8 SEO Trends That Will Matter to You in 2020
SEO is relevant for digital marketers, webmasters and companies of all sizes because, in a nutshell, it helps your website appear in the search results whenever someone types or speaks a question for which you have a solution or answer. In other words, it improves a website’s exposure in the SERPs which contributes to more natural traffic to your site.
Whether you’re a small businessman who needs an update of the latest SEO trends or an experienced marketer who needs your SEO plan to be renewed, this blog will keep you up to date with the SEO Trends in 2020.
With the coming decade, there’s still a lot to be analyzed in order to build your 2020 SEO Approach. The current SEO patterns are among the most key factors to keep in mind.
Over time, the SEO game changes dynamically and this makes it hard to come to terms with all the developments. To remain at the top of your game, you will have to keep up with those SEO developments. Failure to do so and you may lose some precious traffic. We’ve created a rundown of the key SEO patterns for 2020 to help you with the operation.
8 SEO Trends That Will Matter in 2020:
- Voice search
- Mobile-first
- Relevant content
- Blockchain technology
- Machine learning
- Going beyond Google
- Increasing expertise, authority, and trustworthiness
- On-page optimization
1. Voice Search
In the past several years, voice search has rapidly gained momentum. In 2017, around 35.6 million Americans were using voice search apps at least once a month. It was a year-over-year rise of 128.9 percent.
So optimizing voice search will be one of this year’s strongest SEO trends. AI assistants like Google Assistant and Siri lead this voice search surge in every new smartphone by their involvement. The trend is growing even further with the introduction of smart speakers such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa.
Certainly, the number of voice searches done will rise in 2020. For this reason, to keep up one of these big SEO trends, it is important to optimize long-tail keywords and correct keywords. Some of your customers will surely ask Google questions that are a little different from the standard search terms. In that case, you need to optimize your content to match those queries.
One crucial fact to note is that Google prefers shorter voice search answers. The average result of a voice search is now only about 29 words long. If you can improve your voice searches well, larger traffic may be credited to you.
2. Mobile-First
In the fourth quarter of 2018, smartphone searches reported for about 57% of all organic search results in the US. Google has, therefore, began to roll out its first mobile indexing tool. Smartphone-first optimization will, therefore, be one of the largest SEO developments in 2020. That is why a mobile-friendly website is necessary for you. Your site should be responsive and entirely mobile-functional.
In addition, the loading speed of your website should be configured for mobiles. In reality, the search results will force down a site that loads slowly on mobile phones. This is because a website one that loads slowly results in bad user experience. To rank higher and stay up with the latest SEO developments, you must strengthen the speed of loading your page.
You can utilize Google PageSpeed Insights to test the average page loading speed. The system not only analyzes the loading speed of your website, it even provides suggestions for improving it.
With increased mobile network speeds and efficiency of mobile browsing, people are more and more dependent on their phones for surfing. The pattern will also continue in 2020.
3. Relevant Content
Google can not only look at the content well but can also translate its context now. This ensures that one of the most essential SEO trends this year will be relevant, strong-quality content. The AI will decide how appropriate the content is to its title. Posting content that does not add value and which is divergent from the title may result in penalties.
Therefore, the content should be appropriate for your keywords and should not be overcrowded. Just be sure you write not for the search engines but for the readers. If the readers find it useful, they are also more likely to recommend it to others.
You can use keyword online resources like the Google Keyword Planner to find specific keywords. You can see which keywords your competitors use. Search engines aim to give users exactly what they’re looking for. That’s why content relevance is one of the key SEO trends for 2020.
4. Blockchain Technology
That may seem like an odd contestant on an SEO trends list, but blockchain had far-reaching effects on SEO. The answer is quite simple; blockchain seeks to create safe and reliable transaction data, and protection is one of Google’s main ranking factors.
It can also be utilized through search engines to secure all transactions. These also include the transactions between advertisers and owners of websites. Furthermore, every single person who sees an ad can be detected. This way, it can tell the difference between a bot and a human being. That, in addition, can be used to make sure site owners pay only for the most valid clicks.
5. Machine Learning
Machine learning is especially important to SEO, and you will likely see it among the largest SEO trends this 2020 and in the years to come. You can find out your user behavior utilizing machine learning ideas and Web analytics materials. This is also used by Google to display search results.
It can help you find ranking predictions, keyword ranking opportunities, site crawling, and more. All of these things can affect your SEO. By using machine learning, you can enhance your whole content strategy with your keywords.
6. Going Beyond Google
Yes, we know Google is today’s biggest driver of traffic. Nevertheless, with Amazon and Apple increasingly dominant, there are good chances that SEO can also be beneficial to those sources. SEO is after all about appearing wherever people are looking for you; not just on Google.
If you have an app, make sure you’re rated not only on Google but also in the app stores. Besides Youtube itself, videos have to rank on their own websites too. In SEO, a multi-faceted solution is required to rank at every possible spot.
One of the key SEO trends this year is thinking beyond Google. Aside from approaching the prestigious # 1 spot on the SERPs, you must focus on how to boost your exposure. Your target should not just be driving traffic. It should be about maximizing the users ‘ entire search experience. Make sure that the offerings on your website meet the needs of your customers.
7. Increasing “EAT”
Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness, also known as “EAT”, is one of the main SEO trends for 2020. Google’s search quality guidelines mention the EAT guidelines and offer us an idea of what Google is searching for in the short term.
This brings us back to the content quality aspect. You need to show proof of your authority by offering quality content that gives information, answer questions, and relevant to the keywords being searched. Similarly, the material is the only thing that shows the search engines your knowledge and expertise.
8. On-Page Optimization
Optimization on-page has always been an important element of SEO and will continue to do so in 2020. You can only rank higher in the search results by actually doing the on-page SEO. While it is important to optimize off-page links, you must pay careful attention to the on-page SEO too. This is mostly because it is a continual process and not really a one-time task technique.
Factors to consider and prioritize:
High-quality content that is relevant and answers the questions of users
Enhanced internal site search
Using efficient live chat and chatbots
User-friendly site
Final Thoughts
SEO will change dramatically in 2020 and in the years ahead. SEO trends like voice searches and mobile-friendliness are getting more relevant and may soon outstrip standard searches. Therefore, producing appropriate high-quality content that provides value to the audience is more critical than ever.
You also have to adopt new innovations, such as machine learning. These games can help your SEO plan. Make sure you’re not just relying on Google but going beyond it to rank higher in as many areas as possible.
