Top 10 Effective SEO Trends To Be Well Followed: Google has a reputation to uphold. That of responding exactly to our needs whatever our query. In order to make appropriate recommendations to us, the websites that appear on the results pages (SERP) are handpicked.
If you want your pages to be at the top of the list, you will need to prove that you have interesting content to share with the world.
That’s not all, since here Google writes the rules of the game, you need to help them understand that your site is the best answer for a specific type of search.
This practice is called Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) – and this year promises to be rich in new developments. Search engines are getting smarter and smarter,
and they are striving to produce very specific results according to our expectations. What will the rules be in 2019? Discover
the 10 SEO trends to follow to position yourself well on Google and be easily found by your target audience.
01. The mobile revolution is on the move
Mobile devices are taking up more and more space on Google. In March 2018, the company launched the Mobil First index.
This means that if you have a mobile and a computer version of your site, the robots will first analyze the mobile version to rank you in their results pages which comes in seo trends.
Beware, Mobile First does not mean mobile-only (in case you were not an expert in the language of Shakespeare).
If your site does not have its duplicate on the small screen, it will still be indexed by Google, it may simply not be in the position you intended.
That was in 2018. In 2019, things are getting more intense. The world’s leading search engine will now also take into account the loading speed of your mobile site.
So you need to step up a gear: a fast mobile site will be your ticket to Google this year.
Your action plan :
When you create your site, don’t forget to take a look at the Mobile responsiveness and follow these best practices. A study by G24i Agency shows that every 7 out of 10 people use smartphones.
02. Better than the first position: The featured snippet
Can we do better than in the first place? Apparently so. For the most competitive ones, Google has launched the 0 positions.
What is it? This is the insert that appears above the links and answers the question directly. This position is also called the featured snippet. In 2018, it was necessary to reach first place. In 2019, we go even further.
In order to be a featured snippet, you must already have an SEO that aims for perfection. Please note that 99.58% of the pages selected for the 0 positions are already part of the first page of the SERP. Our advice for a good referencing of your site therefore also applies here.
Now that you know how to get to position 1, let’s look at position 0. If you analyze the insert, you’ll find that it quickly and accurately answers the question asked in the search bar (often in the form of a list).
Google’s aim is to ensure that the internet user has an immediate solution, without having to click on another link.
Your goal is therefore to prove to Google that your page contains the exact information the user is looking for when making a query. You must therefore anticipate their question and answer it as accurately as possible.
Your action plan :
To appear in the featured snippet, you need to go a little further than the standard keyword search. You will have to find the exact question asked by the Internet user.
To do this or go with SEO trends, use the “Answer The Public” tool. Once you have formulated it clearly, start writing your page to answer it.
If, for example, you are a law firm and you are writing an article about a new law, be sure to explain it succinctly and clearly in 40-60 words in the body of your post.
This information can easily be used by Google if a user does a search for that law.
Another example: if you have a cooking blog and you write an article on “how to make a good pesto sauce”, organize your text logically: one title = one step.
List each step and format them using H2 or H3 subheadings. This way, Google will be able to read your information easily and bring it out clearly when someone types the question in the search bar.
03. Take your place on the video carousel
The featured snippet isn’t the only new feature that’s likely to steal the spotlight this year. Last June, Google replaced the three videos that appeared at the top of the results pages with a carousel.
The user now has the ability to scroll through 7 or 8 submissions. If you weren’t yet convinced of the power of video in marketing, you now have the proof.
This very attractive format is much more likely to get clicks than a link to a web page. What if you saw this as a new opportunity for your company?
Your action plan :
It begins with a search phase similar to the one you will perform to appear as a featured snippet.
Define the exact question that will be asked by users and formulate it in the title and description of your video. Tip: Tutorials and videos beginning with
“How do I…” are popular on the Google carousel.
Must Read: 400+ High DA PA Free Business Listing Sites In India
04. It’s all about reputation (SEO trends)
In the online and offline world, it’s all about reputation. Not only is it natural to want people to like us, but Google pays special attention to sites that get good press.
And by the good press, we mean sites that have a lot of inbound links. Google’s principle for ranking is simple: friends of friends are my friends. If good quality sites mention yours, it’s because you’re trustworthy too.
But between us, it’s not easy to get inbound links when you’re the new kid on the block. Luckily, in 2019, there’s another way to show Google that you’re a reliable site that is appreciated by Internet users.
That is direct visits. This new factor is N°1 to define your ranking. It turns out that people go directly to their favorite sites to get the information they are looking for,
without going through the Google box (and without getting 20,000 francs). So, if you manage to become a reference for your users, you will increase your number of direct visits and therefore your ranking on the results pages.
Your action plan :
A good way to reinforce your brand image and gain credibility is to mention your company all over the Web. Introduce yourself on Facebook forums and groups and explain what you do.
Another solution is to have a strong presence on social networks, especially for your customer support. Always respond to users’ requests and prove to them that you are there to help them.
Finally, consider partnering with influencers to spread your brand name and make yourself known by your community. By doing so,
you send a clear message to Google that your company is active and many people trust it. So there’s no reason why you shouldn’t appear in the first pages of results.
Must Read: 20 Best Social Media Marketing Tools That Will Boost Engagement
05. Quality before quantity
In the early days of the Internet, it was enough to post any content to be recognized. Robots identified you as active and, as such, indicated to search engines that your page was a potential resource for a user. But it’s 2019 and Google has come a long way since then.
Today, it’s a different story when it comes to ranking. It’s no longer about quantity, it’s about quality and SEO trends. Many SEO experts believe that the August 1, 2018 algorithm update measures a website’s ability to meet the E-A-T criteria.
There are three elements: expertise, authority, and reliability. This is what Google judges a good site to be. A wave of panic followed this announcement,
after which Danny Sullivan, head of the search at Google, replied: “You want to do better? Have great content. It’s as simple as that.
Your action plan :
The E-A-T criteria (SEO trends): three scary words to finally describe what should be a standard for your site. Offer your visitors interesting, relevant, and in-depth blog posts.
Find the format that best suits your community and be consistent in your efforts. Don’t forget to add internal links to other pages on your website to your content.
This makes it easier for robots and your visitors to navigate and therefore, explore more content and spend more time on your pages. Three essential elements for your ranking.
06. Take security seriously
If you’re using the Google Chrome browser, you may have seen an alarming message saying “unsafe” when you visit a site. This signal is the result of the July 2018 update,
in which sites that are not HTTPS-enabled load with this alert. In addition to discouraging your most loyal visitors, this has a very negative impact on your ranking.
It must be said that we understand why: the data of HTTP sites are much less protected than their HTTPS counterparts. It is reassuring to know that Google takes our online security very seriously.
Your action plan :
This action taken by Google has a direct impact on your ranking. The most likely scenario is that a visitor who clicks on your link comes across this alert and turns back manually to go to a more secure site.
There is also the case where your HTTP site is at the mercy of useless (or even malicious) software, resulting in a bad user experience. The result: your bounce rate reaches new heights and your ranking is at the bottom of the daisies.
07. RankBrain or the brain of Google
This name sounds a bit like a character straight out of a science-fiction game. Well, we’re not very far from it. RankBrain is Google’s learning machine system.
In simple terms, it is the algorithm that allows us to understand the search intentions of Internet users in order to display relevant results on the SERPs.
This technology exists since 2015 and focuses on the time spent on your pages and the click rate. As long as RankBrain is the law of the SEO trends world, these two factors must be your priority to improve your online ranking.
Your action plan :
To improve your click-through rate, you need to focus on your meta tags, i.e. your title and SEO description. These are the elements that appear on the results pages.
To attract attention, they must therefore both contain the right keywords, but also be attractive enough to make people want to click.
As for the amount of time a visitor spends on your page, it depends mainly on the browsing experience you offer them. Your images, your texts, your fonts, and your entire web design influence your SEO.
Make some adjustments and check the impact by going to Google Analytics. Then, see the result on your positioning.
08. LSI keywords: latent semantic indexing
Imagine telling your friends about the Beatles concert (yes, we got stuck in the 60s) that you went to see last weekend. Even if “Beatles concert” are the keywords of your conversation,
you’re not going to repeat them indefinitely. To describe your evening, you will use other terms such as rock, performance, music, band, etc.
LSI keywords work the same way. Google tries to avoid keyword stuffing. This is the practice of placing a keyword just about anywhere in the content of a website to be better referenced on that term.
As one can easily imagine, this creates poor quality content and does not prove at all that the site provides an answer to the request of Internet users.
For example, if a user types “mouse”, what is he really looking for? A computer accessory, a pet, or a pest control company? You can see that it is not always obvious.
This is the very reason for latent semantic indexing. It’s all about using terms from the same lexical field as the keyword – not to be confused with synonyms.
This creates a set of words that tells Google the meaning of your content. As a result, since it understands what you’re talking about exactly,
the search engine will be better able to place you in its result pages when faced with a specific query.
Like the example of the Beatles concert, addressing an entire lexical field when talking about a subject is what we already do naturally when we speak or write.
LSI keywords are therefore part of Google’s further progress to get closer to the way we think, talk, and ask questions as humans.
Your action plan :
To find the right LSI keywords, start by doing a simple Google search, then go through the associated or suggested searches.
This will give you a good idea of how robots think. You can also go further and use the free LSIGraph tool to broaden your lexical field.
Once your list of words is ready, place it naturally in the content of your page. Don’t forget your metadata and URL. Keep in mind that your LSI keywords are not there to replace your main keyword,
but to help you create content that is pleasant to read. The idea is to allow your visitors and Google to better understand the context of your pages so they can position them in a relevant way on the SERPs.
Must Read: Top 5 LSI keyword Generator Tools To Boost Search Ranking
09. Voice search hasn’t said its last word
This is not a recent trend, but it is a persistent one. Vocal research is making its way. It is estimated that by 2022, 30% of web browsing will be screen-less (Gartner: 2016). With more volume, we can learn more about this technology.
A Backlinko study of 10,000 Google Home searches taught us that the system gives results that are already displayed on the first page of Google, often even in position 0.
We also learn that formulating the question in your content (in the introduction for example, before giving your answer in the body of the article) would help to be part of the results of voice searches.
Your action plan :
First of all, if you do what you’ve been advised above to appear as a featured snippet, you already have a good chance. Another good practice is to use long-tail keywords.
By targeting more specific terms, you can get closer to what users want. Finally, users don’t address Alexa the same way they would type a question on Google.
With voice assistants, they use a more personal turn: “How do I cook pasta” becomes “How do I cook pasta”. This distinction is important and could help you stand out from the crowd.
The same Backlinko study also revealed that FAQ pages appear more frequently in voice search results than in computer SERP pages.
This is probably due to the fact that this format asks the questions explicitly before answering them. So you know what you have to do…
10. There is a world outside Google
Now, someone has to tell you: there are other platforms besides the famous multicolored G. We know, it’s a bit like discovering that the earth isn’t flat. It changes your life.
If you have an online store, one of the sites not to be overlooked is Amazon. According to a study by Kenshoo, 56% of consumers go directly to Amazon before even looking elsewhere. So this eCommerce site has a lot to offer you.
Another platform to consider is YouTube. Yes, we know, it belongs to Google. However, most people search directly on the video site,
without going through the Google search bar. YouTube is a valuable asset to develop your online presence. Just in case you need tangible proof: by 2022, the online video should account for 80% of traffic. You don’t want to miss the boat!
Your action plan :
If you’re a small business, optimizing your site for Amazon is like doing Google-independent keyword searches specific to the e-Commerce site database.
Go to the site and see how products like yours are listed. There are also free online tools for this, such as Sonar. Once you have your magic words, add them to your product titles and descriptions.
It’s not much different from Google search engine optimization. Amazon’s goal is to convert Internet users into buyers by linking users and products.
The more precise and well-targeted your pages are, the more likely it is that the e-Commerce site will offer your products to potential customers.
As for YouTube, the principle is much the same as for appearing in featured snippets or in voice search results: you are more likely to appear at the top of the list by formulating a question that can be asked by Internet users.
A good idea for video content is to create a tutorial based on one of the questions frequently asked by your users. Or, you can resume the list of this pesto sauce by filming all the steps.
What used to be your article title becomes the title of your video. As smart as Google is, it still can’t watch movies the way we do.
The search engine will thank you if you give it a little help by filling in your titles and descriptions properly (without forgetting the keywords). There is also another written text that you can fill in to tell YouTube exactly what your video is about,
these are the subtitles. It’s true that the platform does this automatically, but because the translation is not optimal, you may lose the meaning of what you say. So don’t hesitate to take a look at the subtitles to correct the situation if necessary.
We have just explained the major SEO trends of this new year, but we have not yet answered one question: in the end, what’s the point?
If you have a website, SEO is what will allow you to make it findable online and thus bring you a maximum of traffic. It is a crucial step in the success of your online business.
It takes time and effort, but it’s worth it. So, if you need to reread the highlights of this article, read it again and get to work!
Read More:
- Top 8 Free SEO Tools That You Must Use To Improve Search Ranking
- How Digital PR Can Be Helpful for Better SEO Results
- The Ultimate Guide To Keyword Research For SEO
