Desiree Gullan | Executive Creative Director | Gullan and Gullan Digital | mail me |
We don’t surf the internet like we used to because technology continues to evolve and drive our behaviour. Thanks to Google, search engine optimisation (SEO) is also changing.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein
If you want different SEO results, you have to think ‘human’, add value, and seek out leading SEO tactics. If you’re new to SEO, fear not. These SEO fundamentals can get you started on how to boost your rankings.
Game-changing SEO trends to watch in 2019:
Mobile optimisation
Online searches are increasingly conducted on mobile phones. In response, Google has intensified their customer-first approach with the rollout of their mobile-first index in 2018.
Google rankings now heavily depend on a quality user experience (UX) on mobile devices. Make sure you have a mobile-friendly version of your website as it will soon take priority over desktop versions for indexing and ranking. See how mobile friendly your website is with Google’s mobile friendly test.
Voice search optimisation
The shift to mobile as the primary search device continues to drive the demand for voice search functionality. It is estimated that 50% of searches will be spoken queries by 2020.
‘OK Google, what does that mean for SEO?’ For starters, a more human approach to content creation and keywords. Users will search it like they say it, which means keywords will have to become more conversational, often phrased as questions, not statements.
User intent optimisation
User intent and voice search optimisation goes hand in hand as users can now clearly express their intent through verbalised voice search queries.
Whether typed or spoken, user intent optimisation calls on you, the marketer, to think ‘human’ when creating content and analysing the potential user intent behind keywords. Consider your own interests and content preferences, how you would phrase a search query, and what calls to action you are most likely to act on.
Video optimisation
Video will continue to dominate and is estimated to represent 82% of all internet traffic by 2021.
Video quality is becoming increasingly important, as is video optimisation through engaging titles, keywords, descriptions, transcripts and thumbnails. As the second largest search engine, a YouTube presence is essential in getting your brand front and centre.
Structured data markup
Structured data markup is a way of formatting HTML, an extra layer of coding if you will, to tell search engines how to interpret your website content.
With Google taking AI to the next level, structured data will become vital for AI to effectively process content within context, and deliver rich results. It can be implemented for an array of page elements from organisations, people, products and services, to events, places, addresses and reviews.
Featured snippets
Snippets refer to the short summary of information that appear with search engine results. But not all summaries are made equal – some are more relevant, answering user queries directly, and are therefore featured at the top of Google’s organic results.
Featured snippets can greatly increase brand exposure and click-through-rates. Getting featured snippets requires strategically crafted content that answers one or multiple queries directly.
Blockchain for SEO
Bitcoin might have taken a dive but blockchain technology is alive and well with near-endless use-cases, including making the internet more secure and refining online marketing.
Although blockchain SEO is still a developing field, it may soon be integrated into websites to authenticate clicks, reduce advertising fraud, verify product integrity, and build trust.
In conclusion
The only constant in SEO is change, but with change comes new opportunities to outplay the heavy wallets.
Build your SEO strategy with the future in mind, whether that be AI, machine learning or blockchain technology.
