Digital Marketing Posted On: Dec 25, 2019
Thought current SEO trends will remain the same next year? Not really. As 2020 is just around the corner, the rise of new search engine trends has already become more prevalent.
Look, today it’s more than just putting some relevant keywords in your content and optimizing your on-page SEO to rank your page in top results of Google.
Sure that’s still there but it’s still the tip of the iceberg.
With Google’s aim in making its search engine more easier and seamless for users, it has made plenty of changes in its algorithms and its overall framework.
So if you really want to get yourself out there and rank #1, you’ll have to take your SEO efforts further by following the newest trends in SEO.
How?
By checking out some of the top SEO trends we’ve curated below. These will definitely keep you ahead of the game and boost your organic rankings by a good deal.
Check them out!
Alright, this is the first IMPORTANT thing you’ll have to keep in mind when crafting your SEO plan. User intent will clearly become the heart of SEO in 2020 and will shape your overall strategy.
For starters, you’ll have to understand Google’s newest BERT algorithm update. BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers and is Google’s neural network-based deep learning algorithm.
According to Google, it will do a better job of understanding the relationship between keywords, their relevance, and use in the context to rank and display relevant content for users.
Considering this big update, there is no surprise content with high search intent will rank on top much easier than the one with over-stuffed keywords.
Here’s an example of the BERT algorithm in action. The query is about a Brazilian asking about US visa and not the opposite. Earlier Google couldn’t understand the relationship of the word “to” in the query and would show a different result (a blog article). After the BERT update, it can understand the meaning and shows the relevant result.
This is what you should also focus on too.
To optimize for BERT, you’ll have to plan your SEO strategy not just for the sake of search engines but for your end-users. You’ll have to go really deep and understand your end-users’ nuances better and give them what they want to succeed.
Doing this and avoiding any blackhat tactic will help you rank faster in SERPs and avoid penalties from Google.
Let’s face it.
How many times have you looked for generic information on Google and got the answer right in the SERPs without having to click all the way through?
A lot right?
That’s what No-click searches are all about and, according to top SEO experts, they will gain major importance in 2020 as well as in the following years to come.
Zero-click or No-click searches are those results in SERPs that present useful information in the result page itself without redirecting users anywhere else.
Like this:
Think Featured Snippets, Local Map Packs, and Knowledge Graphs, you get the point.
According to a post by Rank Fishkin, it’s seen that less than half of Google’s searches receive clicks and the reason behind that is undoubtedly zero-click searches!
What does this mean for you? That ranking only in the top position isn’t necessarily enough and won’t bring you the desired outcome.
If you’re ranking on the first page of Google but are under a featured snippet from your competitor, then you’ll have a hard time driving traffic.
To really succeed in SEO you’ll have to optimize for no-click searches and bag that first place in the form of a featured snippet or a knowledge graph.
To take advantage of this SERP marketing trend make sure you strategically optimize for featured snippets, leverage new schemas like FAQ & How To as well as optimize your images.
You can also reconsider your keyword strategy for your blogs and websites and use those that perform well by doing some effective keyword research.
Doing so will definitely help you get ahead of your competitors.
Remember E-A-T? Google’s search algorithm factor that was released way back in 2014?
If not, here’s a refresher.
In simple words, E-A-T is a factor that determines the overall Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness of the content creator. Think of it as a checklist that lets Google check whether the written content is genuine and matches it’s quality guidelines.
With that being said, in 2020 Google will use it as a major parameter to test the overall reputation of businesses creating content.
This means if your business has a poor reputation, customer service issues, trust issues, or if your content fails to match the E-A-T guidelines then you’ll have difficulty ranking your business in Google.
These issues could include anything from reviews to security flaws and other technical problems.
Bottom line: If you really want to come across as a genuine entity in the face of Google then writing robust content, providing exceptional customer service, and delivering a great user experience will help you make the mark.
If you’re serious about gaining your audience’s attention and driving up your organic traffic and sales in 2020 then there’s nothing better to do than this:
Write 100% GENUINE AND VALUABLE CONTENT.
As Google is going all user-centric with its search engine updates writing high-quality and relevant content to benefits users will, naturally, let Google reward you the top spot in search results.
What you can do?
In order to surpass your competitors, you’ll either have to follow SEO content writing best practices or hire someone who can write high-quality SEO-optimized content for you.
One way to dominate search rankings is by covering a single topic in-depth instead of covering bits of it for a single keyword.
For example, instead of writing a simple blog of 600 words, you can create an in-depth guide of 6,000 words or more that’s actually worth your audience’s interest.
By writing evergreen content, you’ll stand a much better chance of ranking for multiple keywords, drive more audience engagement, shares, and traffic which will thus boost your organic SEO.
Structured Data has always been an integral part of SEO and for 2020 it’ll gain more importance.
Thanks to a bunch of updates by Google and support for new types of structured data you’ll be able to organize your content more effectively than before.
For example, if your business website has an FAQ page then with the help of a structured data type like FAQ Page Schema you can optimize it for your customers directly in search results.
This will let you optimize your content for not just search engines but also voice assistants and chatbots and help your ideal customers reach you.
By perfectly organizing your data for search engines you can make it easier for them to understand what’s on a page and how it’s related to other pages on your website. Not to mention, you can reap immense SEO benefits with structured data snippets.
With such rich snippets available for businesses, there’s no doubt the trend of structured data will rise even more in the future.
That’s right, the trend of mobile SEO will still remain popular in 2020 and that’s because of the undisputed popularity of mobile searches over desktop ones.
As the popularity in voice search queries through smartphones keep on rising, it will become inevitable for businesses to adopt mobile SEO best practices.
To clearly gain an edge you’ll have to ruthlessly optimize each and every element of your website for mobile devices.
This could mean anything from making your website completely mobile responsive to optimizing your page speed and website structure.
Not just that, SEO experts also suggest that you perform a deep analysis of mobile SERPs to figure out how regular results differ from mobile ones.
Well, there you have it! The latest and top SEO trends for 2020 you should definitely not ignore.
Adopting and implementing relevant ones in your SEO strategy will drive significant growth in your organic rankings and will help you stay ahead of your competitors.
Don’t know which trend will work out for your business or need an SEO strategy that drives more organic traffic and sales? We can help!
We are a digital marketing agency that has helped plenty of businesses grow their sales and organic traffic using effective SEO strategies and can help you too.
Get in touch with us and we’ll take care of the rest.
