Search engine optimization evolves constantly, and that is what makes it so challenging. Over the years SEO has become very complex, with Google now taking more than 200 factors into account when determining its search rankings. All the other search engines are also tweaking their algorithms constantly to improve the search results on billions of queries that their users make.
The constant algorithm tweaks also mean that those factors that were critical for yesterday’s rankings might not be relevant in the future. The following is a list of some of the most important search engine optimization trends that are very important for today’s rankings and that in the coming years will most likely be even more important. So, just sit back and consider the following information to get a good perspective on where SEO is headed in the future.
1. New Page One Features
You are going to need to rethink your strategies if you think that in the future achieving top rankings on the search results’ first page is the only thing that you need to do. The search engines continue to introduce new features on their first pages of the search results that take clicks from the top organic results. Some of those features include featured snippets, local packs and knowledge base panels. Doing a brief examination of the history of Google’s search engine results will show you why those changes are expected and justified.
There are some important actions you must take because of these new features. It is very important for you to track all of your rankings, as well keep a close watch on the search results for your targeted keywords to ensure that none of the features is taking clicks from your site. The market has tools available that can help you monitor these things.
For example, SEO Power Suit Rank Tracker helps you track as many as 15 SERP features in the organic results and Google search results. After starting a new project, this tool will show all the features displayed in the SERPs in its Google search features column. For easy reference, they are highlighted in green. The search analytics tab lets you measure all of these features’ volatility.
When it comes to SEO, data is everything. The collective data can enable you to identify where new opportunities are for getting your web properties more clicks. For example, it will let you know whether you need to apply to get a knowledge graph or get into a local pack. That relates to our next topic which is Structured Data and how it relates to your SEO efforts.
2. Structured Data
Structured data uses a specialized vocabulary and special format. Structured data works to assist the search engines with being able to interpret content better and that is how this information is displayed by the SERP features.
It has never been confirmed by Google that structured data affects rankings and you might be wondering why anybody should try dealing with structured data if it isn’t very important. What you need to understand is it has numerous benefits. When data is presented in a structured way, it lets you enhance your search engine listings is very important ways. When content is presented in a structured form, it lets you improve your clickthrough rates by as much as 30% on the search engine results pages. It has also been confirmed by some studies that having better clickthrough rates will result in better rankings as well.
Search engine results have continued to become more diverse, and you can stand out with structured data. It is a good chance to get increased traffic to your site so you shouldn’t ignore it.
What do you need to do?
Get started as soon as possible. Although there is some structured schema available, the best option to use is at schema.org. This is a good starting point, and they offer an easy to understand step-by-step format.
3. Speed
Anybody who has worked with search engine optimization is aware that Google gives weight to the loading speed for web pages, but you need to know as well that it is very important when it comes to user experience. Your rankings can also be improved by user experience. The following is what is meant by the search engines by “fast.”
What do you need to do?
Google Page Speed Tester is an online tool that has been provided by Google. Use this tool to check your website’s loading speed. The feature is integrated well into the WebSite Auditor. You just have to start a new project to take advantage of the feature. Navigate to the section called Content Analysis and enter in your web page that you are testing. That will provide you with a comprehensive analysis of on-page factors and in addition to Page Speed will also give you a lot of information on various technical factors.
4. Relevancy Is More Important Than It Has Ever Been
It has become more difficult to convince the Google search algorithms about the quality of the content on your web pages. These days, it is a lot easier to get penalized. The Google search algorithms use a large number of different tools to check on the content quality of web pages. One of those tools is Latent Semantic Testing. That means that millions of related text are studied by the algorithms to understand the context of the content that appears on web pages. These tools provide the search results with quality.
What do you need to do?
Making your content comprehensive is the major key to quality. You must closely look at all of your top-ranking web pages for all of your targeted keywords to determine what the common features are. That is how Rankbrain’s algorithm works as well. Doing this manually isn’t possible, but the analysis can be done with help from the WebSite Auditor and IDF tool. The report provides you with a complete list of all of the related terms and phrases, which is sorted by how many competitors are using the terms.
5. Voice Search
You will be left behind if you don’t seriously consider voice search. Recently Google has reported that 50% of teenagers in addition to 30% of adults use voice search on a regular basis. In fact, Behshad Behzadi one of the more important Googlers has been quoted as saying that the most rapidly-growing type of search is voice search. Since voice search is different compared to regular search, a different type of keyword research is also required.
What do you need to do?
Rank Tracker is one of the better ways to get assistance in voice search. This can help you with researching questions that users of voice search may ask. There is also a free version of the tool that you can use for this. Just go to the drop-down list and select the features and keywords.
6. Our World Is Going Mobile
It has been estimated that over 50% of Google searches will be done on mobile devices and voice in different forms and shapes. Most users also connect to Google via their mobile devices, and that is one reason why mobile friendliness is more important than ever. Ignoring mobile traffic could be fatal to your business.
What do you need to do?Â
The first step that you need to take is to make sure that all of your website pages are mobile friendly. You can test the mobile-friendliness of your website on WebSite Auditor in its Content Analysis section. All you need to do is type the page URL in that you want to test and select the friendliness for mobile within the technical factors to check the factor.
7. Backlinks without Links
It is not wrong to state that the most important that the search engines use for rankings is backlinks coming from other domains and that why most SEO industry professionals spend endless hours getting high-quality links. These days things have changed, and now mentions without any real links are a significant factor in rankings.
What do you need to do?
You do need to continue to check your backlinks, so you should utilize a web monitoring tool to locate brand mentions in addition to making sure that third parties are linking to your website properly.
- 7 Important Factors for SEO 2018 - January 3, 2018
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