To rank top for your SEO it takes a lot of attention to the metrics. Including traffic, backlinks, and social shares and that’s just to name a few.
We’ve created a guide that gives you up to date methods for Search Engine optimization trends to anticipate for 2021. This will allow you to keep ahead of the game with your SEO strategy.
Here’s our 7 top tips on the methods you should use in your SEO strategy for 2021.
1. Mobile-Friendly sites will rank better
Google rolled out its mobile first indexing in 2019, meaning search engines look mostly at the mobile version of a site, considering this is the primary version over the desktop version. Figures show that 73% of internet users will use their mobile phone to access the internet by 2025. You can use Google Search Console to run a mobile usability report.
Making sure that Google can crawl your URLs, and you don’t have a ‘disallow directive’ in place can make your site more user friendly.
2. Artificial Intelligence will have a big impact on SEO
Artificial intelligence is changing how internet users interact with content, Google’s Al algorithm is worth taking note of, this is called RankBrain which plays a crucial part in Google’s ranking.
So how do you optimize your SEO for RankBrain? SEO experts believe that things like time spent on page and click-through rate, using engaging content with useful content will keep readers on your page for longer. You can use an On-Page SEO checker to help you see the strengths and weaknesses of your page such as backlinks, readability, and many more.
3. Using Voice Search Will Not Impact Search Queries
Innovations like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri means voice activated technology has majorly improved. To optimise your voice search, make sure you take serious consideration into the keywords you use. You should identify longer phrases that people use in everyday conversation.
4. Featured Snippets Are Crucial
You won’t have to create long term content, when you type something into Google you will notice a box at the top of the SERPs, this is a snippet. Getting your snippet featured is a really effective way of getting onto the first page of the search results. Snippets also gain serious traffic over competitors.
Snippets are often structured as Q&A’s or in bullet points. Rich snippets come in the form of images, star-based reviews, product prices, and similar bits of information.
5. Long-Form Content Will Help Improve SERPs
Using long reads with more than 2500 words get 2 times more traffic and 5 times more shares. Start focusing on long-form content to achieve higher search rankings, although it’s important that your content maintains quality. You want to give your users information that keeps them engaged and that they want to share.
You should do this by breaking up your content into sections with H2 and H3 subheadings to make it more scannable. Subheadings are really important for mobile sites. You should include easily shareable links that users can share with the click of a button.
6. Video should play a role in your SEO strategy
If you aren’t creating or using video content, you should definitely start. YouTube has now over 1 Billion followers, if you are creating a video channel, you should optimize the name and description, not just with keywords; but with user-friendly content so users know exactly what your channel is about.
7. Local Search listings will impact SEO Strategies
Most people use the internet to find local goods and services, this is part of the zero click searches and it’s being classed as the new normal by SEO professionals.
With zero click searches the users query is answered by the SERP itself, meaning they don’t need to even click on any of the ranking results. Zero click searches are mostly local searches that show the results on the SERP in what’s been dubbed a ‘local pack’.
You can do this by creating a Google my Business listing, and getting strong backlinks.