1. SEO site optimization for Google – expert, authoritative, reliable content
Search engines search for and show the most relevant pages that best suit the user’s intent. The better and more useful the content, the higher the audience engagement and the number of repeat sessions will be. Google does not like and negatively perceives poorly written text, and if the information on the page turns out to be inconsistent with the used search phrases, it will not show it in the search results.
The worst thing that can be for the promotion of an Internet resource is the publication and placement on pages of short texts spammed with key phrases. This promotion method is so outdated that it is bad manners to apply it now. Moreover, with the release of Passage Indexing, the processing of long reads is likely to become more efficient.
By the way, SEO optimization and search engine promotion of sites through content mean not only the publication of unique texts: reviews, cases, news, manuals, articles, research, and other materials. In addition, other content formats should be used:
- infographics, schemes, diagrams;
- photographs, images;
- videos;
- gallery of product offers;
- interactive maps;
- thematic calculators of services, products.
Thus, the web page will become more diverse and interesting to the user. For example, if he is too lazy to read, he will watch an infographic or video review. Search engines rank the best content that visitors read to the end and share it on third-party resources. For Search Engines, this is a signal that the materials are useful and relevant to the target audience.
SEO optimization of website content will be incomplete if you ignore the concept of E-A-T. It appeared several years ago, and in May 2019 it became part of the Page Quality algorithm for evaluating page quality. However, this concept remains trending in 2021.
The essence of E-A-T lies in the expertise, authenticity, and authority of text materials. For example, an article for a medical platform should be drawn up by a doctor or an author with medical education, instructions for connecting equipment – by an engineer, a text on a legal web resource – by a lawyer, lawyer, or copywriter with the appropriate education. By the way, Google has the right to request a certificate confirming the author’s qualifications.
To adapt content to E-A-T requirements, it is recommended:
- Fill in the section “About the Company”, indicating detailed information about it and its activities.
- Implement adding reviews. The more real, positive reviews there are on the pages, the higher the value of the resource for the search engine.
- Build a good reputation. It is important that positive mentions of the company are from third-party, reputable sources.
- Build high-quality link mass. Backlinks from trusted, relevant Internet resources increase the authority of the website for the search engine.
- Indicate information about the experts who wrote the article: position, education, work experience, etc., publish opinion leaders, check the relevance of texts posted several years ago.
When optimizing content for E-A-T, it is important to understand that it will not be possible to quickly get a result after making changes for this factor. It will work after several PS updates.
2. Local SEO – Google My Business and Maps
Due to the quarantine and the pandemic, local search has become much more in demand during 2020. People began to search for services close to their place of stay more often. By the way, Google is supporting this trend by encouraging users to help local businesses by ordering services or buying products near them. In this regard, a number of adjustments were made to the local search:
- In the Google My Business application, it became possible to contact the audience directly.
- The map and search statistics have been improved to be more detailed and complete.
- A new personalized feed has been integrated into the “What’s Nearby” section, with the help of which the user quickly learns about the events taking place nearby. It includes the latest posts, reviews, photos from local experts, food vendors, and people that a Google Maps user has subscribed to.
In addition, according to the observations of SEO-optimizers, Google began to show the age of companies and the Google Guaranteed label in the local search results, which can positively affect the number of clicks and form audience loyalty. However, these options are still at the testing stage.
3. SEO optimization of a website with a focus on mobile devices
Several years have passed since the Mobile Friendly Update, but even now there are online resources that do not have a high-quality mobile version.
To encourage webmasters to create a functional, convenient, and beautiful adaptive in September 2019, Google launched the Mobile First Index algorithm. Given that the final transition to it is planned by March 2021, adaptation for mobile gadgets is an important SEO trend at the moment.
As statistics show, the share of mobile organic traffic in the B2C niche has already reached 80%. Increasingly, people use the Internet from smartphones, because the ergonomics and performance of portable devices now make it possible to comfortably and efficiently visit sites on any subject.
SEO optimization Google Mobile First – what you need to do:
- Provide fast page loading. Here you need to understand that on mobile devices the Internet speed is lower than on a PC, which means that the resource should have less “weight” and load even faster. After all, milliseconds can affect the user’s decision. And Mobile Friendly in this case decides whether a person will visit your online resource or not.
- Arrange texts, menu sections, buttons, and conversion elements so as to maintain a user-friendly distance between them. Nothing should impede visitors’ clicks and navigation. It is also not recommended to hide content in tabs, carousels, and other interface components.
- Thoroughly test the functionality of the responsive version. The functionality implemented on the desktop does not always work correctly on mobile devices.
- Set accents, drawing the user’s attention to the most important thing, what solves his problem. Since the screen of mobile gadgets is smaller than that of a PC, interface elements embedded for beauty should be tested for their benefit to visitors.
Thus, if your site does not have an adaptive version, or it is still on the m.site.com subdomain, you need to solve this problem by March 2021, otherwise, your web resource will receive less organic traffic, and its positions will be underestimated by the search engine.
4. User experience affects rankings
Previously, Google has not publicly confirmed that user experience is one of the key behavioral factors affecting the ranking of web resources. In 2020, the situation has changed, and the Page Experience algorithm is planned to be released in the coming year. It is focused on improving the user experience, and contains a number of requirements for Internet platforms:
- Optimized mobile version: comfort, readability, indexing.
- High download speed metrics – Core Web Vitals.
- User safety, no hidden content, and virus software.
- SSL certificate and HTTPS connection.
- Ease of perception of content by people: without annoying ads.
Most likely, this is not the final pool of requirements, and in the future, Google will announce additional Page Experience metrics. However, even now, SEOs and UX designers still have a lot of work to do.
5. Microdata Schema and Open Graph
Successful SEO optimization and website promotion in 2021 without the use of structured data is unlikely to be possible. In fact, micro-markup is not a new phenomenon. It helps the search engine understand the context of the page and better rank it. However, now its key value lies in the creation of an extended snippet that can significantly increase the traffic of the Internet resource. Getting into Zero-click results is guaranteed traffic to the site.
To structure the data, the Schema and Open Graph microformats markup is used. The latter is used for social media snippets.
However, it should be remembered that having microformat markup is half the battle. To increase the likelihood of hitting rich snippets, you need to publish high-quality content, carefully structure your content, and use relevant keywords and LSI phrases.
6. SEO optimization, website promotion for voice search
In 2020, more than half of Internet searches are conducted through voice, and 27% of users use voice search on their mobile devices on an ongoing basis. This method of searching for information is confidently gaining popularity and optimization of an online resource for it is the trend of 2021.
Voice search is convenient and irreplaceable when a person does not have the time or physical ability to type a request in the browser line. It is worth noting that key phrases, in this case, differ from regular search terms. They include a question word and contain “long tails” – qualifying words that help the search engine find the best possible match and provide the best result for the query.
7. Conversion in priority over traffic
A large number of visits and views is a good indicator that gives the search engine a positive signal that the site is developing and the audience likes it. However, a large traffic flow does not always determine the effectiveness of an online resource. It is important to remember the target action that a person should take when visiting the page.
Let’s say your online store was visited by 10,000 people within a month, but 4% of them became interested in the product and made purchases. What does this signal? You have attracted readers who have probably studied your blog with enthusiasm but did not buy the products you sell.
As practice shows, Internet platforms with low traffic can convert much better than portals with thousands of audiences. Conversion in 2021 is one of the key indicators of the quality of online resources, especially in the commercial segment. Therefore, it is recommended to choose the right goal and development strategy. If your resource is a seller, focus on conversion rates, not mass traffic.
As a result
SEO promotion trends do not stand still, changing every year, adjusting to innovations and updates of search engines, as well as user behavior and requests. To be at the TOP of the search results, you need not only to know about the trends for the next year but also to adapt sites to the requirements of search engines, working out their usability, content, and technical parts.