Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the foundation of digitised marketing initiatives.
Statistics have revealed that user searches constitute approximately 50% of website traffic and more than 66% of blog traffic.
Search engines, including Google, gradually phased out the ‘10 blue links’ criteria.
Typically, search engines furnished 10 ‘blue links’, which were suggested sites or blogs matching the search criteria.
SEO evolved along with other digital practices and presently considers and incorporates aspects such as content marketing, targets and distribution specifics, and user feedback and experiences.
Search engine updates, display changes, and audio and visual media tools greatly influence SEO observations, analyses, criteria, and incorporations.
The display of search engine results pages (SERPs) is one of the prominent changes influencing SEO effectiveness.
Former SERP displays necessitated users to access the actual site or blog to obtain the required information.
These days, advertisements are listed first followed by recommended uniform resource locators (URLs) – the virtual addresses – of sites or blogs.
Zero-click searches – where users do not need to access pages to get answers – also limit and filter page traffic as synopses are displayed along with the SERPs.
A 2020 survey found that close to 65% of Google searches do not result in SERP accesses due to zero-click searches.
Google, on the other hand, publicly disagreed with this survey and stated that its zero-click functions result in further queries and business connections.
The above-mentioned search engine stated that “we do show website links for many queries today when they are the most helpful response”, but added in the same statement that it aims to organize information to be helpful and streamline the search process.
In 2018, Forbes emphasised the importance of SEO when it comes to digital brand promotion, a website’s traffic, pay-per-clicks (PPCs), and the generation of leads.
Karan Sharma, the author of the Forbes article and chief executive officer of a web design company, went on to say that SEO without content marketing – that which gives a website its substance and quality – is “like a body without a soul”.
SEO and content marketing experts firmly believe that established and proven SEO methods should not be abandoned in the face of search engine changes.
Nothing replaces the crucial value of keywords, page awareness promotions and analyses, and rank tracking.
Content marketing professionals should consider the changing digital environments when developing content to establish SEO.
These considerations include aspects such as realising that zero-click behaviours are more common on mobile devices and that users tend to access pages on desktop devices.
Content marketers should also stay up to date with new search engine initiatives and changes.
Knowing which unique features affect search results helps content developers to target the desired audiences and deliver optimum results and hits.
Digital marketing can only render productive outcomes when professionals in the industry understand and incorporate the aspects that determine and guide the user and potential lead behaviour.
