In the field of online marketing, it’s safe to say that things are changing daily. If you skip a month, you go from pro to newbie. Techniques that worked last year felt by the wayside, and the domain as a whole became a more intelligent discipline as technology evolved, and Google no longer allows us to spam the Internet with links and keywords.
2020 has launched some sophisticated strategies for companies to follow if they want to increase their organic traffic. Should we be surprised that the beginning of a new decade brought changes in the way companies market their websites? When working in the online marketing industry, you’re always ready for change, so welcome the paradigm shift and try to come up with new ideas to deliver you the so wanted first place in the rankings.
If you’re running a business and you’re worried your SEO Methods don’t match the new digital marketing trends, you should probably research to find how you can adapt it. There’s no time for freaking out because, by the time to understand how they work, they may change again.
Your goal is Google to feature your content in snippets
Go on Google, and search for something, anything. The first thing the page shows is a box where your query receives an answer that can take many forms, from a list to a table or a definition. Google calls it a featured snippet, and in most cases, the search engine pulls the info from one of the first ten search results it provides for your query. Data shows that 40% of Google Home results come from the featured snippet.
But not everyone searches by text, some use voice, so when you optimize your website, ensure your content answers both keyword and voice search.
To get into Google’s featured snippet and dominate the search result page, you need to focus on long-tail keywords. When you craft content, try to answer the questions from the People Also Ask section, and identify how people are asking them (by voice or text).
Change your headers and title tags to feature the same questions. Try to repeat the question you’d ask if you’d be a client until you come with the version; you’d use the most. Then answer the question in no more than 60 words because the average snippet has between 40 and 60 words. And don’t stop at only creating new content that follows these rules, go back and update your older blogs and pieces of information you posted on the website.
Google loves the companies that build a brand
Some companies don’t think brand building impacts their SEO results, but surprisingly it does. Branding gives them trust and authority, and Google loves these two features when it checks websites. Brand queries influence Google’s algorithm, so companies should strive to get their pages to feature in the first search results (and yes, we stated pages and not one page). But it’s important none of the content Google lists about you to include negative information.
If you run a business, you may wonder how you can build a brand; Google considers worthy of listing in its top rankings. You need to take an omnichannel approach to SEO. Use all marketing tools available to build brand awareness and give Google food for its indexing process. The more pages you get on the first page, the better positioned your brand is and the more clients you get. You get control over the market, and brands consider you a real competitor.
You need links to build your brand, but when you don’t know how to make them, it’s smart to hire an SEO Company because they can analyze your relationship with your clients and determine what content you need to create to deepen the connection and reach out a wider public. You can also reach out to experts in your niche and influencers and ask them to share brand-related content on their social media platforms. It will help you reach new clients and build your brand quickly.
Google also prefers mobile-friendly websites
We mentioned voice search for a reason. 30% of smartphone users conduct voice search when they use Google to look for something. Do you think Google suggests them your page if it’s not mobile-friendly? It has millions of other companies that provide the same services so that it can pick any one of them.
You can use an online tool to check if your website is fully optimized for mobile devices. When the site doesn’t pass the test, you need to adjust it immediately. And because you probably have no app design skills, you need to hire an expert to switch to a new theme and create a flexible layout that reconfigures the website elements when someone accesses it from a small screen.
When you optimize the website to be mobile-friendly, you need to follow three rules:
– Create short paragraphs. You need content on your website, but it’s essential to keep information concise. Two or three sentences provide all the details your clients need, and short texts look great on a small screen.
– Use headers to break up a text. For every two paragraphs, you need a header. When you use headers, you help the user scan the content and decide if your website delivers them the answer to their needs.
– Use numbered lists and bullets. People love organized content, so if your website contains blocks of text, they’ll probably exit and check your competitors. But if you use these elements to break the blocks of text and draw attention to important ideas, they’ll appreciate your effort by buying your products.
You’re great at running the business, but you lack SEO-friendly content writing skills. Hand the task to someone who has the knowledge to do it for you. SEO requires plenty of research and expertise, and you cannot learn it overnight. Experts dedicate their life to education because they operate in an ever-changing domain.
The conclusion: SEO is has changed significantly in 2020, and you need to manage the website differently if you want search engines to rank your pages.
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