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6 SEO Trends to Keep an Eye on for 2020-2021

Anyone familiar with SEO knows how fast it can all change. Updates are often rolled with no warning, leaving thousands of struggling websites in their wake. This is why it’s important to constantly stay on top of the recent changes in the industry so you can take the proper measures and avoid methods that could not only be obsolete, but detrimental. Let’s take a look at some of the main SEO trends to keep an eye on for 2020-2021.

More Google Updates

If it seems like Google is updating all the time, it’s because it is. It’s not uncommon to see multiple updates every year and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. Some websites are still trying to figure out what happened to them with the core update and Google announced that it’s preparing an update that will focus on ‘Core Web Vitals’ 2021.

For those who don’t know, these are factors such as page speed and mobile-friendliness but could include much more. Like anything else, Google stays very secretive about its algorithms and there’s no true way to tell what will be in this update. But one sure bet would be to start working on improving your site’s user experience right away.

It can be difficult to understand what good user experience is, however, let alone improve it yourself. This is why you may want to look for outside help. Services like WSI Digital Ltd, for instance, will be able to look at your site and help you see where you could make corrections. It can only take one small change sometimes to make a big difference. This could be all it takes to save you from this next update and similar ones after.

E-A-T

We can also thank the latest core update for propelling E-A-T into the mainstream. E-A-T stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Google has been alluding to these principles for a while, but this update seems to be the first one to really focus on them.

And the point behind it is simple. Google wants to make sure that their users are getting results from reputable sources who know what they’re talking about and won’t give them false information. The quality of their product depends on it. This means that this will need to become a priority for website owners from now on if it was not already.

One of the first things you can do to increase authority is to increase your number of brand mentions and backlinks on highly relevant and high-quality websites. You also have to make sure that credentials are clearly marked on every piece of content. Work on your bios and make sure that they are as detailed as possible with many external links.

Another thing you have to avoid is trying to be everything to everybody. This is especially important if you own one of those lifestyle websites. Sites without a clear and narrow focus are likely to continue to suffer while niches sites with a clearly defined audience will thrive. So, you will need to prune out some of that content and re-evaluate what your true expertise is.

Voice Search is Taking Over

2020 is officially the year of parity for voice searches. It is estimated that about half of all searches today are conducted through search. This means that voice search is not only becoming as important as text search, but that it could surpass them in the near future.

What does it mean for websites? It means that those who don’t start optimising for search right away could end up becoming invisible to a large portion of the population. This is especially true for local establishments as it has been estimated that around 58% of voice searches are solely to find information on local businesses.

One of the things you can do to improve your results with voice search is to focus more on conversational keywords. Having a well-stocked FAQ section with queries will also help your business get more visibility.

Content Maintenance

While the concept of content maintenance used to be an afterthought for many website owners, they might have to do more now as Google is putting more and more importance on relevancy. One of the best ways to increase the relevancy of your site is to start deindexing pages that are either not ranking or not relevant to your overarching theme. Making your site more compact will also allow you to monitor your existing content better.

You want to consolidate thin content as well, instead of trying to spread it out. When search engines are able to clearly narrow down your core audience, they will better be able to compare it with other websites of its genre and rank it more precisely for specific types of searches.

Statistics-Based Content

Infographics have been all the rage and there’s a reason why people and Google love them. They’re authoritative, great for dissecting data, and usually get a lot of backlinks. However, Google seems to have a penchant for anything with statistics in it. As a matter of fact, Google will often index content with statistics faster as it is viewed as more authoritative. So, we can expect to continue to see more and more statistics-based pieces this year and the next.

Influencers and SEO

Influencers are definitely a force to be reckoned with, and we can expect them to play an increasingly important role in SEO. Influencers give brands the chance to show themselves to a whole new audience. They might then start to gain interest in a product and let the brand mentions fly. Working with influencers could also help your brand benefit from their SEO juice as content related to your brand will get the same visibility as any of their other content.

All of these trends should be on the radar if you want to start building your SEO strategy. We suggest you look at all of these in detail and see how you can position yourself and adjust.

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