With the year ending, it’s time for businesses to put in place their digital marketing and SEO strategies for the new year. Business owners and marketers are anxiety ridden for what 2021 has in store. To help you buckle up, we have put together a list of SEO trends that are going to be there in 2021.
The world keeps changing and so does SEO trends. The goal of search engine optimization is to optimize a website so as to improve its Google ranking and eventually increase its online traffic. As Google keeps updating it’s ranking factors, SEO trends keep changing. Being SEOers, it is crucial to stay updated on these trends.
Below is a list of-
10 Important SEO Trends You Need to Know for 2021
1. Mobile friendly website is a must
According to Google’s mobile first indexing, ‘mobile view’ of a website is considered the primary view instead of the ‘desktop view’. This was done to facilitate mobile users better as most of the internet browsing is done through mobile phones.
Hence, it is important for websites to be mobile friendly. You can do the following things-
- Use simple UI and mobile-accessible themes for your website
- Incorporate a responsive web design
- Use lazy loading for your content
- Check website loading and page speed
- Perform mobile testing on a regular basis
We can safely say that mobile friendliness of a website is one important Google ranking factor that is going to be a norm for at least some years to come.
2. Website loading and page speed
Imagine someone finds your website in Google SERP, clicks on the link, opens it, and finds out your website is taking too long to load or your page speed is very poor. As a result, the user will get irritated, go back to SERP and look for other results. If this keeps happening, it will increase your bounce rate and Google will demote your website on SERP. Similarly, if your website loads fast and you offer a good page speed, Google will promote you on SERP.
Thus, it is important to make sure while doing SEO for your website in 2021 that you have a fast website loading and page speed.
3. Content is the king
Content has been an important Google ranking factor and continues to be so for SEO in 2021 as well.
A well structured, quality content that employs relevant keywords can help you get a higher Google ranking. Also make it a point to incorporate visual media types to make your content more engaging so as to improve your dwell time and check bounce rate.
4. E.A.T. will play a prominent role
If you’re wondering what is E.A.T.- it stands for Expertise, Authority & Trustworthiness. Following Google’s E.A.T. principle is crucial to ensure a higher ranking. Google will only display your website on top if it trusts you enough.
To work best with E.A.T., introduce yourself/your organization properly on internet platforms by filling accurate and consistent data following proper format. Make sure to gather positive review, not only on your website but also one other internet platforms where you/your business is present. Link your website with trusted sites only and also allow backlinks only from such sites.
5. Local SEO is important
This is specifically important for those businesses which rely heavily on their location. Local SEO aims at ensuring when someone runs a Google search for your business type near your location, your business appears in the top results.
For this, you’ll have to optimize your website to make it appear in Google’s local 3-pack which are top 3, zero click search results. Local SEO is going to play an important role for local businesses. In 2021. To improve your local ranking, these are some of the things you can do-
- create a Google my business page
- have a strong backlink profile
- have a high consumer rating and positive reviews
- make relevant local links, etc.
6. Exploit video marketing
Video is a great tool of marketing still unexplored by many. Make sure you are not one of them. Video has an ability to leave a strong psychological impression that isn’t possible for other media to do in isolation.
Start with creating a YouTube account. Post interesting videos there relevant to your industry. Share its excerpts on other social channels to gain more viewers. Video marketing is going to be a prominent trend in SEO for 2021.
7. Influencer marketing gaining popularity
People with a huge following and reach on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat etc are known as social media celebrities or influencers. Marketing and advertising through such influencers can be really beneficial if done right.
It can be a great tool for connecting with your audience on a more personal level. However, it is important to do a thorough research on the influencers you intend to collaborate with. Only a high number of followers should not be the sole factor. Make sure that the influencer is trustworthy, has a positive reputation, a higher level of engagement and an audience who’d be interested in your brand.
8. Image optimization is just as crucial
Images are important because it helps make your content more meaningful and engaging.
Image optimization implies that you should use only high-quality images labelled accurately using relevant keywords and alt tags that are suitable to your content. Google has long insisted on image optimization and this continues to be one important factor for Google ranking in 2021.
9. Featured snippets
Assume you searched for “best clothing brands”. You will find a square above the search result that’ll contain the names of those brands. That’s what a featured snippet is.
Featured snippets are excerpts from articles which have its constituents structured in such a way so as to present information in a precise and crisp manner. Having a featured snippet will help you steal a great amount of visitors from your competitors.
For this, make sure that your article is well structured. You can use pointers or Q&A format with relevant keywords.
10. Rely on data and analytics
Getting on the technical aspect for our last point, aggregating relevant data and running required analysis are crucial to help you understand consumer behavior, devise campaigns and target better. On the other hand, analytics help you check your bounce rates, dwell time, redirects, response errors, page speed, indexing and so on.
By employing SEO tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMRush, etc, you can track your rank, do on-page SEO, build links and much more. Such tools let you understand your technical strengths and weaknesses more accurately and clearly ultimately helping you address problems better and maintain a competent web presence.
Final word
The world of SEO is ever-evolving and is only becoming more complex. With this, it becomes all the more important to stay updated on SEO trends to maintain virtual visibility and reach. With the help of the above list of SEO trends as predicted for the next year, you can gear up your digital marketing better for 2021.
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