You learned the basics of SEO a few years back, so you’re all good, right? Not so much.
The nature of search engine optimization services is always changing—I’m refreshing my knowledge almost on the daily. The way SEO works now is different from last year, or even a few months ago.
It’s easy to grow complacent with the tools and methods you already have, but to ensure your company is getting the most web traffic possible, you need to continually update the way you approach your implementation of SEO and digital marketing as a whole.
As our technology continues to grow and SEO with it, it is imperative that we all extend our knowledge and strategic use of it. Even if you’re a small business owner, successful deployment of SEO strategies is essential to your success. Go beyond Google and your typical keyword dumping, and you’ll start seeing results.
Latest and Greatest SEO Trends and Changes
Voice Search Services
The world was forever changed by the introduction of Siri in 2011. Since then, voice searches and commands have become increasingly popular across industries and products.
Now, search engine optimization services are taking this into account.
- Spoken vs. Written Language. How we talk is different than how we type, especially since we’ve become increasingly colloquial in the way we address our technology. For instance, I might say, “Hey Siri, where should I go eat tonight?” On the other hand, I instead might type “good restaurants near me.” While both are leading to the same purpose—my dinner options for the evening—each does so using vastly different language, syntax, and tone that will affect the way search engine optimization works.
- Take on the Challenge. It’s, therefore, necessary for us to revamp our SEO style to be adaptable to these kinds of voice searches—a challenge, no doubt, given the variations in the ways people speak. But it is a challenge you should undertake in order to bring your business consistently to the top of search results.
Personalized SERP
Google and other search engines have been delivering increasingly personalized search engine results pages (SERPs) in recent years, and the technology is only going to continue to grow.
This search engine optimization service is ideal for the casual internet user, but it adds a layer of further complexity and nuance for those of us playing the SEO game. How do we ensure that our material remains among the top search results when we have to take the personal history of millions of people into account?
The idea of working with personalized SERP pages, therefore, really requires you to engage with and learn about your target audience. What other things would someone of your target audience be interested in? What might they look up? Start gathering all the data about your target audience that you can and apply it to your website in a reasonable way.
Mobile Developments
The increasing use of mobile devices is yet another way search engines are changing how they work.
Services such as Google are now taking into account location in yielding search results, even when there is nothing about location specified in the search. Additionally, if a website doesn’t perform well on mobile devices, this could affect its ranking every time someone searches from a phone.
In order to counteract this, make sure that your website either functions well on mobile or has a mobile version. Web design companies are a great place to turn to if you’re unsure whether your website is performing as well as it needs to on mobile.
An Emphasis on Quality
To provide users with the best possible results, there has been a massive shift toward quality over quantity. Google and other search engines are more carefully evaluating the sites they rank.
While this speaks to the overall improving quality of the internet and the content we can find on it, it definitely makes our work a little harder. Keyword-dumping, for instance, was a commonly used practice in SEO techniques in the past, but now it may even result in a negative ranking.
Along this line, a negative ranking can also result from posting duplicate material on a website, another common practice of the past.
Furthermore, the length or sheer quantity of materials posted on a website no longer serves as a helpful factor in web ranking, either. So, your material needs to be original and of high-quality substance to place well among search engines.
Going Beyond Google
The Emergence of Other Search Engines
I’ve mentioned Google a lot in this post simply because, for most people, it reigns supreme among search engines. You should not undervalue other search engines that are increasingly rising, however, such as Bing and DuckDuckGo.
In both these cases, you may want to widen the way you employ your SEO strategies to perform well among these options.
- Bing. Bing’s SEO, for instance, puts a lot of emphasis on backlinks, among other things.
- DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo, on the other hand, does almost the exact opposite of what Google is increasingly doing—rather than providing personalized search groups, DuckDuckGo doesn’t profile its users and reveals the same search results to all based on keywords.
- Take Advantage of the Void. Many businesses ignore these other search engines, and so there is a more open market for you to go take advantage of here.
Social Media Searching
In addition to these more conventional forms of search engines, various social media platforms have become search engines in their own right. Though still less used than traditional search engines, more and more people are turning to the search options on Facebook, Twitter, and more to see news and find articles.
The way we communicate and look for things on social media is again unique, so try creating a finely-tuned social media presence that will be likely to yield results.
Let a Digital Marketing Agency Help
With the ever-changing and diversifying nature of search engine optimization services, it’s tricky to keep up with it all. It could, therefore, be worth your while to enlist a digital marketing agency for help.
Knowing the ins and outs of search engine optimization services and all its latest trends is a key factor when it comes to digital marketing, and your agency will know this. Delegating this important part of your marketing services will take a lot of pressure off your team, allowing for increased productivity all around.
If you’re ready to give working with a digital marketing agency a go, feel free to contact us and set up a free consultation, where we’ll put our extensive SEO knowledge to good work for your business.