Emerging SEO Trends in Marketing
The web is a very democratic medium, unlike print and television, where you need to pay for access to good quality content and software. Therefore, for content developers and marketers, the web is an open medium where there is an equal opportunity for the content to be seen by the visitors, but depending on how search engines display the search results on a particular keyword or words. Here we will learn the SEO trends at the marketing level.
Until a few years ago, it was popularly believed that all that mattered was the usage of popular keywords in the title, body text, and description of websites. And articles and blogs need to focus on popular keywords, and Google will do the rest regarding top placement in search results. But the fact is that most websites and marketers were adopting the same strategy of keyword-based promotion and content creation. As a result, search engines had to become intelligent to understand the relevant from the irrelevant ones, the quality ones from the mediocre, and also to identify the original content from plagiarized ones.
Search engine leaders Google led the research in this area and came up with several new algorithmic changes to provide the best results for search queries by people. Website developers and marketers naturally focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to achieve top-page rankings on Google and appear among the top search results for relevant keywords. SEO trends refer to the process website developers adopt to improve the site’s visibility on organic (natural or unpaid) search engine results pages (SERPs). This is achieved by incorporating search engine-friendly elements into a website.
Frequently changes in search engine algorithms made people think that Search Engine Optimisation is dead. But it is far from true. Google and other search engines continue innovating with their search engine algorithms to improve search results for internet users.
SEO Trends and How they will Impact Marketing?
Brian Dean, an SEO expert, has outlined several key SEO trends based on a million search results in Google, and this can help content marketers and SEO consultants to understand the dynamics of search engine functioning better and devise ways to achieve a better return on investment (ROI)
1. Avoid over-emphasis on keywords
Many still believe keywords are the most critical factor in SEO trends. Still, SEO research shows that the number of times a keyword appears in a section, title, or article has no bearing on your page appearing in top search results. Google now looks at how much depth the article or web section has gone into that keyword or phrase.
For example, when a net user searches for the keyword, ‘Who’s the Infosys CEO,’ Google crawls for sites that contain the key strings Infosys CEO or so it was thought. However, research shows that Google looks for websites that cover the topic in detail, not how often the keyword has appeared on a page or section. In this case, it would look for pages containing in-depth information about Mr. Vishal Sikka, the CEO, thereby bringing users the most relevant search results. Therefore, an article related to the IT industry where Infosys CEO is deliberately or randomly mentioned here and there without much relevance to Mr. Vishal Sikka as a person or his work may not get a place in search engine rankings.
2. Topically, relevant content is important
One can cover a topic or a subject in-depth or at a superficial level. However, the new algorithmic changes in search engines give prominence to in-depth coverage of a particular topic or keyword. To increase visibility, articles or blogs should ideally have a length of around 1900 to 2000 words.
3. Original content & photos Vs plagiarised content
A few years ago, it was commonplace for websites and blogs to earn popularity and income just by copying and compiling content from various sites. Some others went to the extent of rewriting and editing the content from other sites. Now the intelligent algorithm can detect copied or rephrased content much more accessible and applies to photographs and illustrations too. Therefore, it pays to invest time and effort to create original content to stand out. In other words, what matters most is how original the content is and how popular the topic is among the people, not the popular SEO keywords repeated in it.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Content with images has a better chance of getting on top of search rankings, although too many photos aren’t that useful
4. Shorter URL’s perform better
Every website and page has a universal resource locator (URL) that helps identify a page or a site on the World Wide Web (www). For example, www.indiagov.org, the portal of the Indian Government. SEO research suggests that shorter URLs tend to rank higher in search results than longer ones. Google algorithms look at the first five words and give lesser importance to the words after that.
5. Exact match not required in title tag keyword
SEO experts and content developers often try to include as many popular keywords as possible in title tags. However, it doesn’t appear to be relevant in Google search as an exact match is not what search engines look for, but the most relevant content is related to the title tags.
6. Backlinks to a webpage, quality matters most
For a long, SEO trends have focused on backlink building as an effective strategy to increase page rankings and frequently appear in search results. However, it is not the number of backlinks that are important now, but the quality of the sites or blogs that are backlinking our page or site that is more important.
The frequent changes in search engine algorithms make it challenging for SEO trends to deliver results. Therefore, continuously focusing on online and offline SEO strategies makes sense. Online processes include page loading time, use of HTTPS vs HTML, and URL length, while offline strategies include link building, keyword promotion, content length, and depth.
SEO Strategies that will Deliver Results
Changing search engine algorithms require appropriate strategies to make our content stand out and deliver results.
1. Understand the objective of SEO
At the outset, it is essential to understand the purpose of SEO trends and their role in marketing and promotional activities online. The goal of SEO trends for any content developer or marketer should not be to get as many visitors and landings on our page but to direct the most relevant searches to our page. The objective of SEO trends is to inform the search engines what our content is and how it may be relevant to the users searching for a piece of particular information.
Without SEO, automated search bots that crawl the web, follow links, and index content in massive databases will find it harder to locate helpful content quickly. Without SEO, websites and blogs may remain invisible to search engines, according to some experts.
2. Bank on the most relevant keywords
Sometimes SEO tactics can be overstretched so that some keyword or content related to it is frequently used in a site out of context just because it is a hot keyword. World Cup Football may be a hot keyword when the event is happening, but what relevance has it to a site devoted to jewelry, finance, medicine, or banking? Such strategies may attract SEO trends traffic because the topic is hot then, but attracting an audience interested in ‘World Cup Football’ may not add a penny to your sales. So, it is of utmost importance to a bank of keywords that are most relevant to the industry or profession.
3. Use HTML content
The search engines perform a complex set of activities in the backend to index the contents and make them accessible for them. Search engines can easily index HTML (HyperText Markup Language), but they may ignore non-textual content such as images, flash files, and Java applets, even with advances in crawling technology.
Specific tools such as SEO-browser.com, Mozbar, or Google’s cache may enable you to see what site contents are visible to search engines and indexable.
4. Crawlable link structures
The success of a website depends on how easily crawlable it is for search engines and how easy it is to navigate for web users. A crawlable link structure is vital for enabling search engines to find all pages on a website. This will be an obstacle to the indexing of pages and therefore lose out on page rankings.
5. Javascript maybe not SEO friendly
Many webmasters use Javascript for links that, unfortunately, search engines will not crawl. The use of standard HTML links would solve the problems associated with crawling.
6. Forms submission pages
Many websites have content accessible only by submitting a form or a password-protected login. Crawlers tend to bypass such pages, and hence any pages related to them will also be invisible to search engines.
Conclusion
Maintaining a website and its mobile site has its costs in terms of retaining domain names, maintaining servers, and creating new content to engage the audience. Despite these overhead costs, SEO trends marketing is often considered a cost-effective strategy to build SEO trends traffic to the site and enable sales conversions. Compared to traditional advertising, prices are lower. Search engine algorithms undergo constant changes, leading to a volatile trend in web searches. Many sites have vanished after making good money, as they couldn’t survive the changed scenario created by algorithmic innovations. A firm that depends on SEO marketing alone may be doing so at its peril, as organic rankings should not be the sole source of traffic for any website. SEO is a long-drawn-out process and would take months or years to show any tangible result on the bottom line.
SEO trends in marketing cannot show tangible results in a few weeks. Moreover, some website owners tend to be rigid regarding content and are unwilling to make changes to make it SEO-friendly. This would cause harm to page rankings in the long run. Some companies try to emulate the SEO strategy of their competitors and could end up nowhere. Trying to be a copycat will only put our efforts one step behind our competition. The goal of SEO trends should be to make the job of search engines easier but not to outwit them. Companies broadly adopt two types of SEO strategies- White Hat and Black Hat. The latter violates search engine guidelines and tries to exploit weaknesses in search engine algorithms. It includes link spam, keyword stuffing, cloaking, hidden text, and hidden links. On the other hand, White Hat techniques use HTML links, focus on content quality, and make content indexable and crawlable. Some SEO trends have shown that SEO experts use grey hat strategies that don’t cross the line into black hat SEO but well outside what should be considered white hat techniques.
The pertinent question is whether an SEO experts service is required in-house or outsourced. SEO trends implementation has a qualitative as well as a technical component. Website owners use appropriate SEO keywords, titles, and descriptions to ensure high-quality and relevant content for their audience. The technical part involves help from programmers and analysts for implementing HTML coding, making sites navigational or crawlable for visitors, and search robots. White Hat and Gray Hat techniques help websites and mobile sites gain visibility in search engines and improve page rankings. At the same time, Black Hat strategies may yield short-term results but can lead to blacklisting due to unethical behavior. The rapid growth of social media has made it inevitable for websites to integrate with several platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus, and others. Along with SEO trends, proper social media management can help achieve the goals and objectives of online marketing ethically and organically.
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