The search algorithms of Google keeps changing by the time. Accordingly, you need to rethink your strategies to be most benefited from these ever-evolving changes. Like, only publishing content is not enough now. Your content must be outlined to solve the user’s problems consistently. Along with that, voice search, AI, knowledge graph, and Google lens are the new vectors of SEO quality criteria in 2020.
Search Engine Optimization involves designing a website that stands out from those of the competitors and making it easier for users to find the content they’re looking for. That’s why one must be conscious of what SEO trends are on the horizon.
So, let’s delve into the five new SEO trends for 2020 that you must apply in your strategy:
Increase Visitors By Optimizing Featured Snippets Wisely
Google continuously tends to deliver a better search experience for users. In the same light, it has recently revised its featured snippets. Featured Snippets, commonly referred to as position zero, appearing above the number first organic result for any search.
The content well optimized with featured snippets can get 2X higher CTR.
This is because 8.6 % of all the clicks on SERPs are due to snippets. Moreover, 70% of these snippets are from websites that aren’t in the first position. That means, even though you are not ranking in the first position, you can still generate more organic traffic.
But remember, Google has a sure way to evaluate Featured Snippets. Based on this evaluation, it boosts up a snippet to the top. Here are the top three types of snippets along with their optimization:
Paragraph
They usually start with a question with <H2> markup and answer in the text below with <p> markup. The questions typically begin from –
- Who is…?
- What is..?
- When is..?
- Why is..?
List
The following content comes under listicle format:
- Guides
- Recipes
- Step-by-step guide
- How-to
Outline your content in a list format with subheading tags <H2>. This outlining helps Google to understand the content and prioritize it accordingly.
Table
These are used for data points, pricing or rate charts, conversion charts, and comparison charts. You need to structure the data in a table format using appropriate <table> tags.
One last thing to consider here is to provide clear answers to all the queries of users related to the subject of your content.
The Significance of Voice Searches
As an estimation, by 2020, fifty percent of all search activity will be conducted by voice; and 30% of the browsing sessions will be executed without a screen.
Before the permanence of smartphones, people put words on the box of the search engines to find answers they are looking for. It is from where keywords came into existence. Nowadays, people prefer voice searches for their ease. Plus, these are also becoming a new trend with home voice assistants like Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Echo, and Voice Pod.
So, undoubtedly, optimizing your website for voice search generate more organic traffic. These are the factors that you require to work upon:
- Focus on page load speed. A voice SERP loads in 4.6 seconds, which is 52 percent more agile than the regular page.
- Remember, even a one-second delay in page load time can decrease your conversion rate by 7%.
- Concentrate on local searches as 22% of voice searches are looking for location-based content. Additionally, 58% of Internet users use voice search to find local businesses.
- Almost 40% of the answers to voice search queries are pulled from snippets. So, you need to optimize them well.
- Lastly, don’t forget to use the structured data and include the Q&A type of content.
- Next is Artificial Intelligence
“AI is more important than the Fire or Electricity,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO Google.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), one of the most important technologies today, is emerging at a swift pace. Google utilizes AI to enhance the results of user searches, especially in the unique searches that happen every day. Examples include Google’s reverse image search and Google Lens.
But how did AI become the new standard within Google algorithms?
The classical search engine optimization framework includes three major components – Content, Technical Seo, and Popularity. The Google Panda update of February 2011 enrolled user experience as the fourth component. After that, Hummingbird, Rankbrain, and recent SERP and Core updates have made the “user interface” accountable for the lion’s share in the latest SEO framework. The user interface is directly related to AI, and with the most recent advancements, it is not wrong to say it is the future of UX.
How does AI work?
Without delving you to cumbersome technical jargon, the AI is what helps Google to examine published content as valuable or not. Apart from that, 84.08% of US citizens use at least one of six programs, services, or devices that feature AI. Google search ranking heavily relies on AI today, and previous accounting factors are gradually declining in relevance.
How Can AI Help You?
Currently, user experience helps you achieve position one on Google. How much time visitors spent on your website is the metric that search engines use to measure UX. Numerous things AI counts while evaluating your site. Implementing these tips can help you rank better:
Optimize all the images on your website with captions, descriptive alt tags, and file names.
Add plenty of images on-site to raise the possibility of matching Google image results.
Ensure to have an impactful logo on signage, products, and other advertising media.
Make sure your site has a minimum bounce rate.
Mark Your Presence in Local Search Results
Today, 4 out of 5 people use search engines to find local information. Subsequently, it is essential to mark your presence in the local search results. A few tactics to improve your local search results include:
Ensure Your Website is Fully Mobile-friendly
The significant share of web searches is conducted through mobile phones. Consequently, mobile web pages are a growing trend, and it will get even more popular in 2020. Thanks to smartphones and the towers for better connectivity. The best part is 30% of mobile searches are location-centric, and 76% of the local searches end in a phone call (lead). Overall, it is estimated that mobile devices will influence over $1.4 trillion in local sales by 2021.
Backlinks And Location-Specific Optimization
Create, cache, and track backlinks from relevant and high-authority local sites. Focus on keywords with “near me” or “close by.” Searches for such keywords grew by 900% in the last two years. Also, add your address to the footer of your website with relevant schema/markup. Finally, improve your visibility with Google My Business listings as 86% of people search for a business through Google Maps.
Create Quality Content
Online ads or the PPC management services still work for driving businesses, but they’ll get even more costly in the coming year. And unfortunately, there’s no assurance that a user will click on your advertisement.
According to statistics, $38 billion in digital ad spend is wasted in 2017, as ninety-one percent of the total ads are viewed for just less than a second. That is why it is very crucial to create quality content. The content of your site must be well researched and should follow a logical structure that makes it clear and easy to read. In addition to that, it should be helpful to users in getting their questions answered. It should provide more than enough information for a reader to be able to make a decision.
In a nutshell, informative, casual, and quality content is the only type of content that will grow a website’s popularity in 2020 and beyond. Online consumers are smart enough to detect and ignore ads that are too salesy. 71% of people say that they bounce from a website whose content seems like a sales pitch. What they actually want is educational content delivered in any form such as videos, blog posts, podcasts, etc.
To summarize, SEO is evolving every single minute. Start investing your time in learning and implementing the fast-changing trends to stay ahead in the emerging competition. Use the techniques mentioned above and let us know what helped you the most. And if the idea of re-creating your digital marketing strategy with including these trends is blowing your head, we can help- contact us today!
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