SEO in 2017 – what you need to consider

29 Sep 2016 Dominic Comments Off on SEO in 2017 – what you need to consider

Ensuring you are continually keeping up to date with SEO and SEO changes over the  years is difficult – with so many Google algorithm changes and faster integration with new technologies, channels and behaviour. You focus on one strategy and then suddenly another one comes up which turns the previous one on it’s head! SEO in 2017 will see even more challenges to overcome..

I came across an interesting graph which was taken from a surevy of 40 SEO experts and they were asked what they thought were the main challenges and the key things which we all need to focus on in 2017 – the results are interesting:

Among the main trends identified by experts are optimization for Mobile (18 votes), Quality and Epic Content (13 votes), Voice Search (9 votes), Micro Formats (7 votes), Artificial Intelligence (5 votes

SEO in 2017 – Quality Content over keywords

Gone are the days when keywords would be stuffed into long sentences and paragraphs of poorly written copy would be served. The search engines caught on to this and acted accordingly. Recently there has been more of a move to associate content with copy – more relevant content should be associated with copy.

Again, consumers need to get a better experience when landing on your website and given better and relevant content instead of lots of irrelevant copy. Consider more video, user guides, user interaction and the ability for the browser to ask questions – greater interaction with the customer will give you better and more relevant content

Another great practice to look into are micro-formats, or pre-designed formats already containing common business information like address, phone number, and product info. Putting quality over quantity is the best way to both engage your audience while also helping you work your way to page one of the search results.

Optimization for Mobile

Google has been focusing on Mobile in recent years and, with many retailers experiencing up to 70% of traffic coming from mobile traffic, it is no wonder that they will continue to focus on improving the mobile experience.

While most smartphones come with 4G or LTE to ensure quick load times, it may take other mobile devices longer to display your website, harming your SEO ranking. Fortunately AMP  remedies this issue. AMP allows you to craft content optimized with a specialized HTML for mobile devices and post it instantly. This helps eliminate the long wait times associated with viewing content on phone or tablet devices.

This will make it essential for any small business to consider any new platform they are moving to or exactly how their existing platform will cope with mobile traffic.

Voice search

Some applications (like Siri and OK Google)  that perform voice-operated commands are only growing in popularity- – the days of solely text-based searches are behind us. Consumers enjoy being able to look something up just by saying it, which means more work for anyone attempting to optimize their website.

Along with thinking about what consumers would type when searching for a topic related to your business, you must also take into consideration what they would say as well. This could mean the slightest change in keywords or completely new ones being thrown into the mix. Some common words to think about are, “who, what, when, where, and why”.

These are the questions that users ask their applications when searching for information. By finding a way to work these questions into your keywords usage, you’re increasing your site’s visibility the next time someone searches for something using a voice application.

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Tags: SEO