5 SEO Trends in 2020

5 SEO Trends in 2020 is the first part in a series of posts we’ll be doing throughout 2020, to help you and your business to attract more relevant traffic to your website and increase conversions. So Let’s get started!

The most important aspect for any type of website is the user experience. Search engines, like Google, Bing, etc want to drive users to relevant results which answer their questions and provide a great user experience (UX). 

This isn’t an easy task however, this involves a great understanding into your traffic and constantly testing and making changes that improve the user experience. This includes optimising content, improving loading times, implementing a site structure for your users so they’re able to find the pages they want.

The best way to do this is, think like a user. Go to a website you frequent often, and take a look how they have their experience setup, take a look at the navigation, the page layout and the way you navigate through their website. Get an understanding into their flow and try to replicate that experience on your own website.

SSL?! What on earth is that! I hear you say. Well, a Secure Sockets Layer also known as SSL, is in short, the green padlock you see on secure websites.

Why is this important? Well, you wouldn’t leave your personal information laying around for the world to see would you. Then why would your internet activity be any different. This is the same mentality with your users, seeing that green padlock on the URL gives your users reassurance that the communication and traffic to that session is secure and free from tampering from intruders. 

Websites that aren’t secure will have a “Not Secure” warning in the URL, this will deter most users away from the page and as a result will increase your bounce rate and will negatively affect your SEO ranking. 

It’s imperative that you have a SSL certificate on your website, this gives your users reassurance that their data they pass on is protected. Even if you collect user information through Web Forms like a contact page or newsletter sign-up form, then this data needs to be protected and tamper proof.

With so many vulnerabilities around the web, it’s so important to implement security measures onto your own website. To find out about more information on SSL certificates, this website provides a comprehensive FAQ

Video marketing has become an essential part of any marketing campaign and a powerful tool in a business’ arsenal. It’s estimated that video will account for 82% of all web traffic by 2022. When used correctly, videos can be so effective to spread brand awareness and drive conversions.

With the pace of online browsing on the rise, some users don’t have the time (or patience) to consume lengthy blog posts. So, incorporating video into your content is a perfect alternative to increase engagement.

Video content can also provide a direct ranking boost by increasing the amount of time a user spends on your page. Creating informative or educational videos within your niche can be a great way to encourage natural backlinks and is an essential ranking factor.

However, there are a few things to consider when creating video content. Google’s AI can get a partial picture of a video and by extracting its metadata from its video and audio. It’s important to optimise this data by using keyword-orientated titles and descriptions. To cover all bases, providing a transcript of the video will also ensure your video is crawlable for search engines. 

It’s all well and good giving Google the right kind of information, but you shouldn’t optimise your website for the search engine, but rather for its users. Google is focused on the users experience and delivering the right kind of content to search queries.

Voice Assistants have become normal in millions of peoples lives already, regardless if they use Alexa, Siri, Cortana and having a website that can easily be read by these assistants will become important too.

By using a voice assistant, users speak their query and these phrases become longer and more complicated by each word. With this in mind, when you’re creating content in 2020 make sure your content contains scalable phrases for search engines, make sure your content isn’t too nerdy, lengthy or academic. By making it factual, relevant, and cohesive helps Google to understand your content. 

To understand more about Voice Assistants and how it works, visit Moz, they have a great article that explains this in greater detail. 

Algorithms change all the time, you will be chasing your tail when focusing on algorithms. So put your focus and energy into your audience and align your content with your user’s intent.

Build a solid technical foundation before chasing keyword rankings. The foundation of SEO lies within three stages: crawling, indexing and ranking. If your website is not optimised for crawling, search engines won’t have the ability to access (or even index) your content. Nothing else matters if you have this part wrong.

Everyday search engines are getting better and smarter at understanding what a searcher wants. When you approach a SEO strategy, every decision you make should have the user in mind. Establish a foundation for your SEO (Crawling and Indexing) so search engines have the ability to find your content and deliver it to the user. Afterwards, focus on improving the technical infrastructure, this includes, speed, accessibility and mobile. Improving these aspects will also improve the user experience and eventually improve your ranking.

No matter if you have just started out doing SEO or have been doing it for years. Google constantly changes with new technologies which are also available to you. Some of these trends are quite advanced and require engineering help, however, SEO isn’t just about simply hiring an agency and expect immediate results. To really do well, you will have to get a bit more creative and technical to really start ranking well and converting visitors into customers.

We hope you enjoyed this article, we’ll be providing a series of SEO trends throughout the year to keep you informed of the upcoming and new trends in 2020 and beyond.

Take a look at our other blog on local SEO which may even help you in your local area!