Top SEO Trends in 2021

As a website owner or any other online platform, you need to be abreast of the SEO techniques or contract an SEO company to manage your site optimization. More than 70% of users prefer organic results to paid listings. And about 28% of those that visit a site from a result page end up purchasing the service or product.

Ways to improve your Google ranking

To rank high on SERPs, you need to consider several metrics like social shares, traffic and backlinks. You need to know and understand the relevant SEO trends in 2021 to rank better on search engines. With these SEO trends below, you would know what to expect in 2021.

Artificial intelligence in SEO

Artificial intelligence now has a significant effect on users’ interaction with online content, and Google introduced an AI algorithm a while back. The algorithm (RankBrain) plays a significant role in Google ranking. Although the algorithm’s specifics are unknown, experts speculate it will consider user experience, click-through and time users spend on a page. This means that you need to have engaging, well-structured, and captivating content to meet your target audience needs.

You can use different tools like an on-page SEO checker to access your page strength based on its backlinks, readability and user experience.

Consider voice search

Innovations like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant have increased the number of voice searches. The number of homes to own smart speakers by 2022 will increase by 55%, so optimising your voice search is essential.

Consider including phrases people use in their everyday conversations. Natural-sounding phrases are usually better for voice searches, unlike typing, where people abbreviate their search.

Mobile-friendliness

Google has introduced the mobile-first indexing. This means the search engine will consider the mobile version of sites before the desktop version because more people make searches from mobile devices and will increase to about 73% internet users.

To have a user-friendly mobile site, you need to ensure Google bots can crawl your site. Google would not crawl content that requires user interaction and use the same meta tags for your mobile and desktop sites.

Quality content

Regardless of any optimisation technique you use, you need to have quality content to rank better. Quality content has to meet the EAT principle (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). This principle is usually important for sites under the YMYL (your money, your life) label like finance and healthcare.

To create quality content, ensure you understand what your clients want. Research the user’s search intent, then use the information you have to create content your users need. For example, an older client base may prefer written content to videos.

Have reliable content using relevant line and statistics and work on having authoritative sites link to your site.

opt for long-form content

Findings from the State of Content Marketing Report shows that long-form content of about 3000+ words usually generates more traffic and shares. These long-form contents also have more backlinks compared to 900 – 1,200 word articles.

You may want to focus more on long-form content if you want higher ranking. However, ensure you have quality content that gives your readers the right information they need. You can do this using the H2 and H3 headers, especially for mobile sites, then include relevant and authoritative links. Ensure you include share options and the headline and conclusion to encourage quick sharing.

Aim for featured snippets

Long-form content may improve ranking. But you could also have featured snippets which shows the readers what they need before they click on your site on the result page. Featured snippets are a popular way to get high ranking on Google because it would generate more traffic.

To create relevant featured snippets, focus on using relevant keywords and question-based queries to create your content. You could also focus on creating quality content for the ‘people also ask for’ feature in Google

Predictive search

Google launched a Discover feature in 2017. And this has created an avenue for a new search that does not use user query. Discover is an AI-driven tool which studies user behaviour over time and learns the habits to identify accurate content the user needs.

Google will index your page if it finds users interested in it and when you have quality content. Although Discover’s specifics are not clear. Experts speculate that it uses calendars, home and work locations, browsing history, app usage, location history amongst others, to perform the indexing.

Video optimization

Videos are now important in optimising sites. YouTube currently has over a billion users, so this is the best time to invest in video content. Ensure you optimise your video description and title. Try not to overuse keywords in your description and keep it simple to make it user-friendly. You can use the auto-complete feature by typing part of your video topic and see the result that comes up. This gives you an idea of what internet users search for and help you know the right topic to use.

Image optimization

Ensure you use high-quality images, label the photo file, and customise the file name because more people are beginning to use images to get information and even make purchases. Use alt tags to help Google bots crawl and index your images.

Semantically-related keywords

Previously, the focus was on primary keywords, but this is not the case as experts are gradually shifting to secondary keywords. In 2021 SEO trends and beyond, intent optimization and semantic search will be Google’s focus. The aim is not only to have several keywords but those that match user intent. This means that preference will be given to relevant information gotten through relevant secondary and primary keywords.

Try to optimise your topic clusters rather than only keywords, and use structured data that suit your target audience.

Local listing

People currently use Google to search for services and goods within their location. So, local SEO is something you should consider. Local SEO is evolving, and zero-click searches are becoming the new normal.

In zero-click searches, people get the information they need on SERPs. So, they do not have to click on any site. Many of these zero-clicks result from local searches. So, use the Google My Business page to claim a spot for local searches in your niche. You also need a strong backlink profile. So, check the sites linking to your competitors’ sites and work towards having those backlinks.

Prioritize your data and analytics

Analytics will help you check if the Google bots crawl your site, bounce rate, redirects, referral sources, amongst other important factors. The data allows you to understand your audience and create messages for your target audience. It also helps you identify spam sites that link to your site, which reduces your ranking.

You can get an SEO analytic tool to check these important features that help you keep track of your site’s progress or have the best SEO company to handle your SEO.