Top 3 SEO trends for 2020: What do the experts say?
That you have to follow new trends and adapt your strategy to stay well found in searches is already a given. With constantly changing Google algorithms, we can never relax and rely on the fact that our website was SEO-optimised two years ago.
Details of the specific updates are largely unknown, but the direction of their development remains unchanged, SEO experts agree: it always comes down to content quality and increasing the user experience. SEO is becoming faster and smarter, with the aim of offering visitors the best content for the given search terms. So ultimately, it's about understanding and implementing the visitor's search intent.
Below we give you the list of trends that, according to SEO experts, will become more important in 2020 and should be considered strategically accordingly.
Voice Search
Voice search is searching by voice via a virtual voice assistant. Opinions about the increase in its use this year vary, but optimisation for voice search is recommended by many experts:
- Write the content in natural and understandable language, the way people speak.
- Add long-tail keywords and question keywords to your content.
- Answer users' questions directly and succinctly to be displayed in position zero, in the "featured snippet".
Mobile SEO
Mobile-friendliness has been considered by Google since 2015, but is being weighted more heavily as mobile internet usage increases. A mobile-friendly website ensures good readability and usability on smartphones and tablets.
- Make your website mobile-friendly and fast.
- Where possible, structure your content for "featured snippets", as few search results are displayed on the screen on the smartphone.
- Optimise your site for local search queries (local SEO).
Visual Search
With visual search, you scan an image to get results of the product you are looking for or similar products. If your product is displayed in an image search, this is a great advantage for your business. SEO experts recommend the following measures:
- Add descriptive alternative text to images.
- Optimise image titles, alt tags and file names to make the context easier to understand.
- Submit images in the sitemap so crawlers can access the images.
- Apply schema markups to get a good image with product details.
- Use good quality images so that they read correctly.
With a continuous SEO strategy, you can invest in the visibility and recognition of your company in the long term. Keep your site up to date, stay abreast of trends and be the authority in your industry permanently.