SEO Strategies for 2021 and beyond

Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of continuously optimizing a website to enable it to rank higher in organic search results on popular search engines like Google. Employed intelligently, these algorithms can be the keys to boosting business.

Each year, Google announces updates to its algorithms that are aimed at making the search experience effortless. Listed below are SEO strategy tips and tactics that will help you dominate in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase revenue.

1. Create Quality Content -
The ultimate key to staying successful in SEO is to create quality content for your target group. Amongst a plethora of existing content pieces across the world wide web, only those that are able to land on the very first SERP are able to direct substantial traffic to their website. This means that only a few high-ranking content pieces are able to generate an adequate amount of site visits and conversions. As such, it is vital that the created content is not only relevant, informative, visually appealing, and easy to understand but also SEO optimized. This optimization includes enhancing the content piece with trending keywords, keyword-optimized titles and subtitles, compelling meta-descriptions, and effective link-building strategies. Together, these factors contribute to a highly effective SEO strategy template.

2. Enhance User Experience -
With each new update, Google focuses on delivering a seamless and fulfilling user experience. The most recent algorithm updates by Google, namely BERT (2019) and January Core (2020), essentially focus on prioritizing user intent and user experience metrics above everything else. Hence, ensure that you invest heavily in enhancing the user experience as a part of your SEO strategy. Each customer touch-point, ranging from the initial interaction in SERPs to your landing page experience followed by the acquaintances even after they leave your website by way of remarketing campaigns, is sure to establish a highly impactful, positive, and fruitful relationship with your audience thereby increasing your chances to rank higher.

 

 

3. Focus on Technical & Mobile SEO -
The next crucial step to improve ranking and drive targeted traffic to your website is to focus on technical and mobile SEO. This involves working on improving site speed, enhancing site accessibility, making use of schema markups, and optimizing your website for mobile responsiveness. Seeing the increase in the number of smartphone users, the rise of social media, and the ease provided by handheld technology, warc postulates that almost 75% of internet users are expected to conduct searches exclusively via mobile by 2025! For a user-optimized content strategy coupled with strong technical & mobile SEO, this will undoubtedly mean a substantial boost in ROI.

4. Capitalize on Local SEO -
Another promising strategy to capitalize on is local SEO. While users may not specify their location, Google’s search algorithms make use of the available data to estimate the location of the user in order to display options in close proximity. Optimizing your website for local SEO increases your visibility for the relevant local searches and drives qualified, targeted traffic to your website, effectively amplifying your reach! This can be done by registering your business on local online directories, ensuring your Google My Business listing is updated, and enriching your online presence with positive reviews and testimonials.

5. Adapt to Visual and Voice Search -
With mobile search modes becoming increasingly dominant, consumers are beginning to favor voice and visual search over the traditional search methods. Capitalizing on this consumer shift is sure to yield exceptional results in the near future. According to Gartner, early adopter brands that redesign their websites to support visual and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by a whopping 30% by 2021 itself! Voice search optimization techniques include adapting to a conversational writing style and integrating long-tail keywords as a part of your SEO content strategy while visual search optimization techniques include writing descriptive alt text and captions along with using pertinent and responsive images.

6. Demonstrate High E-A-T -
Lastly, a concept discussed in great detail in Google's quality raters' guidelines is E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google confirmed that E-A-T is a very important factor that is taken into consideration by their algorithms when it comes to rankings. However, although optimizing for E-A-T is not possible (since it is not an algorithm), it is possible to implement some radical changes that are sure to prove beneficial. For example, practicing thought leadership in your communication and publishing detailed, well-researched content on your website, will certainly help in exhibiting a high E-A-T value.

All in all, simply investing in the traditional SEO strategies may be working at the moment, but adapting to the modern SEO content strategies will optimize your organic search results, solidify your revenue stream for the near future and prove valuable in the long run.

For further support to grow your business, our team at Parkyd Digital is available and happy to help you. We are a B2B digital marketing agency focused on delivering cost-effective, innovative, strategic solutions that align with your sales and marketing goals.

Found this helpful? Share it with your network!