5 Actionable SEO Predictions For 2017 "It's Going To Be Big" ...

“ Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one.” Bill bradley .

It’s hard to believe that it’s time to start looking towards 2017, this year is almost over. 2016 has finally been the year when mobile searches have overtaken desktop. Pay attention to the trends and advancements within the world of seo as we move into a new calendar year 2017.

The way we ask for information is changing. The way we optimize must change too. The world of seo continues to change at lightning speed. If content is king, engagement is the queen of hearts. Seo is the lifeblood of online business.

 5 Actionable SEO Predictions For 2017 -

 Mobile First Serps Index Is The Game Of The Future -

We don’t need to rehash the general importance of mobile. Google's index has been shifting toward mobile-first. It’s going to change the way that your site gets ranked in the search engine results pages (serps). Mobile serps has always been an important component of seo.

Today, many businesses are receiving more traffic from mobile search over desktop. If you have neglected mobile seo in the past, it’s now more important than ever that you up your game.

Google’s mobile-first index will shake up the serps. For marketers and advertisers who have not yet adopted a mobile -centric philosophy, this serves as the final wake-up call. A mobile-first approach has already changed the ways that brands and advertisers interact with consumers. A google’s mobile index announcement has the potential to radically change the way brands can and should target consumers and drive discoverability and traffic for themselves.

Voice Search Is The Next Big Thing -

 voice search is a faster, hands-free option where you use regular spoken english to pose a question. Google says 20 percent of mobile queries are voice searches. Smartphone voice assistants like siri and ok google represent the most widespread use of intelligent voice interfaces.

 voice search growing as virtual assistant market heats up. The range of virtual assistants, such as amazon echo,siri, cortana, google voice search are collectively training people to search using their voices and to become more “conversational” with search and mobile devices.

 voice search was more focused on audio-video content. Since voice searches are more like spoken word, you want to make sure you understand the searchers intent and market to that. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and how they would start a voice search, and you’ll find a lot of ideas as to how voice searches originate and what you can do to enhance your brand’s visibility with voice searches.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (amp) Take Over -

We all know that we are living in the era of the smartphones. Accelerated mobile pages (amp) is the open source initiative that empowers publishers to develop mobile optimized content. Webpages created using amp will appear when relevant in the top stories section of the search results page.

Amp promotes this improved mobile friendly and mobile speed loading of web pages, using 8x less data and 4x faster than regular pages. Amp will affect seo in regards to impressions, clicks, user experience, and of course, speed.

Amp was at first directed to news websites and blogs , recently google started presenting amp results for recipe sites too. If your website is already receiving a great volume of traffic from mobile search, you might start scheduling the creation of an amp version.

This is a growing trend that google is pushing hard through the past year plus. If you haven’t been paying attention, catch up asap. This will matter a great deal in the future.

 The Year Of Artificial Intelligence -

Artificial intelligence (ai) is now prevalent in many of our lives. Google is also heading full speed along the ai route with hummingbird an initial step toward themes instead of specific keywords. This self-updating artificial intelligence will show real-time changes that will reflect in the ranking of the website in moments.

Using ai, google’s ranks brain will consider non-traditional ranking factors to give more relevant results. Rank brain is a machine learning ai that google has integrated into its search algorithm.

Ai is rapidly infiltrating almost every industry today, and seo is no different–especially when it comes to the real-time needs for marketers. The way i say it, artificial intelligence is the technology of the future and always will be.

 Schema – Structured Data Will Be Back -

Schema helps search engines to interpret your web pages more efficiently so that visitors can easily find the answers to their queries. Google is increasingly leaning toward artificial intelligence so the use of structured data and schema will become more important in helping search engines to understand your web pages.

Schema markups are fast becoming the top trend for companies to stand out from the crowd and receive higher rankings than competitors. Schemas also make rich snippets possible by providing google with the information it needs to display these rich snippets or quick answers.

Schema makes it easier for search engines to understand your site. Almost 22% of all search queries get direct answers or rich snippets from google and the numbers are set to grow in 2017.

" Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." Tony Robbins .

Conclusion

Seo trends will come and go, but to capitalize on growth, you must stay current. Seo is a waiting game, and it is all about quality and relevance. If you pay attention to these predictions, you will definitely have a successful year in digital marketing. This won’t slow down in 2017. It will only grow in importance as we move forward. Oh, happy holidays, and happy new year! See you in january!