We’re already way past the first quarter of 2017, but at least now we can make some educated predictions about where SEO Trends is going for the rest of the year.
1. SEO for Voice Searches –
This should come as no surprise. The infamous Google Super Bowl ad this year was all about using their Google Home device, which requires you to have vocal cords and a curious mind.
Google announced at “Google Next” on May 23rd, 2017, that 20% of all mobile searches are voice search. How does catering to voice searches differ from regular searches? We can’t go into too much detail, but imagine this:
2. Page Speed –
Websites are getting more feature-heavy and include video backgrounds, large graphics, and pages and pages of JavaScript. While it may be tempting to keep a fresh, trendy site, don’t allow that to slow your website’s load time. Or at least, don’t let it look like your pages are loading slowly.
For example, the websites with the lowest bounce rates focus on loading above-fold content first. The faster that content is served to web traffic, the more likely the session will continue to more pages and conversions.
Ecommerce sites should ensure that their product images load quickly. This is accomplished by reducing file size and placing priority on thumbnail images over product gallery images.
3. Video Optimization –
Of course, it’s important to remember that you should place keywords in the title and description of your YouTube videos. However, just like writing copy for your sites, the content of the videos should provide quality, relevant, and unique content that matches current trends.
We also see videos that are recycled on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Be sure to include edits of your video for these platforms, especially one-minute Instagram cuts of your Youtube videos.
Also, if you have not been putting links to your site from Youtube videos, you are doing yourself a major disservice.
4. Moving to HTTPS –
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/heres-to-more-https-on-web.html – This isn’t a new concept, but many non-ecommerce sites brushed HTTPS off to the side thinking it didn’t apply to them since they didn’t process credit cards. However, we know now more than ever that people value their privacy. This is becoming more of a concern for your web traffic as laws are passed that allow ISPs to sell consumer browsing data.
Even if this doesn’t significantly boost your Organic Rankings, it can boost your web traffic’s trust for your site. This can, and usually does, lead to increased conversion rates.
5. Remove mobile popups – https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/08/helping-users-easily-access-content-on.html Google has made it clear – cover up your mobile content, and you may not rank as high. It would come to the surprise of no one if Google made the same statement about desktop websites later this year.
What counts as “making content less accessible”? Popups, standalone interstitials, and layouts that kicks the relevant content beneath the fold to serve an interstitial all count. Don’t fear. If you use popups for legal purposes or have popups that cover a minority of the page, Google won’t likely penalize you for that.
6. ACTUALLY accomplish previous year’s goals – Let’s be serious. This isn’t the first time a yearly list has been created for SEO. But before you start gunning towards 2017’s trends, take a minute to revisit 2016’s goals (and earlier) that may have been placed on the backburner. Mobile site optimization, 3 blog posts per week (minimum), and fixing all the local listings to name a few things that may still be far from perfect.