New SEO trends emerge each year, but what can you expect to see in 2021?
Our Orange County SEO specialists have picked five of the SEO trends you need to know about as we enter a new year.
Greater focus on analytics to understand customer behavior
A deeper dive into analytics is just one of the biggest SEO trends 2021 is set to bring.
Sure, it’s been crucial to study user/customer data for some time now, but intensive analytical research is likely to become increasingly prevalent. Businesses will delve deeper into:
- what users/customers are doing
- how they’re behaving
- how products/services can improve their lives
This will help teams create more relevant, engaging content, and deliver a more tailored service overall.
Voice search optimization will help brands rank for hands-free queries
Smartphones, virtual assistants, and smart speakers have transformed search across the past couple of years. Users can get the number for their nearest Mexican restaurant, find local shoe stores, and browse media without having to physically interact with their devices.
And this is expected to grow even more popular in 2021, with around one in four American adults owning a smart speaker. That means businesses of all sizes will need to optimize content for voice search more effectively.
It’s not just voice search optimization that will matter more in the new year, either …
More detailed image search optimization to increase visibility
Many consumers may not even realize image search exists, let alone use it regularly. But images are returned for around 20 percent of Google searches. It’s also believed that brands redesigning websites to support visual search (along with voice search) could boost their revenue by 30 percent.
That’s why brands should be optimizing their images to help increase their visibility in 2021.
Featured snippets will become a more competitive SEO technique
Featured snippets are a common sight, and they’re an effective way to achieve first-page results. But only if you have the right information for the right query.
Brands should start to optimize content to answer questions and provide clear directions or advice when relevant. This increases the chance of displaying a featured snippet and, potentially, securing the user’s click.
Increasingly comprehensive mobile SEO for a better user experience
Mobile sites are the first port of call for countless users, with mobile accounting for around 50 percent of global internet traffic in 2020’s third quarter. This is likely to keep increasing as smartphones become more advanced and capable of delivering a better user experience.
Brands will need to focus more on creating the most user-friendly mobile site they can, rather than simply making it functional on smartphones. That means understanding what visitors want out of your site and how your web design can make that as easy as possible on any device.
Refining your SEO strategy to align with new trends or even starting from scratch can be a challenge for any business or organization. But our Orange County SEO experts are here to help you boost your rankings, visibility, and engagement through tailored campaigns.