If you are well acquainted with the changes in digital marketing, then you would know that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the latest trend.
Today, the Internet is the perfect avenue for you to reach consumers, especially with so many users engaged online. Naturally, you will still have to make use of the best strategies to ensure you can boost traffic to your webpages and increase your return on investment (ROI).
As the online space grows more competitive, so do the strategies employed by various companies.
If you want to continue increasing your clickthrough rate (CTR) or stay at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), you will have to do more than use the same SEO strategies as everyone else.
This 2020, it is time for you to try new SEO strategies. Schema Markup, mobile-friendly websites, and using backlinks are some of the proven strategies that will help your website to become the most visited.
Perform an SEO Audit and Analyse Google’s First Page
Before you get to crafting your new strategies, start by looking at your current SEO strategy, and where you stand.
Performing an SEO audit will help you understand the results being generated by your strategy, so you know where you can improve and what points are working well for you.
When doing your audit, try to stand in the shoes of the search user. Check the optimisation of your website and see whether it is user-friendly and easy to navigate, or whether certain graphical elements may be causing lags.
Similarly, you can analyse Google’s first page for your chosen keywords to see where you rank.
Websites Optimised for Voice Search
Voice search optimisation is growing increasingly popular because users love the ease of voice search. This is also because of the explosion of digital voice assistants available today.
Voice searches, however, tend to be different from standard searches, so you will have to make some additions or modifications to your SEO strategy if you intend to optimise for it.
First, voice searches are usually longer and conversational since users tend to “ask the whole question” rather than break it up into keywords when using their voices.
The keyword research process may thus be slightly different and will require you to lean towards question keywords, filler words, and the like.
Aside from this, Google relies heavily on featured snippets and rich snippets to respond to voice queries, so it is high time for you to learn how to incorporate schema markup into your code.
High-quality Content is More Important Than Ever
Getting customers to click your webpage is the first challenge you will face when developing your SEO strategy. Once you achieve this, however, you should not stop just yet.
Naturally, search users want great content. It is not enough that you rank high in SERPs or have the most informative rich snippets displayed because you have to make sure your content is worth clicking in the first place.
Although content marketing is known as another separate strategy, SEO cannot work well with poor-quality content. It may not be apparent, but SEO and content work hand-in-hand, and having high-quality content will have enormous benefits for your website.
Aside from increasing your CTR, you may also see an increase in your conversion rate, which ultimately translates to higher revenues or ROIs.
Artificial Intelligence is the New Norm
This 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data have become the norm. AI is extremely powerful in that it can extract valuable data and insights in real-time, making it the perfect partner to SEO, which is hugely data-driven.
Search engines likewise make use of AI to create algorithms that determine search ranks on SERPs, so knowing how to use such technology will be beneficial for you.
AI can also work with large datasets and find patterns within them, allowing you to come up with better and more relevant keywords.
It can also offer suggestions on how you can optimise your content to attract more users and attain a higher search rank. With the level of advancement that technology has achieved today, it is no surprise how powerful AI can be for your SEO strategies.
Use Schema Markups and Rich Snippets
According to Sydney SEO Agency, Schema Markup is one of the hidden gems of SEO because not many websites use it, but the potential benefits are massive.
Essentially, schema markup is a type of structured data that you can add to your webpage so that search engines can return more informative search results.
With schema markup, search users will get to see rich snippets of your webpage on search, which contains additional information about the content.
Though rich snippets do not directly increase your search rank, they can potentially increase your CTR and site traffic since users will be more enticed to visit your webpage.
The improvement in KPIs will then prompt Google to recognise your SEO, which may lead to a higher search rank in the long run.
Choose the Right Keywords
One of the most crucial aspects of your SEO strategy is choosing the right keywords. Essentially, keywords are one of the foundations of SEO because they are the primary factors for search rankings.
Thus, keyword research will be more critical than ever as you have to make sure your current keywords are still relevant or reaching the right consumer market.
Try using SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMRush or Google Keyword Planner to help you prepare a master keyword list, then go through each one to see which ones generate the most clicks.
One of your starting points can be to think of topics that may be relevant to your website or business. After, enter these topics to Google or YouTube and see the automatic suggestions, which may give you an idea of the most common searches on both platforms.
Make it Mobile-Friendly
Though the Internet may be accessible through any gadget, it is no doubt that mobile phones are the most-used electronic device, beating out desktops and laptops.
However, one of the common struggles of smartphone users is the fact that many websites are not mobile-friendly.
Search users may sometimes find graphics all over the place, misplaced links, and many other undesirable elements that may discourage them from clicking your website again in the future.
With an estimated 5 billion people using smartphones, you could potentially lose out on so many users if you do not optimise your website.
At the same time, Google has recently made changes to its algorithm to prioritise mobile-friendly websites.
To consider this in your SEO strategy, you should have a quick and responsive website with text that is formatted to suit a phone screen and images that are not too graphic-heavy.
Build Backlinks to Your Page
Backlinks are clickable links that will redirect users to a different website. If a credible source links to your website, Google recognises this, and it can have positive effects on your search ranking.
As a result, one of the things you can work on is to reach out to reliable websites to create mutually beneficial backlinks. Essentially, you will be building their backlink to your site, and they will be doing the same.
When partnering with influencers or companies, make sure to find those that are relevant to your industry or target market. Doing so will allow them to create content that can easily link to your website, so you can be sure that you are attracting the right users.
If you decide to add backlinks to your page, however, always make sure to monitor your site and ensure that there are no broken links. Otherwise, your SEO strategy may backfire, and there may be adverse effects on your search ranking.
Get your SSL Certificate
As cybersecurity becomes a growing concern, users are more inclined to websites that are secure. If you are a business owner, then it is non-negotiable that you get your secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate that will allow for more secure connections over browsers.
With SSL, search engines will recognise your site as trustworthy, attracting more users to click on your webpage.
Track Your Progress
Naturally, the real test lies in the results of your SEO strategy, so tracking your progress is an absolute must.
Identify your key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitor changes that may have occurred after making changes in your strategy.
Create consistent progress reports so you can easily spot the high and low points, then identify what may have caused a spike or decline in your KPI.
There are several analytic tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Adobe Analytics that you can use to measure the success of your strategy.
These tools typically give you insights like your website traffic, search engine ranking, the performance of specific content, and many others. With detailed analytics, you get a clear picture of what works and what does not work for you.
With the growing number of websites making use of SEO today, it is crucial to find an edge to make sure you can stand out in the SERPs.
Apart from the traditional methods of finding the right keywords and optimising your website, there are so many other ways to incorporate SEO into your marketing plans.
This 2020, it is time for you to try something new to set you apart and give you that advantage on the Internet.
Author Bio: I'm Emily Browne, a web content enthusiast. I am working as a content writer for three years and I like to contribute articles about SEO regularly. Also, interested in working on different niches to explore knowledge. You can get in touch with her on Twitter.
