If done right, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most powerful and effective strategies to attract potential customers to your site. However, it’s not an easy task. While there are approximately 3.5 billion searches on Google every day, only 0.78 percent of Clickthrough Rate (CTR) comes from results found on the second page, compared to 31.7% average for the number one rank on Google’s organic search results.
For your website to succeed in getting to the top spot and generating the traffic you need, it needs to be effectively optimized with respect to the SEO trends applied today. SEO is continuously evolving, and the challenge to stay at the top spot is becoming more endeavoring. Keeping up with what is new in SEO can help your business grow.
With that said, let’s take a look at some highly effective SEO trends to boost your traffic in 2021.
1. Voice Search
Voice search technology has become a growing trend thanks to innovations such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant. As per Google, 27 percent of people worldwide are using voice search on their mobile phones. In fact, it has been predicted that voice search will change the way we interact with search engines.
As technology improves, the idea of how to use these Google trends for SEO has also sufficiently gained more recognition. Most voice search queries are highly specific and long-tailed, as its users usually search for specific answers to their questions. Think of it as an everyday conversation wherein people usually use long, more naturally-sounding phrases. Most of the time, these users are more likely to convert to potential customers than others.
Also, more than half of smartphone users engaged with voice search technology in 2020. As more people opt for it in the future, you may expect it to remain a useful trend in 2021.
2. Video Content
Take it from YouTube – as the most popular online video sharing platform with more than one billion users (and counting), it stands as living proof that your future SEO strategy should always include a video component.
Videos offer awesome SEO benefits, which is why a lot of brands focus on optimizing them this year. When it comes to consuming different content forms, they give you the best of both worlds for text and quality visuals.
However, knowing how to use and optimize these Google trends for SEO is extremely important. That said, keywords are as important as the video. The words used need to give a clear, user-friendly overview, name, and description of the channel, instead of a meaningless compilation of words. One can also use YouTube’s autocomplete feature as inspiration for what people are searching for.
3. Mobile SEO
Good SEO experts know to put their perspectives in the mobile experience. In 2019, Google started considering a website’s mobile version as the primary version over their desktop version. With this, Google has earned 61 percent of organic mobile search results. This was due to more people staying at home because of COVID-19 restrictions. As more people engage with search engines on their mobile phones, Google has considered this future SEO trend more seriously as part of their requirements for all websites.
Since Google ranks websites based on their mobile version, you need to apply the “mobile-first” indexing to turn your website into a mobile-responsive one. To do this, SEO experts optimize a site and its content to gain a rich mobile experience, which leads to the next point…
4. Long-Form Content
One of the major SEO trends in 2021 involves in-depth content that is curated with the user in mind. That said, you need to utilize smart keyword research and address the specific problems that your buyer is trying to solve. Your focus should be on the user, so your content needs to be optimized and laid out specifically for every topic that people are searching for.
Nowadays, some people would rank well for keywords, but their content is either irrelevant or misleading. To show expertise when posting content and prevent users from looking elsewhere, you need to create long-form content. Plus, this strategy helps you perform better on SERPs, earning three or four times more traffic with 3000 words and above, according to statistics.
5. E-A-T
Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (or E-A-T) is one of the key trends in SEO. Over the years, Google emphasized E-A-T in their Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRGs) to determine page quality. That said, websites with good E-A-T rank higher.
Another key factor to rank higher on Google is the use of more keywords, as this has been thought to signal Google that you are talking about a specific topic. However, since some content is misleading and unhelpful, E-A-T ensures that you maintain a solid link-building strategy and only involve links and mentions from reputable sources. If you want to make the most out of your 2021, you need to create high-quality content and work on your reputation.
Keeping yourself updated with what is new in SEO can tremendously improve your business website quality in 2021. While it will be a challenge for new businesses today, hiring SEO experts can save you the trouble. If you’re looking for the best SEO and content experts to help you stay ahead of your competition and rank higher on SERPs, we can help you! Call Advanced Digital Media Services today for more information.