Emerging Trends in SEO

Modern SEO focuses on the user intent, relevance and a seamless user experience of a website. You will need to adapt your strategies to align with the changes and introduction of new trends in SEO. 

The nature of SEO is constantly changing and with every year, new technologies and search engine ranking factors impact SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and will force you to reevaluate your SEO strategies.

Algorithms on search engines adapt to changes users behaviour to constantly benefit a user. 

Staying updated with the latest SEO trends and technologies is important as it can help to improve both the relevance and credibility of the content of your website which matches users’ search queries.

You will need to consider factors such as user experience, site speed and technical SEO to make sure your website ranks well AND provides a seamless experience for any visitors.

If you don’t stay up to date with the latest trends, your website might drop in the search engine ranking.

Voice Search Optimisation 

The rise of Voice Search Optimisation has introduced a new dimension to SEO. Many users of search engines use voice activated devices, including Google and Bing.

Voice search platforms such as Google, Siri, Alexa and more are predicted to continue to grow in popularity. Ranking number one is now more important than ever as Google often uses featured snippets to answer voice searches.

These are very different from traditional search as only one single result gets more visibility. 

SEO strategies include optimising your content through using natural language and provide concise and relevant answers that align with voice search patterns.

You can also use keywords which sound natural within your content.

AI and Machine Learning in SEO

Search engines use AI to formulate a summary in response to a query asked by a user. This means users won’t need to scroll through results or visit any website, they can just read the AI generated summary at the top of a page.

Microsoft launched their AI feature with Bing AI in February 2023 and Google launched their AI featured, Gemini, in December 2023.

If users get what they want from the top of the SERP they are less likely to click through onto a website. However, users might want to look and explore valuable content in more detail, meaning they will click onto a website.

Some techniques for leveraging AI in SEO strategies include answering popular queries within the content on your website, which will help to answer a users search intent and improve your websites crawl-ability.

You should keep your content fresh, relevant and up to date, generate brand authority and optimise E-A-T signals.

The Role of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness and is one of the guidelines that Google uses to asses whether content is of value to readers and protects its users from any low quality content.

They can affect your websites position on SERPs and is vital for your SEO success. 

Search engines prioritise content from authoritative sources. You will need to establish your expertise within your field, which helps to showcase authoritativeness and build trust with your audience.

Expertise 

Experts are knowledgable or skilled in a particular area. However processing knowledge will be meaningless if you don’t understand how to convey the expertise in a way which results in an increase in traffic to your website 

Authority 

For the content on your website to be authoritative, it must be cited by other recognised experts and influencers within your sector. 

Trustworthiness

A lack of trust can result in your website not being at the top of the SERPs ranking. You won’t want to get any negative reviews or comments made about your business as this will damage your ranking. 

To improve your search rankings, you can build on already existing or start implementing E-A-T, which can be done through:

• Posting authentic reviews

• Content must showcase knowledge in an informative and engaging way

• Something the audience would search for 

• Content meets or exceeds customers’ needs

• Content is up to date 

• Name the writer of the content 

• Content needs to be topical 

• Create a trustworthy website design 

• Create a strong brand identity

Mobile-First Indexing

There is a continued shift towards mobile-first indexing, which is Google’s method of using a websites mobile version as the primary version for indexing and ranking in search results.

This means Google’s web crawler is indexing the mobile version of a websites content over its desktop counterpart which informs the rankings. 

The best practices for optimising your website for mobile users are as follows:

• Mobile friendly website 
  
  

  • Responsive design

  • Dynamic serving

  • Separate URLs
    
    

• Ensure Google can access and render content 
  
  

  • Use the same robots mega tags on mobile and desktop websites

  • Let Google crawl your resources
    
    

• Check on structured data
  
  

  • Ensure mobile and desktop websites have the same structured data 

  • Use the correct URLs in structured data
    
    

• Put the same meta data on both versions of your website 
  
  

• Check the placement of your ads 
  
  

• Check visual content 
  
  

  • Images & Videos 
    
    

    • High quality 

    • Supported format 

    • Don’t use URLs that change every time the page loads 

    • Mobile website has the same alt text as the desktop 

    • Mobile page content quality is as good as check-up 

    • Use the same structured data 

    • Place in an easy position when viewed on a mobile

Additional best practices for separate URLs are as follows:

• Ensure the error page status is the same on both the desktop and mobile websites

• Ensure the mobile version doesn’t have URL fragments 

• Ensure desktop version that serve different contents have equivalent mobile versions 

• Verify both versions of your website in search console

• Check herflang links on separate URLs

• Ensure mobile website has enough capacity 

• Verify that robot.txt rules work as intended

• Use the correct rel=canonical and rel=alterante link elements 

• Troubleshooting - read more here:

Video SEO

There is a growing importance of video content in SEO. After Google, YouTube is the second most used search engine.

Google incorporates video content into main search results. Google is likely to show videos at the top of a SERP when a user is looking for certain types of content, including music or tutorials.

Video is one of the most popular ways to consume content, so it would be ideal to create video content and optimise it for search. 

There are many tips for optimising videos for search engines and they include adding chapters to YouTube videos as these break the video up into sections which helps Google and viewers to understand what the video is about.

Including closed captions (CC) enables Google to understand what’s being said in the video. YouTube can automatically generate captions but these aren’t always accurate, so it is best to add them manually.

Optimising the titles, tags and descriptions helps to ensure that all descriptive elements include the main keywords to help Google understand the video. 

TikTok is used by 40% of young people for searching, you can optimise your TikTok videos to rank higher in search within the platform.

All information within the video affects the ranks, this included captions, hashtags, sound effects, music and comments. 

Core Web Vitals and User Experience

The core web vitals are a set of metrics that measure real-world user experience for loading performance, interactivity and visual stability of a website’s webpage. The core web vital metrics include:

• Large contentful paint 

• Interaction to next paint

• Cumulative layout shift

You can optimise core web vital through carrying out core web vitals, which can be done in Google Search Console and then measuring and reporting the core web vitals.

Core web vitals are important when it comes to delivering a positive user experience and good user experience includes engaging users, increasing conversions and boosting search engine ranking.

Technical SEO and user experience continue to be very important. You can conduct a technical SEO audit and ensure user experience and page speed is up to date.

Structured Data and Rich Snippets

Structured data is the code in a webpage’s HTML which tells search engines what the page is about.

Rich snippets are the special google search results which include traditional information that form the structured data. This is also sometimes known as rich results.

Structured data often plays the role in enhancing search visibility, as Google often highlights one result which answers a query well, which is known as a featured snippet.

You can implement and optimise structured data by finding keywords which relate to your business or what a webpage on your website is about and along with that, create content designed to target those specific terms.

In order to increase the chance of getting a featured snippet you can use optimal formats such as paragraphs, lists, tables and videos. 

Sustainability and Ethical SEO

The rise of sustainable and ethical SEO practices align an organisations goals with responsible search marketing practices which embrace sustainability.

Some practices for SEO ranking are ethical whereas others aren’t. Websites are sometimes rewarded for ethical SEO and have a higher ranking. 

Sometimes when creating environmentally friendly and socially responsible SEO strategies, you might need to include measuring the benefits to target communities by helping to find information they need without coming across any barriers.

Achieving organisational goals efficiently whilst focusing on quality over quantity. Driving processes can be realistically measured and maintained over time through continuous improve.

You can reduce the amount of data collected and stored. You can also minimise the overall marketing impact on people and the planet through taking steps to reduce any negative effects where possible, which can be done through using E-A-T.

Preparing for the Future of SEO

The SEO landscape is constantly evolving and businesses need to stay flexible and open to change.

The key to success is to continue to learn and adapt to new trends and attempting to stay ahead of the curve. Some of the predicted trends include:

• Google Search Generative Experience (SGE)

• Zero-Click Searches

• Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)

• Focus on Topical Authority 

• Video SEO

• Evolving Search Engine Ranking Factors 

• AI-Powered Toolkits

• Refreshing Existing Content 

• Shifting User Search Intent. 

To be able to stay ahead of trends, you can be constantly researching SEO, staying adaptable and proactive in an ever changing landscape, you will need to embrace new technologies, including AR and VR.

You will need to optimise a responsive design, speed, clear contact information and mobile-friendly feature.

Conclusion 

Keeping up to date with the trends within SEO is vital for your business and your website to be high on SERP rankings.

Some key emerging trends include voice search, AI, video, sustainability and ethics in SEO. 

You can prepare for the future of SEO through keeping up to date with emerging SEO trends.

Take the next step by experiment with SEO strategies and technologies and share your experiences int he comments.

If you’re ready to step up your SEO game, reach out to Surge. Let us help you!