Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the backbone of brands when it comes to online presence. Ranking higher on SERP takes effort and time – and gets even more challenging with trends that change without a moment’s notice. Google is anamorphous search engine which is popular (and even notorious) for rolling out changes in its search algorithms pretty often.
The year 2019 brought fresh updates from Google – some radical enough to ensure a swift departure from the usual SEO effortsused by professionals in the past. From the V’s (Video, Voice, and Vernacular) to the emphasis on local queries, Google is bringing a lot of changesas perthe changing internet consumption.
Let’s look at some of these changes and what they mean:
1. Content is still the dominant factor
To offers users authentic, detailed, and complete information, websites’ content will continue to be Hobson’sChoice for boosting SEO efforts. Digital marketers and SEO stalwarts need to emphasiseon unique content that appeals to readers. Content must be in the realm of context and should not deviate from the main line of industry events. It shouldn’t be a smug illustration devoted to self-appreciation and highlighting limited virtues of business.
Further, content needs to be so detailed that a promising content cluster should appear to readers who look for securing comprehensive informationon given topics and all its aspects.
2. Mobile apps to complement SEO strategy
Sterling mobile apps offering a range of featuresand giving impetus to business objectives among target customers will call the shots from this year onwards. However, a slight alteration in Google ranking factors will be the element of importance and popularity. Such apps are developed to gather users from social media and through online forums.
A heads-up to the SEO community: stress on building exclusive business apps, finely tuned with business ads. These apps should enable easy lead generation and sales full throttle.
3. Local queries and Google My Business to amplify results
Google wants us to come of age and start looking forward to local business interests with intent. For a small business or an SMB with limited scope of business, getting registered onGoogle Mapsis essential. Having a business profile with Google My Business adds another level of authenticity and boosts results with local search queries.
4. Multiple languages to provide information on website
Google has gained credibility as being the ultimate source of information across the world. To promote the idea of globalisation, websites exhibiting information in multiple languages are given preference across geographical quarters.
In other words, the website should be translation-friendly to cater to a global audience. Therefore, to generate a greater number of clicks and address users’ preference, SEO professionalsshould consider tweaking their websites to enable multiple languages.
5. Searches through video, voice, and vernacular
Since the estimation of users hunting for specific product or services stands at a whopping 320 million across the globe, Google has decided to take a stride in this arena. As a strong hint to our ever-insightful SEO executives, the websites will be located through voice searches against a given set of keywords spanning industries. Websites need to program the lines of code accordingly to decipher and process voice-based queries.
Furthermore, according to a recent study, internet users in vernacular languages have seen immense growth. More than 70 percent Indians prefer surfing local languagecontent.Video has a similar story to tell and is responsible for 75 percent of total mobile traffic in India. More than 95 percent of video consumption online is in vernacular languages.
The entire digital ecosystem is changingand there’s more focus on the 3V’s of digital medium: video, voice,and vernacular.
6. Online forums and communities with ingenious reviews
Businesses and websites are manipulated for ranking through real-time user reviews. Working on such a principle, explicit algorithms are written where metadata drawsin user reviews targeting a product range or a service. Such an idea is pretty broad; it entails recording opinions in favour or against a particular product on online forums.
Here, as a notion for SEO efforts, we need to heed what people think about us in forums and what perception our company or website enjoys. Adequate steps should be taken to refine it gradually.
7. Image optimisation is crucial
Google searches are largely seen inundated with images, forcing SEO professionals (especially those working for ecommerce websites) to derive immense fortunes from such a perspective.Further, as Google also taps machine learning to uncover images, we need to post pixel-perfect, real-time product images imbibing relevance regarding their texture.
8. Revisit the most crucial ranking parameters again and again
In general, backlinks are rightly reckoned to be a prominent effort affecting searches. Since they have a significant impact on searches, they are highly exploited and are one of the most prominent black hat SEO practices. Thus, as an antidote to such a menace, users’ behaviour on any of the navigational links is put under constant scanner.
For engineering the SEO, such an aspect can hardly be overlooked.It is important to crafta content cluster in a given context whereby websites are searched against a given query.
In the same way, links need to be built from an array of websites that dominate a given niche and not the other way around. Further, unwanted traffic should be avoided at all costs. A content strategy should align perfectly with the demands of the target audience.A good content strategy will be one that offers solutions to the customer’s queries and doubt at each stage of the purchase process.
9. Videos bringing the next shift
While looking for information, one generally develops a solidified and widely integrated knowledge through videos rather than reading volumes of data as textual representation. In other words, Google is all set to manage data by placing a number to every aspect of video interaction. Number of views, likes or dislikes received, video sharing, comments, and so forth willbe calculated.
This tectonic shift in favour of videos should alert SEO executives to empathise with video explanations highlighting any process in a given industry. Furthermore, objects discussed in media content are generally captured through advanced machine learning as deployed by Google for such an underlying reason. For SEO, videos that are simply another version of contentthat should be given priority,followed by a briefsummary of information.
10. Quick results and faster ROIthrough customised searches
User preferences and past actions play a deciding role, as one’s interactions against a given keyword are manipulated. As such, those sailing in the ever-expansive SEO ocean, need to be tactful enough to capture at least (and at best) single interaction with all clients/customers categorised as hot leads in a specific geographical area.
In such an effort, PPC campaigns should be executedwhile giving Facebook ads a boostto enable traction among the crowd to click on the website in any given industry. The underlying benefit is that when the search is for a keyword or any such query, website pages relevant to the keyword or search query will start showing up in SERP organically.
11. Lay copyrighted and third-party multimedia content to Rest
Google is getting better at all sorts of multi-media context, including music and videos. To ensure a draw of great luck and fortune for our websites, we also need to sail along the tide of originality and should restrict putting up videos and multimedia that are copyrighted or owned by others. For best results, proficient graphic designers should be roped in for carving out and stockpiling images with company name and logos.
In the same way, artists can be contacted on platforms such as SoundCloud for consent to use their work. They usually agree because it cross-promotes them. Finally, upcoming artists and talent should be given a thumbs-up by including their work onto the website. In short, under all circumstances and in all weather, originality needs to be accentuated, and duplicity and dubious play of things should be discouraged as Google’s eyes and sight are improving.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
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