How Will SEO Optimization Change in the Near Future?
The Future of SEO: What’s Next For SEO in the Coming Years?
For many marketers, ascertaining whether they were delivering impressions for the right price in the right channel was an imperfect science. Well, that was until the dawn of SEO.
Search engine optimization has enabled marketers to convert browsers into buyers. SEO and content marketing have transformed the realm of digital marketing. But SEO is an ever-changing field. Thinking that SEO is all about keyword research and link building is a mindset that will undoubtedly lead to failure.
Google is constantly adapting its algorithms in favor of higher quality content, and newer, better technologies are emerging all the time.
So, what does the future of SEO look like?
The Changing Face of Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization strategies are constantly in flux due to frequent changes in Google’s algorithm.
In the early years of SEO, the key to ranking on the first page of Google was to cram webpages with as many keywords as possible. Some webmasters would go to the extent of hiding keywords within the website’s code or using invisible texts in blog posts. But Google soon caught on to such strategies and adjusted its algorithms accordingly.
Today, SEO optimization is more complicated than it has ever been, as Google places a premium on high-quality content and user experience. As a result, SEO without content marketing is like a body without a soul. More importantly, it’s unlikely to work.
There’s no question that SEO is already evolving into its next form at this very moment. Let’s look at some of the SEO trends that will continue to shape the industry for years to come.
1. SEO is Shifting Towards Mobile
Perhaps, the most game-changing development in SEO is mobile-first indexing, a response to the drastic shift in the way people search the web. Since the majority of users are now accessing search engines from a mobile interface, Google has adjusted its crawlers to prioritize the mobile version of content when it comes to indexing and ranking.
And no, there is no a separate mobile-first index.
With mobile-first indexing, only the URL of the mobile-friendly version of your website is considered. Going forward, brands should focus on providing an identical experience on mobile and desktop.
Some best practices include:
- Make sure the mobile version of your site can handle an increased crawl rate
- Make sure the desktop pages have equivalent mobile pages
- Make sure that Google can access and render your mobile page content
- Optimize core web vitals for a more seamless mobile user experience
- Put the same metadata on both versions of your site
- Check the placement of your ads – For instance, placing ads at the top of the page can take up too much room on a mobile device, thereby fostering a poor user experience.
What’s more, your website should be mobile-friendly and responsive across all mobile devices. Otherwise, you risk being outranked by your competitors and even getting penalized by Google.
2. SEO is Becoming More Visual
Visual SEO may sound like the new SEO hack, but it’s a ranking factor that will come to dominate SEO in the next few years as Google’s AI becomes better at seeing and understanding images and videos.
For most brands, SEO tends to revolve around written content, keywords, and backlinks. While these are still impactful strategies, it’s important to remember people will always be drawn more to visual content. Sharp data visualization, infographics, and video content are all effective ways to enhance user experience.
All in all, there’s an increasing need to:
- Question the user experience
- Determine how best to connect with your target audience
- Consider the language and visuals used to connect with audiences
Another advantage of prioritizing visual content is that it keeps people on your site for longer. It also attracts quality back-linking, which continues to be one of the top search results ranking factors.
3. The Rise of Voice Search is the Future of SEO
Voice search was introduced in 2011, and back then, it was more of a novelty than a feature people actually used to search the web. Improvements in speech recognition technology, as well as the proliferation of voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home, have thrust voice search into the forefront of search marketing. This will only increase as more people move to integrate mobile and smart home technology into their lives.
Here are two ways voice search might transform SEO in the coming years:
- Increased focus on multi-lingual voice search
It’s no longer enough to rely on Google Translate to automatically translate your web content into different languages. With people all over the world using voice search, your SEO must be multi-lingual too. Removing language barriers allows you to have greater reach and influence with consumers all over the world.
- Using long-tail keywords to mimic the way people speak
The way people speak differs significantly from how they write. They’re more likely to use abbreviations in text searches than in voice searches. Part of enhancing user experience is to ensure search queries are answered much faster and more efficiently. That also means focusing on determining search intent – the reason why someone conducts a specific search.
4. Integrating Omnichannel Marketing and Social Media Management
If there’s one thing search engines love, it’s consistency in messaging across channels. Today’s consumers have nearly endless amounts of information available to them. Not to mention they’re constantly bombarded with marketing messages.
Social media may not be a ranking factor, but it can significantly influence your SEO strategy. The web is now a social communications channel – the number of followers and your social reach plays a huge role in how often your content gets viewed and shared.
SEO isn’t a one-time technical aspect. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s about creating a seamless, consistent user experience to build credibility and trust with your audience. Brands that hone their precision marketing in these ways will continue to attract customers and drive significant customer acquisition.
5. AI and the Future of Search Engine Optimization
As artificial intelligence and machine learning become more sophisticated, marketers will have to adapt. It’s only a matter of time before these tools they start to dominate SEO strategies. For instance, Google’s RankBrain is an AI designed to recognize words and phrases in order to learn and predict better outcomes.
AI is able to extract insights from data at scale, enabling you to increase conversions with behavioral profiling. Personalized marketing leads to stronger brand loyalty and increased revenue.
From text and voice search to topic discovery and keyword research, AI is the key to finding patterns in large sets of data so you can target, reach and connect with your audience. Machine learning, on the other hand, helps with analyzing search intent so you can optimize content to fit user queries.
Book a Free Marketing Assessment With P3 to Learn About the Future of SEO
How your website looks and performs is a crucial component of search engine optimization. Anyone can build a website, but far fewer can create a site that reliably produces conversions. The P3 Agency is a marketing and brand development company specializing in web design in Clearwater. Contact us for a free marketing assessment and to analyze how best we can improve your search results rankings.