So you’ve done your part to make your website SEO-friendly. You checked your ranking today and found that you’re within the first page of the search results. End of story, right?
Well, not really. If you regularly check search engine rankings for the same niche or topic, you would notice that the results are quick to change. You may be number one today, but the next day, you’ll see your website on the second or third page.
With this, you can only surmise that Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) are highly volatile. That said, what do you plan to do about it? Of course, you try to keep up with it. Read on to know how to do precisely just that.
Essential SEO Strategies in 2020
Of course, the usual strategies will still be there. Using original content, linking to authoritative sites and internal linking, being mobile-friendly, keeping keywords real, optimizing images, sitemap creation, and avoiding cloaking, among others, will all still be highly encouraged.
However, come 2020, expect a lot of changes in Google’s algorithm when it comes to who rules the search engine results. If you want to keep up with it, then make the necessary move.
Some changes in search engine optimization trends to expect this new year are the following:
1. Link Building
Link building has been used as an SEO technique for as long as you could remember. But up to now, it hasn’t lost its charm. But just like the newest strategies being recommended, expectations are high this coming year.
Some of the things to remember when building links are the following:
- Use longer keywords when linking to help Google scrutinize your link and be able to show it to interested users.
- Increase your visibility on social media by embedding share buttons at the top and bottom of your webpage for all social media platforms.
- The keywords used on your link should only appear once within an article.
- Try not to use sponsored links.
To make life easier for you, you can tap the services of link-building companies like NO-BS Marketplace. This link-building giant provides clients with a unique perspective which, in turn, lets them have better control over their campaigns.
2. Voice Search
The more technology advances as time goes by, the less effort people exert in getting things done, and that’s a fact you just have to accept. Siri, Echo, and Google Assistant are some of the AIs that are ready to spoil everyone to death. And since you can’t beat them, you might as well join them.
However, while you use keywords when luring SEO gods into your favor, optimizing for the sake of voice searches takes natural phrasing so that these AIs can understand what you are trying to look for. With this, you might want to use a sentence or question that makes sense.
3. Prioritize User Experience
If you are a Twitter user, you might have noticed the feature “trending topics.” However, some of these are just random things that you might not really be interested in.
That’s where the feature “trends for you” will come in handy. You can personalize these trending topics based on your country, the topics you mostly interact in, and the people you follow. SEO is also expected to lean towards the same direction.
With this, you should ensure that users get the best experience when visiting your website so they will keep coming back. The more you attract users into your website, the more Google’s AI Rankbrain will rank you according to those particular users’ search results.
4. Use Schema
Schema is a cognitive concept that helps users and searchers organize and interpret the content of your page. The primary purpose of this tool is to improve the way your website is displayed, which can significantly improve your search engine rankings.
This markup can be easily added to your posts manually, and you can just check if it has sufficient Schema data using some online tools like Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. However, if you’re too busy to do it, you can use some plugins for that purpose.
5. Consider Other Search Engines
If you think the world revolves around Google alone, it’s time to do a quick reality check. While
it is still the most dominant search engine to date, two other search engines are slowly trying to catch up.
YouTube is currently the second-largest search engine with over 2 billion active users. So, it’s understandable that if your content is focused more on videos rather than text, you might want to focus more on this rather than Google.
On the other hand, when looking for products, Amazon’s search engine is emerging as one of the most reliable, with more than 310 million active users.
Parting Words
You may have employed the basics in making your website SEO-friendly, and you will not see anyone try to debunk them. However, when everyone else is employing the same techniques, who will Google favor? You can’t just add prayers and wish for miracles—it simply doesn’t work that way.
Keeping up with these trends from time to time is the most vital key to making the most out of SEO. While you’re at it, having a little luck on your side never hurts.