SEO in 2020: What You Need to Know to Be Successful with the Help of SEO

Billions of searches are made every day in the search engines as various individuals are looking for solutions to a wide range of issues. However, in most cases, the websites that are ranked higher in the search engines are the only ones that most of the searches are directed to. Therefore, to get traffic on your site, the site must be ranked high and this is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture.

Search engine optimization is the all-important factor that determines your ranking in the search engines. Nevertheless, SEO is quite dynamic and, as such, so many things are changing in the field from time to time. In 2020, SEO has gone beyond the usual simple steps of merely using the right keywords for your content. Now, there are so many things that you need to get right if you want to be successful with the help of SEO.

Take the time to check out all the things you need to know to have an effective SEO campaign.

SEO philosophy to use – Black Hat SEO, white hat SEO or grey hat SEO

Basically, there are 3 SEO philosophies available today and they are black hat SEO, white hat SEO, and grey hat SEO.

·        Black hat SEO

Black hat SEO is a form of aggressive SEO that utilizes various SEO techniques – whether they are ethical or not. This philosophy can sometimes go against the guidelines of Google but you can always expect some positive results after its implementation.

Most SEO experts using this philosophy are not transparent as their clients may be in the dark as regards the unethicality of the strategies they are using. However, the results are usually short-termed; so, you may have to implement them again after a short time. Also, after some periods, Google will likely penalize the websites that this philosophy is used for.

·        White hat SEO

The second SEO philosophy is the white hat SEO. As the name suggests, all the strategies used for this philosophy are transparent and ethical. They are in line with the guidelines of Google. The clients usually understand every strategy that is used. Although it often takes time to see the results of white hat SEO, you can be certain that they are long-term results.

·        Grey hat SEO

Thirdly, we have the grey hat SEO, which is the combination of the other two philosophies. That is, it conducts extensive research with the aid of black hat philosophy but relies on white hat techniques to execute the SEO strategies. In general, a grey hat SEO is ethical and legal, but it is still not the exact thing that Google wants. However, Google will likely not penalize you.

Domain authority

Links were the basis of domain authority in the past years. But in 2020, the basis of web ranking has changed to Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T). In other words, Google will rank your site by using E-A-T.

How does E-A-T work?

·        Let your content be based on expertise

Don’t just create any content because you want to upload something on your website. Make sure that you have a perfect understanding of what you are creating content on. The best way to do this is by creating content on a subject that you truly understand. Alternatively, consider hiring only a professional freelance writer who is an expert in the field. For example, if you want to write a legal article, it should be crafted by a writer with legal expertise. This makes Google trust the content and rank it higher on its search engine.

·        Ensure transparency

Nowadays, Google gives preferences to people whose identities and services are transparent. So, if there are some doubts about your genuineness, you may miss out on the chance to be ranked higher on Google. To ensure transparency, do the following:

? Have a clear and easy-to-find about page and contact page

? Reference your sources appropriately

? Have clear privacy policy and terms of service

? Add author bylines to each article

·        Be referenced by others

Another important thing for your domain authority is being cited by others. This establishes your authoritativeness and trustworthiness as it shows that other sites agree with your opinion. In addition, the websites that are citing you must be trusted ones. Although you may want to work with other websites to cite you, this is a black hat strategy which may attract penalty from Google. So, keep it clean, write great content and other websites will cite your content naturally.

Keywords, entities, and topics of your content

Keywords have always been a major concern in SEO and that is not going to change in 2020. But the game is now moving towards keyword optimization which focuses on dealing with the issues of keyword repetitiveness and redundancy.

The first thing that you need is to understand the various types of keyword available. These keyword types include short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords, exact match keywords, phrase keywords, broad match keywords, head keywords, phrase match keywords and keyword synonyms. Notably, your SEO should not be limited to the exact keyword; you should add keyword synonyms, phrase match keywords and other types that can increase your ranking on the search engine.

In addition to keywords, SEO now includes what is known as entities. Entities revolve around the concept of adding persons, places and things to your content. They are relatively new, but you can be certain that they are game-changers that you must know if you want to be successful with your SEO in 2020 and beyond.

Then, we have topics. A topic is just the heading of your content that the readers will first read even before clicking on your web link. You want to ensure that it comes with the right keywords and entities without stuffing it.

Quality of the content

As generally known, your SEO depends heavily on the quality of your content. It is one of the main algorithms that Google uses for ranking a website. It is straightforward – if the content is great, you will rank higher and vice versa.

However, it is worthwhile to note that there are certain factors that affect how the content is perceived by the algorithm of Google. These factors include:

·        The niche of your website

·        The current activities on your website

·        The previous activities on your website

·        The current activities and rankings of your competition

·        The content and cited links of the competition

·        The competition in your industry

·        The latest algorithm of Google

Types of your content

In the past years, most websites only stuck to word content and got good results. But things are changing because technological advancement is making more people to be drawn towards other content.

What does this mean?

·        Visual content is essential

More individuals are choosing visual content for a more vivid understanding of any concept. This is why the likes of Google Lens and Pinterest are getting millions of searches monthly. People want to see things they like; hence, they go for websites with visual content. So, if you are offering food recipes, shopping items, travel services, and other services or products that involve visuals, add visual content to your website. The visuals involve pictures, videos, infographics and lots more.

·        Voice search is increasing

Since 2008, the number of voice searches has increased by more than 35 times. Also, voice searches will increase to 50% of all searches by the end of 2020. This shows that every website must have embedded snippets that Google will like on your website. This will allow you to get some traffic gain via these voice searches.

On-page and technical SEO

The vital elements of your website that help SEO go beyond keyword and content, you also need quality on-page and technical SEO.

Your on-site SEO must consider:

·        Quality user experience (UX)

·        Optimization of your topic and content with metadata and quality snippets

·        Compatibility of your site with different devices

For technical SEO, you need:

·        Structure of the URL

·        Architecture and navigation of your site

·        SSL certificate

·        Schema implementation

·        Mobile-friendliness

·        International multilingual capabilities

·        Internal links and so on

Website loading speed

Although this is a part of your technical SEO, it deserves a special mention. Nobody wants to spend minutes waiting for a particular page to load. It has been established that around 47% of individuals want a page to load within two seconds. Therefore, the loading sped of your website contributes greatly to the user experience (UX). You should know that if the UX is poor, you will have a high bounce rate. Also, you will have a hard time retaining your visitors. Get a good, fast web hosting solution and optimize your website to make it load quickly.

Final words

With the information provided above, you have now known the important elements of SEO that can determine the success of your campaign in 2020. Don’t take chances with your SEO. Implement all these elements and enjoy tremendous success. Good luck.