Trends you should know about SEO in 2021 and beyond

For all businesses, search engine optimization is vital in attracting consumers to their websites. Despite the several speculations that SEO is dead, it is, in fact, very much alive. According to a recent survey, 70% of online marketers say it is better than PPC to generate sales.

Moreover, as privacy concerns continue to increase, so does the importance of organic search. When Google announced last year that Chrome would not support third-party cookies as of January 2022, I believe that many digital marketers panicked at the news. That is the third announcement coming from a big company regarding the cancellation of cookies after Safari and Firefox. However, #SEO can help businesses and marketers turn the tide, and the best part is that it brings a higher ROI with less effort for a more extended period of time, as several of our case studies show.

That’s why it’s called a long game.

While it might seem like Search Engine Optimization practices you can use are evergreen, this is far from the case. The reality is different and what ranks well depends on the search engines’ algorithms, which continue to evolve year after year. So, if you want to stay competitive and drive traffic to your website, it’s essential to keep up with any significant changes or trends. Being aware of what’s coming down the pipeline can help you plan ahead to prevent possible penalties or even massive drops in your site’s ranking, which is more common than you think.

So here are some trends I think you should look out for in 2021

●    Mobile SEO- will continue to be necessary. Many people do most of their searching through their mobile devices. So, if you’re optimizing your website for desktops and not for mobile, you will lose a lot of traffic

●    Voice search. Due to the rising popularity of smart devices such as Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, etc., the way people search has drastically changed. After all, the keywords you use when typing are not the same as when you speak. Thus, optimizing for hyper-specific search content can help you rank higher for search terms your audience uses.

●    Videos. Videos. Videos. While high-quality content is king, you will drive more organic traffic to your website if you use videos instead of just images and text. They are entertaining, eye-catching, and easily shareable. And, if users love videos, so will Google because videos represent engaging and impactful content.

●    Zero-click search. A zero-click search is when top search results provide answers via the SERP itself. Since 46% of all Google searches are related to finding local information, zero-click will be the future, so it is vital to building solid backlink profiles. Moreover, this means that you should shift your focus from high-traffic keywords to serving the search engine bots with well-written content.

Which one of these trends do you think will be more impactful in the future? Is there any other trend that you think is worth mentioning? Share with us in the comments.