SEO Trends To Watch For In 2020

February 5, 2020

Search engine optimization (SEO) has come a long way over the last 20+ years. It’s become a household name and an essential component of any digital marketing plan or strategy. And although the goal of SEO hasn’t changed over the years, our understanding of SEO and its best practices is in a constant state of evolution. In the following article, we’ll talk about some new and upcoming SEO trends for 2020, and how they might impact your marketing efforts moving forward.

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1. Voice Search is Here to Stay

We all have that one relative who abuses the talk-to-text feature on their smartphone. It might even be the reason why marketers originally rolled their eyes when Google rolled out their voice search feature 10 years ago. Times have changed, though. People are not only using a voice search component on their smartphones, but they are now using them on smart TVs, Amazon Echos and more.

So how will this impact your strategy?

Well for one, google searches are now becoming more conversational. When we use Google on our desktop, laptop or tablet devices, we generally use short, concise words or phrases in the interest of saving time. This practice is not always so easy though when we speak with one another, or in this case, when we speak into our phone.

Since it’s well documented that keyword stuffing can kill your SEO, using keywords, meta-descriptions, headlines, and page descriptions that are more conversational in nature will actually give your site the ability to reach more individuals who are transitioning to voice search features. After all, your company should be speaking the same language as your target audience!

2. High-Quality Content is Still King!

When it comes to SEO, Digital Marketers know all too well that the only constant is change. In fact, Google is reported to change it’s algorithm 500-600 times per year! If you’re looking to get into SEO just know, in order to be successful, you must stay vigilant. New initiatives and strategies are developed every day to keep businesses at the top of Google searches.

There is one aspect of SEO that has never wavered, though, and that’s high-quality content! Google will typically always reward websites that have relevant content that users find helpful. People go to Google with questions and being able to provide those individuals with answers on your website will have a positive impact on your organic search results.

3. Featured Snippets Take Over

Featured snippets are selected search results that are featured on top of Google’s organic results below the ads in a box. The goal of these snippets is to answer an individual’s question right away, instead of having to click on the listed links in the search result.

Being featured in a snippet is a HUGE plus for your SEO. They’re also frequently referred to as “answer boxes”. Here are a few studies below that illustrate the impact being featured in a Google snippet can have on your SEO.

Ben Goodsell reports that the click-through rate (CTR) on a featured page increased from two percent to eight percent once it’s placed in an answer box, with revenue from organic traffic increasing by 677%.

Eric Enge highlights a 20–30% increase in traffic for ConfluentForms.com while they held the featured snippet for the query.

Being featured in an answer box is easier said than done. So much so that in one of our next upcoming blog post, we’ll go over some essential tips that can help your brand & website be featured in Google’s snippets. Stay tuned and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

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