SEO Trends

Basics remain

It is still important to deal with the basics of good SEO. Therefore, one should first assess how the credibility and trustworthiness of the website is set up, whether the keyword coverage is still up-to-date and whether the content is still of high quality.

When implementing the content, one should do a keyword research in advance to find out which terms are searched for most often. It is also important to ensure that the keywords used are not too general and, if necessary, to formulate them more specifically (e.g. instead of "clothing", prefer "sportswear").

Attention should also be paid to the user-friendliness of the website, as Google considers the user experience to be particularly important. Therefore, the content of your website should always be of high quality and include explanatory graphics and images.

The relevance of the website's offerings also plays an important role in Google's evaluation. The user should be presented with the best and most interesting search results, which is why dealers who offer a larger selection of products are ranked ahead of the specialised online shop.

Technical SEO is just as important. Only when the technical work on a website has been completed is the basis for ranking set.

Because it is true: "What is not found by the search engine cannot rank".

What becomes important

In the following, we highlight what to keep in mind for the future.

Avoid JavaScript

The use of JavaScript is only recommended up to a certain point, as the error tolerance is much lower than with static HTML implementations. In recent years, many websites have switched to single-page applications, which means that only one page is loaded first and the others are then dynamically reloaded.

Reduce loading speed

Page speed is becoming increasingly important. Especially in times of voice search, the loading speed of a website is a crucial ranking aspect.

Time can be saved, for example, by rationalising images, using smaller image formats (e.g. WebP) or even preloading the images. If this does not help, consider analysing the reason for the slow loading speed.

The performance tool "lighthouse" from Google also helps to check the loading speed, as does the page speed insights. The Chrome User Experience Report, which indicates the actual website speed compared to the competition, is also particularly interesting.

Content

The perfect combination of SEO and user experience will play an even greater role in the future. There are still points where these two practices do not quite agree, such as the perfect landing page. UX wants to include content that is not in focus somewhat "hidden" on the page, according to SEO everything should be presented openly so that it is also safely evaluated by Google. In the future, the focus will be on the user's bounce rate or dwell time. A/B testing can also be used to generate the perfect result for the user. The performance of one version of a page is compared with another version to find the best possible results and adjust the marketing strategy if necessary.

In general, meta-data and introduction should be written in an interesting and gripping way and ideally address exactly what the user is looking for. Once the user has landed on the WEBSITE, it is important to offer content that provides all the necessary information and, at best, stands out from the competition. Basically, 2000+ words are recommended, but you should make sure that you meet the interest of the target group and pay attention to current rankings. However, the clarity and structuring of the content must not be neglected. After all, the user should be able to find his way around the site. Google now increasingly evaluates not only the content, but also the readability of the text of a website.

When designing the content, the short attention span of the user should also be taken into account. This means that it is best to use explanatory graphics or videos that summarise the most important information for the reader.

E-A-T (Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness)

This principle is becoming increasingly important for users and thus also for Google. In order to appear competent and trustworthy to users, it is important, on the one hand, that the author is indicated under the texts of a website and, on the other hand, that the facts and claims of the content are supported and substantiated. This effect is reinforced by backlinks, which show expertise and prior knowledge.

Google SERP functions

Due to new markups from Google such as Featured Snippets, Google Answer and the now very widespread FAQ boxes, it is becoming increasingly important to present the content of one's website as structured as possible. Google's development is geared towards the fact that more and more often the user's questions are played out on the search results page and are thus only obtained from one website. If the content on a page is well structured, Google finds the answer to the user's query more quickly and plays out the content immediately. All this also leads to less and less clicking. Why continue searching when the answer is already above the search results? So you have to ask yourself whether organic search really still leads users to your website in a targeted way.

Organic search results are losing importance due to mobile devices. On the one hand, the GOOGLE ADS are much more pronounced in the mobile version than in the desktop version and thus displace the organic SERPs. On the other hand, featured snippets are usually displayed one position above the organic search results and are therefore much more conspicuous for the user. At the moment, featured snippets still account for a fairly small share of search results, but this will change over time and dominate the results pages in more and more areas.

Due to the video carousel introduced in 2018, it can be seen that videos in particular will become increasingly important in the future. A focus on MOVING IMAGE is therefore advisable.

So you should first make clear whether there are certain SERP functions in your own industry where you can try to get in. For example, if you have found out that feature snippets are often played out in your sector, you can react directly to this. For example, you can answer the question posed specifically on your page in clear, short words or pay attention to a table form or enumeration in order to appear in Google's answer box.

Voice search

The voice function is becoming more and more important. Already 41 % of all adults and 55 % of all teenagers use voice search at least once a day (and the trend is rising). This means that more and more W-questions are being used for searches instead of keywords.

75 % of all search results that are output in voice search are to be found in the top 3 of the ranking. This also means that long-tail keywords in particular - usually packaged in questions - are gaining more importance again.

Be found locally

Local snack packs (only 3 results are distributed for local search) have become particularly important on mobile devices. One should therefore make sure to be found locally as well, especially if the target group is in the region.

Example:

A user searches online for a plumber because of water damage. Three local plumbing companies are now displayed in the search results. The user is likely to choose the company that has the shortest travel distance, can respond the fastest and charges less for the journey.

Mobile first

In the meantime, the mobile version of the website is taken into account first in the ranking, since the number of search queries via mobile devices is higher than those via the desktop. It follows that one should convert one's website as soon as possible to dynamic serving (website is made usable and readable on mobile end devices) or to a responsive website (layout of a website is designed so flexibly that the user-friendliness is maintained on desktop, tablet and smartphone). This way, content and links are also transferred to the mobile version and you don't have to deal with graphical adjustments later on. Here, too, the data should be presented as structured as possible in order to be found well by Google.

Particularly with mobile devices, a short loading time is immensely important, since smartphones especially often do not search via WLAN, but via mobile data. If the website is then unable to present its content quickly, the user often goes back to the search function and tries another website. This in turn means that fast-loading pages are also ranked better by Google.

Conclusion

SEO cannot be reinvented, yet there are always new strategies to keep an eye on. Voice search via mobile devices, fast loading speeds and featured snippets are becoming increasingly important. However, without a technically solid basis, high-quality content and excellent keyword coverage, every measure is doomed to failure.

In the end, only one thing counts: the website must communicate the right content to the right target group quickly and clearly!

Sources:

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