The industry of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) requires the most adaptable workers because its trends are never constant. With technology always evolving, SEO specialists innovate processes to make it more efficient and effective.

Now that the year is about to end, the new trends of 2020 are already in full swing. Your writing tools will be more important than ever with these SEO trends that will change the face of the digital scape. 

Prevalence of video ads and visual content

Everyone is always on the go thanks to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Because of this, more and more users are opting for video ads and visual content rather than scrolling through written text that can be summarized in a two-minute video.

If you want to capture the attention of these busy bees, your brand should seriously start thinking about investing in video advertisements and visual content to balance off your published articles.

SEO algorithms will rely on Google reviews

Customers trust no one more than other customers. The fact of the matter is, Google trusts your customers more than it trusts you. It’s no surprise that Google Reviews can help boost your stats and rankings because good reviews from customers give you trustworthiness and authority. 

Moreover, it also helps if your company actually responds to these Google Reviews because it shows a clear communication effort on the part of the company. 

Transparency with your audience when it comes to data

Consumers are no longer turning a blind eye when it comes to the processes and methods of the businesses they buy from. With the rise of the conscious consumer, your brand must become transparent and honest with your audience especially when it comes to data.

In a nutshell, transparency builds trust. It’s not just some buzzword people say to throw companies off their game. When information is proactively shared with a company’s employees and customers, it enables both employees and customers to improve the existing procedures and inherently builds a culture of trust and accountability.

Faster web loading speed

We live in a time where people can get what they want the moment they want it. Businesses are always innovating for faster transactions, faster delivery, and faster web pages to keep users from finding another alternative.

For 2020, web loading speeds are going to play a crucial part in your business. Studies show that a 100ms delay translates to a 1% revenue loss. To keep this from happening, your web page has to be fully optimized and performing at its best capacity.

There are countless ways to increase your website speed such as combining files, minimizing HTTP requests, and deferring JavaScript loading. If you’re not tech-savvy, you can consult an on-page SEO expert to see how to navigate around this problem.

The rise of the voice search

Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, and Siri allow users to go hands-free when making their searches. Voice-activated tech is so useful that over 420 million voice assistants have been sold in recent years. Voice recognition accuracy has also been increasing, with over 95% since 2013. 

Optimizing your business website and/or blog for such searches can aid you in gaining organic traffic. 

Rich snippets

Rich snippets are information users can access straight from the search results page. It provides additional information like operating hours, user ratings, and pricing. 

By providing users with extra information about your business, they’re more likely to go to your brand instead of another. Prioritize their convenience and your effort will be greatly appreciated.

Semantic search and intent optimization

Because voice search allows people to ask questions out loud instead of actually typing out their queries, search engines are improving search accuracy by understanding the person’s intent and contextual meaning.

Search engines take in different factors to understand the user’s intent such as search history, location, global search history, and spelling variations. 

To adapt to this trend, your website needs to publish content that is clear and concise, answering queries that your target market will ask using voice search. 

Website security is a must

An overlooked aspect of SEO is that your site’s security directly affects your ranking and organic traffic. Websites are always at risk of being hacked, with a staggering average of 58 attacks per day. 

Not only will a website hack cost you money to recover, but you can also get penalized by Google and risk getting blacklisted. Websites with weak security are also in danger of identity theft thanks to malicious bots. 

It would be best to take time to learn preventive measures that can be the source of your business’ downfall.

Influencers will be your top marketers

Genuine interaction with your brand can be accomplished by tapping influencers as your ambassadors and marketers. Influencer marketing is on the rise and has been proven successful such as Daniel Wellington’s sole reliance on it. They were able to turn $15,000 to over $220 million in four years thanks to the influencer marketing strategy.

To experience a similar success story, your company has to scour hundreds of social media pages in search of the perfect influencer. Partnering with the right influencer can do wonders for your brand, such as building a diverse and strong profile. 

They also craft quality content that can put your business in a good light. More importantly, influencers can boost your SEO rankings because being affiliated with an entity with a huge following is recognized by algorithms.

The emergence of other search engines

Google, Yahoo, and Bing aren’t the only players in the search engine game. Other search engines like Ecosia and DuckDuckGo are appealing to users because of their advocacies.

Ecosia is a Germany-based online search engine and advocates for reforestation so 80% of its profits are donated to tree-planting conservation organizations. DuckDuckGo, on the other hand, values the user’s privacy and doesn’t track your searches. 

Though the aforementioned is powered by Bing and Google respectively, it wouldn’t hurt to try and target your efforts to rank on these search engines as well as the big players.