Four Of The Top SEO Trends To Watch For In 2017
One of the most common difficulties in any industry is anticipating industry trends for the coming year. As the year 2017 approaches, we have spent a lot of time researching coming trends in search engine optimization in order to be on the forefront of any changes coming down the pipeline.
In the coming year, some of the most significant changes we will see in SEO are focused on user experience.
- Scannable Content
Relevant content is a phrase you hear repeatedly in SEO blogs. Providing relevant content means you are not stuffing your content full of SEO friendly phrases, but are actually providing content that your customers and prospects want to read. While this will continue to be an important tactic in SEO, creating scannable content is going to become critical.
While “TL/DR” is always going to be the case for some topics and for some readers, if you can convince your readers the content is worth reading after a quick scan, you’ll find not only are you getting additional hits on your page, but the amount of time readers are spending on the page will increase significantly.
- Mobile Friendly Content
Utilizing Accelerated Mobile Pages are imperative to creating SEO friendly web pages. As the use of mobile technology for web browsing rapidly replaces lap and desktops, creating content that loads quickly and can be read on a mobile device is the only way to stay at the top of the mobile search game.
Already, we are seeing search engines indicating AMPs for users in the search results, but it is only a matter of time before we see AMPs become the preferred sites for higher ranking on the mobile SERPs.
- Voice-Powered Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and everyone is getting on board. “Digital assistants” are rapidly growing to be more sophisticated and artificial intelligence is designed to select the “best answer” based on a number of characteristics. Siri, Google Now, Alexa, Soundhound, Cortana, and Ozlo are just a few of the AI based, voice-powered virtual assistants already available to consumers, and more are coming to the market this year. Even Facebook is developing its own AI called “M” that will be a text-based assistant within their popular messenger app.
So what does this mean for SEO? When you ask Alexa a question, she will reply with, “According to [Source].” Becoming that source is the next big thing for SEO. To be referenced here as the answer is the key to becoming a major player in artificial intelligence based search.
- App Favoritism In Search Results
Could apps replace web pages? Possibly. In the coming year, we may see a move towards heavier reliance on apps and a favoritism in the major search engine results towards mobile apps that offer streaming without requiring users to download. This change could affect how users choose to view content online and that may result in a complete change in SEO as we know it.
Design & Promote Keeps Your Naperville Business’s SEO Tactics Current
Need help getting your business on the forefront of changes in the SEO world? Design & Promote is a web design and SEO company that works to ensure your business stands out amongst the rest.
Contact us at 630.995.7109 to discuss your SEO strategy for 2017.