The volatile nature of SEO means that it is important to implement the current best practices while keeping an eye on future changes to ensure your web pages don’t get lost in the competitive search engine landscape. SEO will inevitably evolve this year, and tech news website SiteProNews has highlighted the four key trends to keep track of during 2016.
Mobile monopolisation
Mobile should now form the foundation of any SEO strategy, as Google now favours websites that are optimised for smaller screens. It is not merely enough to create a responsive mobile site; businesses should be building a culture focused on everything mobile. This means that content, products, layouts and service pages should all be geared towards mobile devices, with both streamlined experiences and enhanced visuals being at the heart of an SEO and customer-friendly offering. However, mobile usability and design are not the only important factors this year, as company’s are also expected to look towards mobile eCommerce, mobile CRM and mobile marketing to boost their rankings.
Rise of the apps
Google recently revealed that it would soon begin streaming applications through its search results, which will increase the importance of app content in organic searches. App store optimisation, deep linking and app indexing will all play a central role as businesses begin fighting on a new frontier to get their content noticed.
Social content published on social media sites will also affect search engine rankings following the news that Facebook has now given Google permission to crawl and index its app.
Voice search
The arrival of intelligent mobile personal assistants such as Siri has vastly increased the number of users that are searching for information using their voices. This trend will accelerate in the coming year as more people abandon touch typing while on the go in favour of voice searching for quick answers. It will, in turn, have a profound impact on the effectiveness of certain keywords and the importance of structured data.
Local SEO
Businesses with brick-and-mortar operations will also have to pay close attention to local SEO this year, as a new Google study shows that half of customers will visit a store within a day of completing a mobile search. Updating contact information, Google Maps locations and analysing keywords patterns will all help this year.
