SEO trends we recommend following in 2020

The world of SEO is constantly changing as Google and the other search engines release updates to their algorithm which inevitably change the goal coasts for SEOs on a regular basis. The search engine results pages our business is competing for have evolved far beyond the standard 10 blue links results. Featured snippets and new features are becoming prime real estate in winning new customers. Here are some of the most important trends in SEO we recommend following in 2020 to keep your company competitive.

Load speed and digital experience is becoming more important

Having good Load speed on your website is important for a number of reasons, it is good for the user as the content loads quicker meaning they can browse more of it and are more likely to consume it. Current research indicates that a 1-second delay in the load speed of a page can result in a massive drop in traffic for your website.

Long-form content appears to be the way forward for user engagement

When it comes to your content marketing it is no new theory that quality should be prioritized over quantity. Despite this many websites still pushing out countless short and uninformative blog posts.

Recent studies in SEO suggest that having longer-form content on the site, through longer research pieces, for example, tends to increase user engagement. This, in turn, increases the dwell-time on your webpages which is good for SEO. This is a metric we think Google will add more focus to in 2020 when determining search engine rankings. Find out how SEO can help your business in the UK.

Having a secure website is becoming essential

Whilst the safety certification of a website may not have a direct impact on the SEO of a site, if a user does not feel secure when browsing a web page from a search engine this could increase bounce rates and reduce the overall site traffic in the long run.

This lack of high-quality user engagement will, in turn, have a negative impact on the rankings of your site. In 2020 we believe Google will attach greater importance to site safety and having an SSL certificate will become imperative if you want to rank well in search engines.

Results pages are becoming dominated by rich snippets

The evolution of the search engine results pages (SERPS) has led to a number of new features which offer different functionality to users. Getting in front of users via the ‘featured snippet’ could provide your business with increased clicks.

An estimated 54.68% of clicks from Google come via featured snippets. Some are hesitant of this SEO Marketing trend as a lot of the information that users will want is displayed in Google which in theory, could result in fewer clicks. Despite this, featured snippets do offer higher click through rates.

One of the ways that you can increase the number of rich snippets you receive is through optimizing your schema markup. This is a code that can be put on a website to assist search engines in understanding the content on a page. You can put in place schema markup which promotes reviews, events, articles, book reviews and movies. All these help promote a better user experience which is what Google and other search engines are trying to promote.

Click through rate and bounce rate are influencing rankings

The click-through rate is a measure of the number of people who click a link compared to the number of people who had the opportunity to do so through impressions. One of the trends we are likely to see more of in 2020 is the use of click-through rates as an apparent ranking factor.

A similar but slightly different factor to a links click-through rate is the level of dwell time. This concerns the amount of time a user spends on your site. The longer a user spends on a page, the likelier it is, in Googles eyes, that the user has satisfied their search query.

Arrange a bespoke SEO audit to test the strength of your website  

Staying up to date with the latest trends in SEO will help keep your business competitive and keep your website high up the search rankings. If you are at all unsure about the current performance of your site arranging a bespoke SEO audit will help you achieve greater transparency around the tasks and changes you can put in place to make your site more competitive.