SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a popular buzzword these days. The main reason is that this marketing strategy has become mandatory in today's growingly competitive market.
Nowadays, online visibility, awareness, exposure, and credibility are all essential for business success, and SEO can help you achieve all those things if not more.
Ranking well on search engines such as Google and appearing on the first page of search results is a huge benefit. Not only do consumers find it trustworthy, but you're also visible to the broader consumer base.
However, getting as high as the first page of search results takes a lot of work. It takes time, dedication, and careful planning to reach such heights. That's why many companies give up on SEO altogether, believing it's not working.
But SEO takes time, and for those who wait, it can give them a significant advantage. Therefore, look at the latest SEO trends and how to get to the top of Google's search results.
Mobile-first indexing and voice search
Mobile data and traffic are dominant today. People mostly rely on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, to conduct online research, and Google recognizes their needs.For that purpose, mobile-first indexing was introduced as an essential ranking factor. In other words, websites and content must be optimized for mobile so that you can favor good rankings. Here are a few aspects regarding mobile optimization.
- Test your website's mobile-friendliness.
- Implement a responsive design.
- Improve page loading time.
- Eliminate or restructure pop-up ads.
- Structure content for mobile users.
With mobile devices reigning supreme, a new trend called "voice search" was also born. Instead of typing things down into a search bar, consumers will simply say what they want.
Another reason why voice search is becoming so popular is because of the voice assistants, such as Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and others.
That being said, Google's voice search isn't new, but it has recently experienced a significant increase in usage. It's estimated that in 2024, 50% of online searches will be voice searches. Therefore, here's how to optimize for voice search.
- Focus on fast search results; website speed is still essential.
- Implement proper security.
- Focus on featured snippets and local SEO.
- Optimize content for voice search.
Top-quality and well-optimized content
As you may already know, content is Google's number one ranking factor, alongside quality backlinks. Since content is the essence of SEO, you can do a lot with it. However, creating and publishing original and relevant content has always been challenging.Today, the trend is to create a consumer-centric approach to content. In other words, user-focused optimization is a must and it means that your entire range must be optimized toward user intent and not just a few features, such as meta descriptions, for instance.
Therefore, to bring your content closer to your audience and also closer to the first page of search results, here are a few things you should consider.
- Know who your target audience is and what they're searching for.
- Try to understand the intent behind the questions or problems they're facing.
- Make your content authoritative and provide users with answers and solutions in their preferred format.
- Repeat every stage of the buyer's journey to create a fantastic experience.
- Make sure you iterate because things may change fast and often.
Structured data
Although top-quality content is of the utmost importance, search engine algorithms aren't fully able to understand the context, which is why you must help them out so that they can understand and provide better results based on user intent.Structured data is an ideal way to provide search engines with useful hints. This is especially true when promoting products and services and helping your audience familiarize themselves with your offers.
What does it actually mean? Simply put, you're structuring data so that search engines can understand what's on your page and how elements of the page relate to details on other carriers, as well as how these pages ultimately link to other pages on your website.
You may also consider opting for a white label SEO service. The main reason is that with the right partnership, data structuring can be done in a way that will help you become understood, easily found by customers, and well-positioned in the online landscape.
Technical SEO and UX design
Customer experience is an important ranking factor for search engines. SEO optimization focuses on improving your website's overall customer experience. If you want to rank high and appear at the top of Google’s search results, you must meet your customers' expectations and needs beforehand.This is where UX design and technical SEO come into play. The necessity for technical excellence and a seamless user experience isn't new. Still, it's becoming more critical in 2024, mainly because the market is constantly growing with more apps, JavaScript files, etc. Therefore, if you want to single out one crucial factor, it would be speed.
Site and page speed will be more focused on search engines and consumers. Even now, consumers are not fond of sluggish websites. Since website speed is essential for user experience, search engines are also becoming more alert to website speed. Here are a few facts regarding site speed that should interest you.
A single-second delay in page loading time results in a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, an 11% decrease in page views, and a 7% decrease in conversions.
- The average loading time of mobile landing pages is 19 seconds.
- 64% of consumers expect a page to load in less than 4 seconds.
- 40% of users will abandon the page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
