Google's algorithm is becoming increasingly sophisticated and dozens of algorithm updates are rolled out every year. With these updates, Google wants to achieve a single goal: to create a better experience for their users.
For 2020 there are various SEO trends that you can use to improve your website's ranking and findability.
SEO is Becoming Increasingly Important
SEO is underestimated by many companies in their marketing strategy but is definitely important for almost every company that wants to be found online. Where more and more companies are ad-infusing, with SEO, you don't really have to pay for adverts so that potential customers will be sent to your website. Moreover, advertisements are becoming more and more expensive.
By betting on SEO you are not dependent on advertisements and you constantly get visitors via relevant search terms on your website. SEO contributes to lower costs per conversion and also ensures more valuable conversions. Ultimately, SEO is, therefore, a must for every marketing strategy and is an important addition to all PPC (Pay-Per-Click) channels.
The Advantage of Today's SEO
The advantage of modern-day SEO is that search engine algorithms are becoming smarter and more sophisticated. This allows Google to better assess content on a website and the search terms on which the content can be found. So you no longer need to use black-hat SEO strategies for your website's findability.
You Can Also Do a Lot of SEO Work Yourself
Do you really want to go next-level with your SEO strategy? Then it is wise to engage an SEO expert (freelancer or SEO agency). Technical SEO has become complex and consists of dozens of factors. Link building is also becoming increasingly complex because the quality, relevance and reliability of backlinks are becoming increasingly important. A faulty link building strategy may cost you your findability.
The SEO Trends for 2020
All SEO trends come down to Google's goal to generate a better experience for its users. Google wants everyone who does a search to get the best and most relevant websites. It is therefore important that you have a good (and fast) website with valuable content on it.
The SEO trends for 2020 are:
Content must be qualitative
The authority of the author has become more important
The structure of your website must be logical
Website speed also matters
Qualitative links are becoming more important
Featured snippets are shown more often
Structured data is becoming more important
Mobile indexation of your website is paramount
1. Qualitative content
Google wants to answer its visitors' search query in the best possible way. That is why they continuously optimize the algorithm to better understand websites and content. Google content will get better and better in the coming years. It is therefore of great importance that you focus fully on producing quality content.
Use your content to show that you are the expert in your field. Answer the questions of your visitors in the content and take a good look at the data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Keyword Planners to discover which search queries you are not yet answering.
In addition to qualitative texts, the appearance of your landing pages also counts. Provide your content with call-to-actions, images, videos, illustrations, infographics and other relevant visuals. Share your content with HTML headings. Your visitors like neat content, so they can scan what's important.
2. Author authority
Google not only looks at your content but also at the person who writes the content. The Google algorithm looks at the areas in which you are an authority and uses it to rank the content on your website.
Make sure you become active as a guest blogger on other websites and share good content through your social media channels. With this, you build author authority and the content on your website scores better.
3. Logical site structure
It is important for your visitors and for Google that your website is logically arranged. By using a clear website structure with SEO-friendly URLs, your visitors can easily navigate through your website.
It is important to think carefully about the structure of your website and therefore also about the internal link structure. Divide your pages and content into clusters and connect your URL structures and internal links to them.
4. Website speed
An important part of good user experience on your website is the loading speed. When your website takes more than 2 seconds to load, visitors drop out and you get fewer conversions. The loading speed of your website is, therefore, an important part of your findability and has a major influence on your positions.
Optimize your loading speed by using caching, lazy loading, GZIP compression, compressing images and a fast server.
5. Qualitative links
Google’s algorithm not only gets better at recognizing good content, but it also recognizes better quality and fewer quality backlinks. If you get bad, irrelevant or illogical backlinks with link building, Google will punish this by means of a manual or a real-time penalty.
Bad backlinks cost you important positions and are at the expense of your SEO success. Therefore, ensure that you obtain high-quality backlinks from guest blogs, press releases and social media content, among other things.
6. Featured snippets
Featured snippets are increasingly shown in the search results. At present, 20% of the search results in the Netherlands have a featured snippet and this is only increasing.
To get a featured snippet, you must structure your content well and provide answers to questions users have.
7. Structured data
Structured data helps Google understand pages, blogs and products better. You can easily provide Google with information that is also shown in the search results. For webshops that use structured data, this shows the stocks, prices and product images.
With structured data, it is possible to stand out even more in the search results and let Google understand your website better.
8. Mobile indexing
At the beginning of 2019, Google's mobile index became the standard for both desktop and mobile results. A good mobile website and good mobile indexation of your website is therefore of great importance. This is because more and more people use their mobile phones for doing searches.
Conclusion
It has become clear that user experience is paramount for Google and that this trend is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, think about the user in everything you do with your website and put them at the centre of all that you do.
The above 8 trends are the most important trends for 2020, and I hope you can use them to further improve your findability.
Do you have any tips or questions? Please let me know in the comment section.
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