As a result of constant changes and improvements carried out by Google, SEO goes through changes too. So, in order to stay onboard you should always be aware of new strategies and tactics that will work and will help you dominate in the SERPs and earn more revenue in 2019. For getting a deeper SEO insight you can watch SEO: The Movie and receive tips from industry leaders.
Let’s see what strategies will help you optimize your website in 2019.
- Understanding Audience and User Intend
What does your user prefer? Is it text? Images? Video or Audio? This is the information that you need to know so that you can optimize it for your audience. Your competitors are always there trying their best to take your users away from you by offering them what they really want. So why to give them the chance of attracting your customers to their website? Instead, find out what your customers want to see and match your website to their preferences.
- Voice Search Begins Its Reign
The rumor has it that voice search is going to be the source of 50 percent of all online searches in 2020. In order to be ready for the coming massive changes you can start making changes to optimize your website for voice search.
Here is what you can do to get ready for a new era in the SEO:
Voice Search Keywords
You can use long-tail keywords starting with words like who, what, why, where, when, and how. These are the words that people usually use while using voice search. However, you should be careful not to use long-tail keywords, which contain too many words. The reason behind it is that Google is inclined towards short answers to voice search queries. You should try to construct answers that contain all the necessary information and do not exceed 29 words limit.
Featured Snippets
It looks like there is a huge connection between voice search optimization and Google’s featured snippets, as after using voice search the snippets appear before anything else. That’s why you should try to get into featured snippets. This can be done by writing a high quality and engaging content as the research shows that featured snippets are derived from a high ranked content.
- Mobile-first indexing
Since March 2018 Google has started the process of migrating the sites to mobile-first index. It means that if a site has mobile and desktop versions, the index adds the mobile one. This change was implemented because people tend to use mobile devices to perform a quick web search. Nearly 60% of all traffic comes from mobile devices and the number is going to grow.
We do not know exactly what’s coming next for mobile-first indexing, but what we do know is that based on the Google’s past changes, is that it’s all about offering fast, easy-to-use and navigable websites to your audience. Otherwise, you will miss a huge chunk of traffic.
- Local SEO
Local searches are very important to businesses that have a physical store and, therefore, rely on attracting local customers. Over the years the number of searches “ Near me” has drastically increased. Local search targeting will become even more accurate for 2019. The added accuracy will result in even more targeted search results. More accurate or hyperlocal targeting will generate substantially improved funnels for pre-qualified consumers. The closer a local business can reach a pre-qualified consumer, the greater the likelihood of a financial transaction.
- Investments in Technical SEO
It’s not only the content of your website which attracts the customers, but also the means through which they engage with your website. It means that you should put a pay attention to the technical areas of your website. There are several areas that need your focus:
Site speed
Jon Henshaw, founder of Coywolf Marketing and senior SEO analyst at CBS Interactive, once said “Sites will finally start to become simpler and faster as SEOs discover that Google is rewarding sites more than once thought for [first meaningful paint] speed.” So, maybe it’s time to step up your speed performance.
JavaScript
A wise men named Paul Shapiro, who is the director of strategy and innovation for Catalyst, stated that a new year means that even more of the websites you encounter will be heavily JavaScript driven. This means that you should start exploring the world of JavaScript as in the near future there might arise a need of modifying your website in a way that will be suitable for search engines that interact best with JavaScript-driven websites.
Final Thoughts
SEO is definitely the key to helping your websites get higher rankings and you businesses grow. So if you want to stay onboard with the latest SEO developments follow these tips provided above and watch your business grow.