Just like Google’s algorithm and search rankings, SEO is an ever-changing and evolving process that requires you to incorporate new tech and tactics to stay one step ahead of the pack and reap the benefits of greater visibility and traffic from high rankings.
As 2021 continues, new trends are emerging that could give your strategies a much-needed boost. From zero-click searches to voice-based queries, here are four things to consider when optimising your content.
The rise of zero-click searches
With Google’s drive to deliver more relevant information and answers in search via rich results and other features, a new phenomenon has emerged: ‘zero-click’ searches.
If a searcher is able to find the answer to their query immediately, they often see no reason to click on a link to read more. The number of no-click searches grew from 43.9% in 2016 to 49% in 2019, and it is likely that this figure has increased further in the intervening two years.
“As Google continues to increase the various SERP features, they are controlling more of the user experience and keeping users on the SERPs rather than clicking through to the respective URLs,” Searchmetrics VP Tyson Stockton recently stated.
He believes that SEOs now need to look at new ways of measuring the success of search strategies, instead of relying solely on metrics such as traffic and rankings in SERPs.
For the here and now, you should consider the spectre of zero-clicks when conducting keyword research. If search volume or traffic is low for one of your target keywords or phrases, it may be due to this behaviour.
Fortunately, there are tools out there that will tell you the percentage of searches without clicks, so keep an eye on this before crafting content.
While zero-click queries can be a nuisance, there is still an opportunity to rank and benefit from these keywords. While clicks may not be plentiful, featuring on the first page of search can still be critical for increasing brand awareness and visibility, so consider your SEO objectives and decide what to do based on that.
Mobile-first indexing is here
Google is planning to remove all desktop-only sites from indexing in March 2021. While mobile-first has been the priority for some time now, this will be the first time that any desktop-only sites and the images and assets within them won’t be indexed or ranked in search.
Fortunately, there won’t be any new indexing processes, and the switchover, which could be happening right now, is just about getting sites optimised for smartphones. Data from Ahrefs shows that around 70% of sites were on mobile-first indexing before March, and after this month, this will change to a full 100%.
You can find out whether you have made the switch by navigating to Settings within the Google Search Console. Here, you will see an ‘indexing crawler’ listing. If it says ‘Google Smartphone’ and a date, you are already on the index.
Desktop sites are not going anywhere, but they should be pretty much exactly the same as mobile sites. You can conduct a quick site audit using a relevant tool to see if there are any differences between the two. Make sure to double-check internal links, page speed and robots.txt files to avoid running into problems at a later date.
Voice search is still being used
Research by Adobe found that around half of consumers used their voice for web searches in 2019. While voice tech has arguably plateaued in the search space, it is still something that you should optimise for where possible.
Smart speakers and smartphones are currently used predominantly for simple question-and-answer scenarios. People want to know about the weather or information about a new product or service. Most of the answers are short and simple.
Google’s recent investments in BERT and RankBrain tech have been driven by its desire to better understand the context of written queries, but this is a factor in voice search where natural language is crucial to the process.
Optimising for voice search is tricky as it is difficult to ascertain whether your efforts are having any tangible impact. However, there are a few things you can do to help. These tactics should also improve your general SEO as a bonus. They include:
Setting up and managing a Google My Business (GMB) profile with contact details, directions and opening times.
Adding schema markup – a semantic vocabulary of tags – to your pages will help Google deliver targeted and informative results.
Making sure that you are actually able to answer a searcher’s query.
Being concise and succinct with certain answers and FAQs as voice search results are very short, clocking in at just 29 words on average.
Focusing on page load speed as voice searches have faster load times than a webpage.
E-A-T is a growing influence
Google uses a team of human quality raters to ensure that its search results meet a certain standard. Central to this is E-A-T, which is short for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. E-A-T is regularly cited in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRGs), but it does have an influence beyond that even if it is not a hard ranking factor.
Google’s VP of search Ben Gomes notes: “You can view the rater guidelines [which talk heavily about E-A-T] as where we want the search algorithm to go. They don’t tell you how the algorithm is ranking results, but they fundamentally show what the algorithm should do.”
As you are probably already managing a content marketing campaign, you can demonstrate E-A-T via your blogs and articles. Google recommends including factual content backed up by reputable sources and being an expert within a particular niche, rather than trying to be a jack of all trades.
You should also try to update your content regularly and attempt to generate positive user-generated content in the form of reviews and comments. Google says that low ratings may point to a lower brand reputation.
By taking these SEO trends on board and finding ways to incorporate them into your existing content strategies, you can optimise for search and give yourself a better chance of driving key metrics and achieving your goals for the year.
