Where is SEO heading? 5 trends that will change digital marketing

When it comes to SEO, one of the most important things is to always stay up to date with the latest trends in online promotion. And not in order to “be fashionable”, but because this is the very essence of an SEO campaign. The strategy has to be monitored constantly, since every change observed in Google’s ranking algorithms can have a direct impact on the goals you have set.

Vigilance and adaptability are very important in SEO. This field is defined by constant change. You need to take into account every change in Google’s algorithms and always stay one step ahead of your competitors. The reward, however, is worth it. An SEO campaign that follows these guidelines translates into organic traffic and higher conversion rates and brand awareness. In short, SEO puts your business on an upward path if it is done right.

Below, I will highlight some of the recent SEO trends. One of the things that makes this online marketing strategy not only effective but also very interesting is the way it adapts to each business. In other words, depending on the niche, we will face different challenges. But there are also general directions we need to keep in mind if we want better results in the SERP.

1. The rise of the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) protocol

One thing Google has been giving more and more weight to lately is AMP. AMP is an open-source protocol that lets webmasters create pages that load almost instantly on mobile devices. Google already favors sites that use this protocol, giving them better visibility and marking them with a lightning bolt icon. Based on this, many brands are expected to use this on-page SEO method to improve their rankings.

2. Good things come in small packages

Content has gone through several stages. At first, online marketing focused on delivering content as short as possible. Now we have reached the point where topics are covered as comprehensively as possible, regardless of the length of the text. Since Google puts the emphasis on quality, people have constantly looked for ways to deliver information as efficiently as possible. Readers are tired of reading the same thing “in disguise” all over the Internet. One possible direction here would be “dense” content: as much information as possible in as little space as possible, in a way that attracts the audience.

3. Artificial intelligence is the future

Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest fields right now. Google is investing a lot of resources in this direction, and this will certainly have implications for SEO as well. In 2015, Google RankBrain opened the way to indexing based on a machine learning algorithm, building on Google HummingBird. Google will most likely keep developing AI algorithms and apply them in niches such as data interpretation or sales process automation. What is certain is that AI will step into marketing at some point in the near future, and therefore into SEO too. It remains to be seen how.

4. Personal branding, the secret weapon of SEO

Personal branding will become a secret weapon of SEO. Turning a start-up into a “personality” has many positive effects. A voice created for your brand will build a relationship of trust between you and potential clients, plus a significant increase in organic traffic. With social media platforms optimizing their algorithms to favor individual posts over branded ones, more and more companies are expected to turn to this technique. But personal branding is a double-edged sword: it brings more opportunities to approach the market, but also more competition. With the right strategy, though, the effects will certainly be positive.

5. Digital assistants, the future SEO “butlers”

One last point I want to highlight concerns digital personal assistants and how they will influence SEO. Improvements to services such as Siri or Google Assistant have led to a significant rise in their use and, at the same time, an increase in the number of voice searches. This will bring new ways of searching and, at the same time, new ranking opportunities.

In conclusion, it is hard to predict what Google and other search engines are planning for the coming period, but these trends will certainly materialize in some form. Of course, you do not need a “complete overhaul” of your strategy, but it is good to be aware of the impact these currents could have on your campaign. The more attention you pay to what is happening around you and the better you are at anticipating the market’s “moves”, the better your chances of staying in the top positions you are aiming for.