Google’s main algorithm will be changing in the coming year. This year, Google will concentrate on SEO optimizations that should be considered. Digital marketing is, in general, a sector that adapts to rapid technological changes. Web positioning is one of most dynamic parts because it relies on large multinational companies like Google, Bing, Yahoo …), that invest their time in innovation. Here are the most recent SEO changes.
It is important to have your web page appear in the top results of search engines. It’s almost as if it doesn’t exist. We don’t want this, do we? It is important to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and changes in organic positioning.
These SEO changes are what we need to know and how can they impact our web positioning strategy.
How SEO changes can impact your traffic this year
Google’s search algorithms have evolved a lot since 2000, as you may already know. Many updates have occurred, both large and small, which has had a significant impact on the content of many businesses. This resulted in their ranking at the bottom of search results, which caused a substantial decrease in visibility. This affected every business’s sales strategy, leader, and advertising.
We list the changes that we believe are most important.
Your site may have experienced a decrease in traffic. This is because your competitors are more visible to the search engine and therefore, your website will be in a higher ranking for the keywords.
Google rewards high-quality content. Sites with higher quality content have an advantage over their competition. Pay attention to the next section.
A series of recommendations is required if you want your website to rank higher in Google’s SERPs.
1. Mobile First Index
Since July 2018, mobile web speed has been a ranking criterion. Google had already made this known in January. The mobile bots will crawl the page first, and then index it.
It was impossible to perform any other function on a mobile phone than sending or calling a text message. With the advancement and power of these phones, mobile phones can perform the same functions as the computer. Users are increasingly able to use their phones to browse, purchase or perform any transaction. Google’s Mobile First Index was created to take into consideration mobile versions of web pages. SEO strategies should be modified and optimized pages by companies. When creating content and design, it is important to consider user experience, conversion, and loading speed. This is crucial for search engine positioning.
Mobile design, user experience, and page loading speed are all essential for good rankings in the SERPs.
What should you do?
Google’s mobile device tester will help you determine if your website is compatible for mobile browsing.
Your mobile website must perform as well, if not better than your desktop site. Your website should be accessible from all devices, so that it is functional.
2. Google’s algorithm still regards content as the king
Google still considers content to be one of the most important factors in achieving a high ranking position. No longer are you required to use as many keywords and phrases as possible to rank high in search engines.
Quality is now more important than quantity. It is therefore important to create quality content and listen to your target audience to understand their concerns and needs.
However, it doesn’t stop there. It is important to practice SEO ON PAGE as well as SEO OFF PAGE to increase our website’s visibility. Linkbuilding is a method that can help us achieve this goal if we know how to use it correctly and intelligently.
We must also remember that every Google algorithm is becoming more demanding in terms of precision and quality. We must do our best to differentiate ourselves from the rest.
3. Link Building
Because of the importance of quality digital links, linkbuilding is a part of the most recent SEO changes. To create high-quality links, link building strategies must be 100% effective. It is much more important to establish links that are trustworthy than to search for new links everywhere.
Marketers are familiar with this concept, but it is a fact that link building can be one of the most effective SEO strategies if done correctly. It is becoming a more important part of SEO trends.
Traffic should be your reference. Backlinks are not only from popular websites, but also look for ways to improve your brand positioning. This will improve your organic positioning.
It is important to invest in long-term planning for the construction of links that will be used on your digital platforms. It can be difficult to find contacts and link of interest.
You should carefully consider guest blogging. Google warned in May last year that it would be looking more closely at links created by customer blogs. Google claims that link building addiction is too dependent on customer blogging.
This highlights the importance of a more diverse link building strategy. This strategy aims to build unique backlinks and provide success.
4. Google’s best friends are the social networks
Today, social networks are extremely important. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have made it easier for companies to use their online marketing strategies in a more direct and efficient way.
It is important to note that RRSS allows for a closer connection to the target audience. For an example, Facebook and Instagram already have over 1900 million and 700 million respectively registered users in 2017, numbers that will only increase in the future.
This is a great opportunity to tap into a new market. This is without mentioning that advertising campaigns allow you to reach a more targeted audience by allowing you to select between various parameters such as gender, location or taste.
5. Security and positioning go hand-in-hand
Online commerce has seen a 20% increase in sales this year. This means that companies are offering completely secure payment gateways so that customers can purchase any product or service they want without having to use a computer or divulge their identity.
Leaving credit card information online was frowned upon a few years back. Google now wants to reward all websites that use HTTPS protocols. It also wants to verify that the browsing experience is secure at all times. This will provide evidence to the user that he has accessed the portal without any private information (such address, surname, or bank accounts) being shared or with their consent.
Google wants all search engine websites to be as safe as possible. Google will remove pages that don’t contain this protocol from search engines. This is due to algorithm updates. Preventing is better than fighting.
6. User experience (UX).
It is clear that the most important SEO trend is to consider the user experience. Google has made it clear that users are the most important part of a network. This is why digital contexts have changed dramatically in recent years.
Websites must provide excellent user experiences. Good user experiences increase the likelihood that visitors will interact with sites. This allows users to find the most relevant pages.
To determine if your website’s UX is satisfactory, review it. To determine your site’s loading speed, improve your readability, and analyze the web architecture, you should conduct a study. You will need to make the necessary adjustments in order to optimize your website as much as possible.
Mobile devices are a great place to start. You will offer a better user experience if you have more platforms. UX should be as personal as possible. Only then can you attract qualified visitors to your site. In short, a loyal audience.
Consider the loading speed if you plan to focus your efforts on mobile strategy. To provide a great user experience and position yourself on the first pages in the search engine, loading speed is essential.
7. Searches made in “question” mode
Questions and answers have become a popular SEO trend. You should make sure your content answers specific questions. This will help search engines find the right content and publish it in response mode.
This practice aims to answer quick questions with content. If you ask about digital marketing, for example, you will get a fragment highlighted and then the information or answers to your question.
This type of questions and answers has the advantage of being more appealing than traditional content presentations. This strategy must answer the following five questions in order to be effective: “what? when? why? who or where?” The search engine will thus organize the information more efficiently.
Brands must adapt to this type information search until this year and focus their content on these results. This strategy is very valuable in terms of optimizing content marketing.
8. Voice search and digital assistants
Google claims that voice searches account for one fifth of all search queries. Voice searches are a fundamental change in how we communicate and can imply a shift in our approach to information processing.
These changes are happening because of digital assistants. Search engines are no longer the same. SEO trends change with the market.
You should focus your SEO efforts on long-tail keywords when developing new SEO strategies. Voice searches are another reason. It is important to consider the differences between spoken and written language. Oral language, or speech, is natural and more natural than written. This conversation tone must be consistent with the SEO strategy.
Voice search will become more popular as digital assistants improve in accuracy. This is more common for mobile devices. Why? Because these gadgets provide quick answers to users.
User needs are also important in this SEO trend. Higher levels of satisfaction will be achieved if the results are more precise and more tailored to their needs. Analyze customers and potential customers. This will allow the algorithms to give a more precise and relevant answer.
This development of digital assistants, which will be available on all platforms and mobile devices, opens up new opportunities for SEO strategies that every brand should use.
9. Highlighted texts are more important
“Notes and highlighted text fragments” are displayed above the regular SERP results (referred to as position #0). If you are able to achieve them, you will see a significant increase in click through rate and website traffic.
Highlights can be taken from text fragments in many ways, including reviews or lists to answer questions and event dates.
Google will continue to highlight highlighted fragments in the coming year and give structured data more importance. Structured data can be added to any website’s HTML code. It can also provide search results snippets, which are often known as search results. Structured data can be used to create a visually appealing image of your company or an answer box for customers.
What should you do?
This is how to add the structured data from the highlighted snippets into your HTML code.
- Modify the code for the text fragment
- In the Google Tag Manager, create a tag
- Save the tag by inserting the code into the “Custom HTML” text box.
- You can create a new reason, content, or interest
- Add the “View page function” to your “Scheme marking” section as a post activator.
- The structured data tool can be tested
What is the future of SEO in 2023 ?
Google will continue to reward quality content in 2023 with a special relevance and multimedia focus. With the growing use of video, which is what consumers are currently looking for, Google will also continue to reward high-quality content.
A second trend will grow is the usability of mobile devices. Your website must be ready to provide a great experience for users on these devices. This is the main goal that Google constantly pursues with its algorithm changes: user experience.
Users scream “multimedia content, quality connectivity”; this is the formula to establish a connection with users. Google will then grant you the highest ranking positions for each search query.
These are just a few of the assumptions you need to consider when using the new Google algorithm for 2018. We encourage you to implement them as soon possible. You will be able to see the first results after a reasonable amount of time.
