10 SEO Trends That Will Influence Digital Marketing
As digital marketing has grown in importance for today's businesses, so has the role of search engine optimization. SEO plays a huge role in getting people to your website, blog post, guest articles and other content assets. And if you don't play by Google's rules, you'll see your web traffic plummet.
The most successful marketers are on the cutting edge of the latest algorithm changes and best practices so they can make sure their clients' content is visible. Here are the up-and-coming SEO trends that 10 Forbes Agency Council members believe will impact their work this year.
1. Voice Search
Voice search services, including the use of virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, make recommendations based on organic search results. Optimizing keywords as conversational phrases will lead to long-tail success. Typically only the No. 1 ranked result becomes the recommendation, and getting to the top position is easier if you match conversational phrasing exactly. - Tom Kuhr, MomentFeed
2. Video Engagement
Users' engagement with video has been trending upwards fast. Faster internet speeds, user-friendly social media and smartphones are helping video content grow in popularity. Search engines will recognize this trend in user behavior and reward companies that appeal to current user preferences. I predict that we'll see vast improvements in video and image recognition by search engines. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing
3. Filtering Out Non-Credible News Articles
With the onslaught of media criticism, many companies have taken a beating for allowing fake news. Content farms and scammers have played the system and disguised themselves as credible. Search giants will further scrutinize content to prevent such errors in the future. Having a well-written article will no longer be enough. It will have to be supported by other credible sources. - Ricardo Casas, Fahrenheit Marketing
4. Increased Focus On Structured Snippets
Google's first priority used to be to deliver information to searchers as quickly as possible in the form of search rankings. Now Google is delivering a tremendous amount of information directly inside the SERPs with custom widgets and Structured Snippets. If you have top-ranked content ranking for high-volume search terms, you may deliver that info to the user without them ever hitting your site. - Todd Saunders, AdHawk
5. Google's Mobile-First Algorithm
SEO practitioners are finally being forced to adjust to the reality of a mobile-first algorithm on Google. Before the update rolls out in July, it's essential to review mobile ranking factors and adjust priorities. Page speed, for example, has been confirmed as an official mobile ranking factor, which has reoriented the way SEOs are prioritizing website and content updates. - Nina Hale, Nina Hale / Performance Digital
