Search engine optimization may be a technical discipline, but if you look at its main objective, you will realize that it is all about outdoing competition. Competitive dominance can best be accomplished by gaining knowledge and awareness of how search engines like Google, Bing, and the rest are changing and then adjusting your SEO and content strategy before competition catches up.
Inasmuch as your Fort Lauderdale marketing firm may assist you in integrating these trends into your SEO, it helps to be aware of the changes and evolutions poised to change the year ahead.
2017 is likely to be an interesting year for the search engine optimization industry with the following trends taking the lead.
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The Dominance of Accelerated Mobile Pages
Accelerated mobile pages refer to an open source protocol which allows webmasters to design pages which have the capability of loading instantly on mobile devices. This means with a few structural changes, your site can load very fast and use less data in the process.
Google is already favoring websites which have moved to accelerated mobile pages. In 2017, Google is likely to be more vocal about these fast loading pages by giving them more visibility.
Dense Content
People are becoming tired of reading the same type of fluff content every now and then written in different words. In the beginning, content marketing efforts were focused on the production of small pieces of content because the reader was said to have a short concentration span. However, in the recent past, there has been a surge in content writing with long pieces crafted that comprehensively covers a topic.
2017 is coming in with a new perspective to content marketing where information is condensed in short pieces of content. In other words, it is a compromise between the previous two content approaches.
Machine Learning and Search Engine Algorithms
When Google RankBrain was launched last year, the possibility of algorithmic machine learning became a reality. As an extension, Google Hummingbird also works in a way as to learn gradually how users put up their conversation queries.
Google is likely to begin releasing more machine learning updates in 2017 and beyond. Other areas that may witness machine learning approaches include marketing automation and data interpretation.
The Rise of Personal Branding
Personal branding has been a secret weapon for SEO for quite some time. Through a personal brand, it becomes much easier to build user trust, secure guest posts, and drive traffic to your website. However, there seems to be a low number of brands that have taken advantage of personal branding in their SEO strategies.
Social media platforms such as Facebook are refining the algorithms to favor posts with a personal brand. This trend is likely to push organizations to leverage personal branding as a way to explore more opportunities and outrank competition.
User Experience Optimization Vs SEO
User experience is one of the key tenets of search engine optimization. Google naturally favors websites that are optimized for mobile devices and those that load quickly because they give their users the quality experience they are looking for. In 2017, the emphasis is likely to shift to user experience particularly in relation to mobile devices.
In light of the above developments, you need to panel beat your SEO strategy so that it can accommodate some if not all of the trends.