Like other things in life, SEO is bound to change. If you were expecting SEO to remain the same in 2021, you might be mistaken.
As a digital marketer or a Top IT firm, you will need to know all the latest developments in SEO to become successful in 2021.
Each year brings a new set of opportunities and challenges for the modern marketer. Skilled marketers can thrive in all conditions.
Is SEO still relevant?
Absolutely. Search engines like Google are going nowhere, and neither are the people that use them. Search engines have become such an integral part of our lives that their importance cannot be understated.
People will still continue to use search engines in 2021. The use of search engines is positioned to increase only. So yes, you can be confident that SEO will still be relevant in 2021.
To stay competitive in 2021, you’re going to have to develop an SEO for growth mindset. You’ll need to think of ways to use SEO to advance your business objectives. SEO, when done correctly, can provide your business with incredible results. SEO is transforming too like new tools like live chat apps for website are playing integral role in getting people reviews.
SEO 2021 will depend on how well you can predict the way people use search engines.
Here are the key SEO trends that digital marketers need to be aware of in 2021:
1. Voice search will become even more important
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular among people.
Voice search is convenient. Most people use voice to search for something when they are either driving or aren’t in the mood to type a search query.
Thanks to IoT and smart devices, you expect an increased focus on voice technologies. Google wants to facilitate its users, and the best way to do that is to make their lives as convenient and easy as possible.
One of the biggest reasons to pay attention to voice is that it may change the amount of traffic you’re getting. Ranking on the first page won’t be enough in 2021. You’ll need to provide value to the searcher, and in a way that is easy to communicate through voice.
If voice becomes the norm for all future searches, the only way to get decent traffic would be to rank as high as possible on the search engine results page. But will that be enough? Probably not.
You’ll also need to make sure that the user’s intent is being appropriately addressed in your content. If your content doesn’t provide value, your website is not going to be used as a voice search result.
The best way to start preparing for the voice search era is to begin using long-tail keywords in your content. Try to answer something your audience would be searching for briefly. If warranted, you can go on explaining the content in more detail.
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2. BERT and what it will bring to the table
BERT is the new algorithm that Google rolled out at the end of 2019. When BERT came out, there were widespread concerns among digital marketers and SEO practitioners.
The thing about BERT is that it will impact almost 10% of all searches. It is not something that you can brush off or take lightly. You’re going to have to come up with a strategy to deal with BERT or any algorithm that Google comes out with.
Although it’s been a while now, it’s still a great idea to learn about the basics of BERT.
BERT is an algorithm that will evaluate search queries, not web pages. By analyzing search queries, BERT will try to find the intent behind a search query and try to show results accordingly.
If you want to stay relevant with BERT around, your on-page SEO game needs to step up. You need to focus on long-tail keywords more than ever.
Since Google is trying to focus more and more on providing a positive user experience, you’ll have to make sure that your content is going to help the searcher.
One way to make your textual content more appealing to BERT is to write naturally. What that means is no keyword stuffing (filling your content with a copious number of keywords for SEO benefits). Keyword stuffing used to work way back in the day.
All you need to do now is to write naturally and for your audience. Trying to provide value to your audience and thinking about how your writing will impact them will help you deal with BERT.
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3. E-A-T
The digital marketing community loves to come up with jargon. SEO, SMM, EAT, BERT, YMYL, the list of abbreviations is seemingly endless. EAT is one such acronym.
E-A-T is an acronym for Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Your website should have a high EAT level if you want to rank high.
Page quality is something that you should look into if you want to rank high on the SERP.
The content on your web page should provide value to your visitors. Without value, your visitors are going to bounce, and Google won’t like that one bit.
The expertise part of EAT means that the content should be written by an expert. If you want to get medical advice or information on a topic, only a doctor or another trained professional should answer your question.
Google advises content creators to write content and use their judgment to create content that they know will help the user.
The authoritativeness part of EAT means that content should be written by someone who has been working in the niche or industry for some time now. The writer or content creator should be a renowned member of the community.
The trustworthiness part of EAT means that the content creator, website, and the content should be trustworthy.
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4. The future is mobile and speed
This point is not particularly for 2021, but it is still essential to SEO success.
Mobile has become a new way to use search engines. Everyone has a smartphone these days. And most searches are being done on mobile phones and other devices.
In this scenario, it is imperative to have a responsive website.
Another thing that your site should be is super-fast. If your website is not optimized for mobile, it will take too long to load.
People have dwindling attention spans. If your website takes more time to load, people will bounce and hit up another site.
Ideally, your website should look great on all kinds of devices. And it should be able to load itself in under 7 seconds, and even that is pushing is.
Google penalizes websites that aren’t optimized for mobile and has been doing so for a while now. So, if you haven’t been penalized for having a non-responsive website, you should not be waiting around to get a hit from Google.
Make sure that your website is able to display its content on all kinds of devices properly. Also, ensure that you optimize the content on your site to make it as fast as possible. That way, your customers will have the best user experience possible.
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5. Try to rank for featured snippets
Featured snippets are literally changing the SEO game. You’ll find these snippets being an excerpt from the top results on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP).
Featured snippets help the user find what they were looking for without having to click on a bunch of websites. In most cases, all the user does is read the featured snippet and go away after acquiring the information he wanted. The user doesn’t even need to click on the website to find what he was looking for.
If you want to have any chance of driving traffic to your site, you need to aim to get to the top page of the niche you’re in. Without being on the first page of the SERP, you’re not going to have any chance to drive traffic in the future.
Just think about how many times you go to the second page of the SERP. The answer would hardly ever be for most people. But ranking on the first page is not enough anymore. You’re going to have to do much more than that if you want people to visit your site in the future.
Even on the first page, you’re going to have to compete with ads and other websites that have been around for a long time.
If you want to rank for the featured snippet, you should try to answer something that a user would type in as a search query.
“How do I build a snowman?” is something that a user would type in. If you want to rank for this query, try answering the question in your content. Make it as short and sweet as possible, but answer the question in detail in another paragraph.
The best way to get the featured snippet position is to answer the user’s search query in forty to sixty words. You can go further to answer the question, but try to give a brief overview to help the user.
Conclusion
SEO will continue to change in the future. Savvy digital marketers need to know how to take advantage of the changes in SEO.
Google is constantly tweaking its algorithm all year round. The only way to stay at the top of your SEO game is to produce quality content and provide as much value to your audience as possible.
Digital marketers shouldn’t worry about the changes in SEO. But they should stay vigilant to make the most out of these changes.