such products, the snippets can quickly grab their attention, and encourage them to know further about your business. Unlike the long-form content that tells people in detail about your business, the short form snippets offer valuable content to the readers that they may find helpful. The snippets may include product prices, images, and other essential information. While creating snippets, you must consider things people would be interested to know before using your products.
To learn more about how featured snippets work, be sure to read through this reference guide provided by Google.
Image Optimization and Loading Speeds
Focus on image optimization so that people may discover your website simply through an image search. Your website should have relevant images of high quality. Apart from using unique file names for the images you are planning to post, you must make sure to use alt tags as well. These tags make your images detectable and discoverable by the search engine crawlers. You should use images with the site map so that they get spotted with ease. Having an effective image SEO strategy can help you have the traffic that you are looking for.
How to Get the Most Out of Your SEO Efforts
As you can imagine, SEO is a highly dynamic field and you must keep up with the latest changes all the time to make the most of your optimization efforts. Using the SEO strategies described above can help you optimize your site efficiently and have the flow of traffic that you desire.
Just as important as making sure your backlinks and site structure are all fully optimized, is making sure you are staying updated with the latest SEO trends and working methods. Be sure to read through any of these top SEO blogs to stay updated on the latest changes and algorithm movements made by Google.
This content was originally published here.