What Will the New Rules of Google SEO be in 2020?
The future of SEO is always on the minds of marketers. While there are other search engines, Google is the giant, and this giant can change its ranking algorithm at any time. It may be today, it may be tomorrow, or it may be January 23, 2020.
One thing we know for sure is that local SEO companies will continue to grow in importance.
Local search results continue to increase, and 46% of all searches are now local. Offering high conversion rates, these local results are essential for all local businesses.
When going into 2020, there will be a lot of essential points to consider:
- Search is going verbal, and by 2020, 50% of searches will be verbal.
- Reviews will continue to grow in importance and influence rankings.
- Engagement will remain important.
But there are a lot of other factors to consider.
Basic Factors like Relevance, Distance and Prominence Will Not Change
Relevance, distance and prominence are important factors in SEO, and these factors won’t change at all. These factors are broken down into:
- Relevance is how Google relates your site to a search and compares it with other listings.
- Distance is how far your business is from the person making the search. Typically, the nearest business will be higher in the results.
- Prominence is the calculation of the site’s popularity through different signals, such as reviews.
Top Factors that will Make a Big Difference
SEO rules will change in 2020, but there will be factors that will make a big difference.
- A) Business service
One thing that will always remain is that the best product and customer service will always “win.” Google is reportedly working on a system that favors highly-ranked businesses higher.
- B) Entity popularity
Entity popularity is very important, and this is your brand mentions. When people mention your brand on social media, it will help boost your ranking. It’s more important than ever to try and generate buzz about your business and get people talking on social media.
- C) Entity engagement
Engagement is always going to be important, and your brand needs to be engaged with consumers. This goes along with popularity, and it will be vital in online searches. When customers search directly for your business, leave reviews and are searching you out, Google is “listening.”
- D) Accurate business listing
Accurate business listings are a must-have. Google needs accuracy, and this comes in the form of your business name, address, videos, images and cohesion among social media platforms. Even business hour accuracy will continue to be a very important factor in local search rankings.
Graph and Knowledge of 2020 SEO Rules
SEO is a rapidly-changing environment, and by 2020, a lot will change. Voice searches, done through Alexa and smartphones will become much more popular. We’re going to see a lot of natural phrases and language in search results rather than the one-to-five-word keywords that we see today.
Screen searches will not be as important as they once were, and statistically, voice will account for as much as 30% – 50% of all searches.
You’ll also need to change your on-page SEO, as voice searches reply in voice and not text links.
Organic search may start to incorporate even more social signals, but more focus should be put on the content experience. Responsive websites and apps are a must-have, and creating great content will be vital to high search rankings.
No one knows for sure what the future of Google or SEO holds, but we can speculate that relevancy will be even more important. Voice will become a dominate force, and mobile searches will continue to grow in popularity as more people use voice instead of typing.