3 SEO Trends to Watch out for in 2020
Fall is already there and we’re approaching the turn of a new year. Technology changes by the minute, and there are not many fields that are as fluid and changing as SEO. If you’re a marketer, it’s always important to stay abreast of the most recent developments in order to adapt your strategy, abandon obsolete techniques, and know which methods could actually be detrimental to your business. 2020, like every year, is bound to introduce us to a whole new set of approaches, principles, and trends. Let’s take a look at some of the top trends to watch out for next year.
Search will Become Even more Important
There was a time when SEO was the sole domain of the written word. Now, voice is beginning to become more and more important and companies will have to be able to make their sites conducive to voice search if they don’t want to miss out on a large chunk of their audience.
New smartphones and better AI are improving the voice search experience and returning more accurate results, changing the public’s perception towards the medium and promoting more of use it. Not only that, but since mobile searches have a tendency to be very local and specific in nature, businesses will have no choice but to consider voice in their SEO efforts.
The average USA SEO agency should already be aware of this, as voice searches are particularly popular in the country. As a matter of fact, it has been estimated that voice search could pass the 50% total searches mark by 2020. Agencies will have to change their keyword research strategy and look at them from an intent perspective first in the next coming years.
The Rise of AI
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are 2 things we can expect to hear a lot in the world of SEO in 2020. AI is being used to better rank pages using advanced algorithms that are able to analyze which type of content would be the most relevant to specific audiences. AI will facilitate the ranking process, and will be able to take various off and on page SEO metrics to judge which pages should have the most visibility.
More Emphasis on User Experience
Page speed and bounce rates have already been added to Google’s algorithm, and we can expect to see them continue moving towards this direction in 2020. Things like dwell time, which is the amount of time people stay on a particular page before leaving the site, should start getting more attention as well.
Mobile user experience should also play a major role, and could even be used as the main reference for your site’s ranking. In other words, even if you have the most beautiful website in the world, it might become invisible to searches if your mobile experience isn’t stellar.
It can be hard to look into the future of SEO, but if this year was of any indication, we can expect even more power to be put in the hands of the user. This means that marketers will have to adapt their strategies with their audience in mind first and foremost, not search engines.
