You probably thought you knew all about SEO. However, digital marketing has been on a constant move ever since the Internet first became a part of our daily lives. SEO strategies need to change on a yearly level as technology advances from day to day. In the spirit of this elusive progress, the year 2020 will usher in new trends in digital marketing. Knowing the latest SEO trends is imperative if you wish to excel as a marketer in the year to come.
Semantic search instead of a keywords search
If you ever get the feeling while browsing online that Google knows you better than you thought, then you are probably right. Namely, most search engines have stopped optimizing content according to searchable keywords, as they now examine the context of your query and the search intent in order to produce more relevant results.
A semantic search is truly the thing of the future as it provides you with just the results you wanted. It manages to do so by guesstimating the context if the search perfectly. For instance, if you typed in the word “dog” ion the search box a few years ago, most of the search results would concern the animal.
However, semantic search allows the search engine to produce other results, such as the meaning of the slang term “dog” as in a “friend.” Instead of searching for a single keyword in a semantic vacuum, Google now tries to identify your intent and provide semantically more relevant hits.
Mobile-friendliness
Today, Australians spend more time online than they do working. Some 92% of your compatriots watch the TV, listen to the radio, and go online every day so it is no wonder that they access the World Wide Web from devices other than their laptop or desktop computer. The increasing number of smartphone visits means that your website needs to be mobile-friendly.
All of the pages on the website should look the same regardless of the device they are being displayed on. This feature was a luxury half a decade ago but if your site lacks it now, you might as well bring the website down. Whether they are waiting for their meal to be ready or they are passing time in the toilet, users are more likely to reach your homepage on their mobile phone so make sure that the UX is just as same as the one on a laptop.
The rise of voice search
As we speak (pun intended), the ratio of textual versus voice search is roughly the same. In 2020, however, voice search will start dominating the preferred search parameters method, at least when it comes to search engines. Voice search and voice commands have been around since the early days of the Internet but their popularity took off rather recently.
The secret behind its success is the fact that Google voice search can now recognize dozens of languages spoken in the weirdest of accents. The more people search using the tone and the color of their voice, the more will the search engine learn. Furthermore, the rise of voice search is directly connected with mobile-friendliness as most people use their smartphones as mikes to search the Internet. This just goes to show that future trends are interconnected.
Creating content like no other
With the popularity of keywords going down, good-quality content is in demand. In fact, clients more and more approach SEO agencies looking for popular content that would be featured on their website. The demand for the content to be original is nothing new but it is precisely this parameter that will draw the borderline between average and excellent SEO content strategies in the coming year.
Credible sources, figures, and infographics are still in vogue but you should work some more on originality with your team of content writers. They can retain the old topics and even titles but their approach to the subject matter should constantly change. People are out there browsing for innovative solutions to their problems so your guide, for example, should distinctive in terms of the solutions it offers.
Technical SEO: The issue of speed
As search engine optimization grows more organic and semantic as the years go by, websites become technically more complex each year. Besides Java Script, the speed of the website is one of the biggest segments of the website for you to invest in. One of the reasons why pages are opening faster is because Google rewards those sites that are faster than the competition. It’s not that you’re in a race but have in mind that no user will wait for full 20 seconds for a page to open nor will Google rank high websites that are slow to respond.
Building backlinks
One form of off-page SEO is backlinks, alongside social media links that have long ago become a standard in digital marketing. Backlinks point towards a page online alongside a multitude of other links. For Google, they are a token of credibility because the scenario in which numerous other pages point towards a single page on your website or a blog, then it must be good.
In this sense, think of backlinks as roads that all converge in a single point. The more important the pathways to the landing page (perhaps an Instagram or YouTube influence mention you in their vlog), the better will such a page rank in search results.
If you want to stay at the top of the digital marketing game, then you simply must follow SEO trends. In 2020, voice search, original content, and mobile-friendly website will be just some of the most popular trends.