The internet has become the primary place customers seek goods and services. Google is now answering more queries directly on the results pages and the number of voice-activated search queries is increasing. With so many people online today, businesses are finding that to survive, they have to establish an online presence for themselves.
Here are 10 important SEO trends and best practices you need to follow in 2019:
1. Mobile SEO
For several years, the number of users on mobile devices has exceeded that on desktop. This percentage will continue to increase with the mass use and reach of its devices. You have an interest in adapting your strategy to capture a maximum audience, whether you have an online store or just a merchant site where you present your services. The provision of friendly mobile pages seems too restrictive? Know that most CMS themes today are basic responsive so why not go for it?
In addition to this, Google automatically puts forward the sites that are ‘Responsive Design’ in its results. In 2018, there were more users, but also more searches on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) than desktop. It is therefore understandable why non-responsive pages and sites are largely indented in the results of search engines.
2. Switching to HTTPS
For several years, Google has clearly indicated that it wants to promote secure sites. In terms of SEO, the weight of the HTTPS criterion began to be felt in 2016 and has increased this year. The ambition of the most used search engine in the world is clearly to push sites to migrate in HTTPS. This criterion will therefore be taken into account for any new SEO campaign.
3. The search for natural backlinks
Getting links that redirect to your site is an indispensable practice for SEO. Nevertheless, Google went to war against links of poor quality or that are not relevant. To obtain a good SEO, the trend will be more than ever to obtain so-called natural links, contextualized and quality. This type of net-linking involves the negotiation or creation of viral content.
4. Video referencing
This year, video should account for 69% of Internet content consumption. In addition, it offers the highest average Click Trough Rate or CTR among all digital advertising formats. You understand, the video is a must! As with textual content, optimize your videos to maximize your visibility on platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo or Dailymotion.
5. Support and push content
In 2018, Google announced the death of the traditional search engine and the advent of the era of assistance with the response engine. The goal of Google is to provide directly in the results of the answers to questions asked by users. For this, the featured snippet and other People Also Ask (PAA) will take care of pushing the content directly on the SERPs to provide an immediate response. The stakes in terms of SEO are therefore numerous and the different investment methods.
6. Social networks – Social Media Optimization (SMO)
In 2018, Google and Facebook are hot on their heels as traffic smugglers. While still a few years ago, Google was the only monster of the Internet, this one (even if it still has evolved enormously) is made catch up in certain domains. Thus, it becomes as important for you to be present on Facebook as on Google to be visible .
The interests to multiply the actions on the social networks are numerous! You probably have the opportunity to attract new prospects through these platforms that can be so important to build loyalty in your community. Do not neglect their viral character, especially for videos likely to make the buzz and the contests! Social networks do not usually have an impact on your SEO but they can generate a lot of traffic on your site.
7. Local SEO
Year 2019 is then placed under the sign of local referencing. Fundamental dimension if you take advantage of your site to attract customers into your physical brand, but not only! Internet users buy more and more products online and tend to come to pick up their order at a point of sale located near their home, for financial reasons and avoid waiting a few days. For example, creating or at least optimizing a Google My Business account is preponderant for local SEO.
8. The AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
The Accelerated Mobile Pages allows you to display pages at lightning speed. Launched in 2016, this project is intended to be a response to the evolution of uses and in particular the development of mobile search. In 2019, the loading speed of sites is essential for a good SEO. The first sites that will apply this technology to be faster will be preferred by Google.
9. Voice Search
Without a doubt, the technology to monitor most carefully in the coming years is voice research. Especially popular among the youngest, will gradually push sites to rethink their content strategy. Indeed, it will be essential to write texts likely to respond appropriately to the oral requests (Voice Search) of Internet users.
10. The mobile first
The mobile first means taking into account the criteria of the mobile version before those of the desktop version. So far, the opposite is taken into account for SEO. This new paradigm of Google is not surprising but raises concerns since the announcement of its establishment. Nevertheless, it can be expected to be progressive. If you want to be well positioned on the search engines, you must absolutely favor the maximization of mobile factors of your site.
Just starting a website or blog isn’t enough for business. To maintain search relevancy, you always have to be adapting to the ever-changing environment of SEO.
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