Search Engine Optimization is an efficient way to draw users to your online platforms—if you use it correctly. SEO is continually changing, and keeping up to date with the latest changes can be a challenge. However, it is worth the effort: around 70 to 80 percent of users rely solely on organic results and disregard paid listings. What’s more, some 28 percent of those searches are converted, resulting in a purchase.
Top-ranking SEO success includes a commitment to various metrics, including traffic, backlinks, and social shares—to name a few. Our guide offers you insights into some of the most critical and timely search engine optimization patterns to be expected for 2021, helping you plan your SEO strategy accordingly. Here are the 12 SEO patterns to be expected in 2021:
1. Artificial Intelligence to play a significant role in SEO
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way people communicate with online content. In particular, the Google AI algorithm is worth noting. Unveiled a few years ago, the RankBrain algorithm plays an important role in the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranking variables.
A senior Google scientist Greg Corrado, who helped create RankBrain, has previously highlighted the unique ability of the tool to learn: “The other signals are all based on the discoveries and insights that people have had in information retrieval, but there is no learning.” This is likely to mean that RankBrain can only grow with time, making AI the top SEO trend to watch for in 2021.
Therefore, the big question is – how do you maximize your RankBrain SEO? Although the search engine giant would not disclose information, experts agree that user interface signals are the primary determinant. This can involve variables from click-through rate to time spent on the website. You need to catch and engage readers with valuable, well-organized content. An on-page SEO checker will help you determine your page’s strength based on points like readability, backlinks, and more.
2. Speech Search Appearance in Search Queries
Thanks to technologies such as Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa, voice search technology has come a long way. As technology has improved, it has also become more popular. In fact, the number of households expected to own a smart speaker by 2022 is 55%.
Consider your keywords to improve your voice search. Identify the longer sentences that people use in daily speech. Voice searches appear to perform better for longer, more natural-sounding words. They prefer to abbreviate when people type. For instance, someone may be looking for a voice, “What are the new SEO trends for 2021? “But for type in words, “New SEO Trends 2021.”
3. Mobile-Friendly Compatibility Will Affect Search Rankings
In 2019, Google carried out mobile-first indexing, meaning that the search engine mainly looks at the website’s mobile version, calling the “primary” version instead of the desktop version.
This move makes sense, considering that almost 73 percent of Internet users will only be able to access the Internet through mobile devices by 2025. Check how successful your mobile site is with Google’s free mobile test. First, take a look at the “mobile usability” report in the Google Search Console.
To ensure your page is user-friendly, you need to make sure that Google can monitor your URLs, so make sure you have no “Disallow Directive” in effect. Also, please note that Googlebot will not load content involving user interactions, such as clicking or wiping.
You need to make sure that Google can see this so-called lazy stuff. Finally, make sure that you use the same meta robot tags on your desktop and mobile pages.
4. Material that follows the Google EAT Concept Would Rank Higher
Google has reiterated that content quality is key to the performance of rankings. But what does “quality” mean to Google? Refer to the EAT principle: knowledge, authority, and trustworthiness. These factors help to decide whether a website has useful quality content. This concept is particularly applicable to business niches that fall under the “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) mark, such as health care or finance.
There are a several ways you can ensure the quality of your content. Second, build buyer people who let you understand what kind of content your clients appreciate. Second, perform research on purpose, which helps you map out the customer journey. Third, use this knowledge to create content that suits the style that your customers want. For example, if you cater to teenagers, video is probably preferable. If you appeal to an older audience, the video will be less desirable.
Last but not least, keep EAT in mind as you craft your material. Back up figures and truth statements. Link to reputable pages, such as the.edu and.gov URLs. Getting an authoritative link back to you is another way to show that you meet the EAT requirements.
5. Long-form content can help to boost SERPs
According to our State of Content Marketing Research, long readings of more than 3,000 words have three times more traffic and four times more shares.
They also gain 3.5 times more backlinks than papers with an average length of 901 to 1,200 sentences. Start concentrating on long-form content to get higher search rankings. That said, your content needs to maintain quality. The goal is to provide users with shared knowledge that keeps them engaged.
How are you going to do this? Next, split your content into sections with the H2 and H3 subheadings to make it more scannable. Subheadings are particularly relevant for mobile pages. Second, ensure that you connect to appropriate, authoritative sources with a high authority score. Finally, make sure the content is easy to share. Have simple link sharing at the headline and again at the conclusion so that readers can share with a quick click.
Our SEO Content Template Tool can help you refine your search content. Enter the question you want to rank with, and you’ll get content length suggestions, semantically relevant keywords to use, and take a closer look at the top-level pages.
6. Featured Snippets Would Be Even More Popular
Don’t panic, man. You won’t have to create long-term content solely if you want to step up the Google rankings. Featured snippets, which were rolled out in 2017, are a kind of shortcut to gaining visibility in Google—and they’re quite brief. Often, when you type something in Google, you could find a box above the actual results at the top of the SERPs. This is a snippet.
Scoring a featured snippet is a perfect way to get on the coveted first page of performance. What’s more, snippets are stealing huge traffic from rivals.
Featured snippets present a piece of material, often structured as a Q&A or a short bullet-point, how-to guide. Rich snippets are also available, including photos, star-based ratings, product prices, and similar bits of details. Focus on question-based questions and related keywords to build snippets. You can use the Google search feature called “People also ask” for inspiration.
7. Predictive Search
Google Discover introduced a new search form in 2017—one that doesn’t even need a user question. Discover is another Google AI-driven application. The content recommendation tool detects user behavior trends over time and eventually learns about these patterns. Discover will classify the most accurate content most likely to be of interest to the user with this knowledge.
Google Discover is now boasting more than 800 million active users. You don’t have to do something special to appear. If Google indexes your pages, it will be included. The content is ranked based on content quality inspecting algorithms and user interest. While Google has not given any detailed details, it appears that location history, browsing history, app use, calendars, search history, and home and work locations are all important.
8. Effective SEO strategy – video would need to be included
The online video seems to be the way forward. YouTube has over 1 billion subscribers. If you’re not making video content, it’s time to get started and not persuaded, huh?
How do you customize the video content? Make sure you optimize the name and definition of your video channel. Not only should the summary be filled with keywords, but it should include a user-friendly rundown of what your channel is all about.
Beyond that, the keywords are important. For example, if you’re optimizing YouTube, you can get inspired by the Platform’s auto-complete function. Start typing your video theme to see what appears in the search area, which is basically a list of suggested keywords, telling you exactly what people on YouTube are looking for.
9. Image Optimization Can play a greater role in Search
Visual image search has grown dramatically. It used to be that people will just look at the videos. In the future, people will be able to use images to buy goods, access knowledge, and more. Google has long focused on the correct labeling and optimization of images, making sense that this is part of their long-term strategy.
If the pictures on your website are not configured, take care of them now. Use high-quality, appropriate photos, and make sure you customize the file name. Mark the picture file so that it is relevant to the contents on the corresponding tab. Use the old tags used by crawlers to identify photos. Finally, add the photos to your site map, where they’re even easier to crawl. You can also check out other posts where we address SEO image for more tips.
10. There will be more important the semantically relevant keywords
SEO practitioners used to concentrate on primary keywords as if they had blinders on them. Now, we know that secondary keywords are just as relevant. Semantic search and intention optimization will gain more popularity in the future. Google is no longer just looking at strings of words. It analyzes the query context and tries to define the user’s search intention, which means that the more specific information provided—through logically linked primary and secondary keywords—the better.
We provide a detailed keyword tool to classify semantically relevant keywords and keyword difficulties to prioritize which queries you want to target first.
To truly solve the semantic Search, build content tailored to answer a query that your target audience may have asked. Optimize content for clusters of topics instead of relying exclusively on keywords. Finally, when rational, use structured data. Most importantly, don’t write for bots, but for people.
11. Local Search Listings Can play a greater role in SEO strategies
When people think about the Internet, they also think about its global existence. The reality is that most people use search engines to locate localized products and services. For example, they may be looking for a neighborhood restaurant. Local SEO is important—and is evolving. This development is attributable, in part, to the proliferation of zero-click searches—which some SEO marketers are doubling the new standard.
In a zero-click search, the question of the user is answered through the SERP itself. So they’re not clicking on any of the ranking results. An increase in the number of featured snippets is one explanation for zero-click searches to grow. Many zero-click searches are local searches that display SERP, which has been called a “local pack.”
How are you going to get your company into the local pack? Start by building your Google My Company page. It is also important to have a good backlink profile. You can check what kind of backlinks your competitors are getting for motivation and target your own.
Twelve. Data and review should become your focus if you want to stay ahead in rankings.
Data science helps you understand consumers, envision promotions, and develop targeted messages. Analytics can help you verify which URLs are being tagged, identify referral sources, check page loading times, indexing, redirecting, response errors, bounce rates, and more. You can also use data science to classify pages that you do not want to index and identify unusual traffic sources, such as possible spam sites (which will hurt your EAT credibility).
How are you going to collect all this information? There are a lot of SEO market research tools out there.
Learn more about the new patterns and techniques in SEO
SEO is just becoming more nuanced, as the above list makes clear. The days of merely optimizing keywords and meta titles have long gone by. With SEO’s latest trends, you need to think about everything from voice control to SEO footage. Metrics are constantly evolving, and it’s important to remain at the top of the rankings. The right SEO tools will help you get the details you need to lead your smart SEO strategy.
