Six key SEO trends for 2019

Fatboy's Blog · 17th April 2019

If your business has an online presence, developing a sound SEO (search engine optimisation) strategy for your business is essential.

Statistics reveal that 50% of users click on the first three search results on the first page. What’s more, 75% never reach the second page of Google results. This is why it is so important to make sure your website appears at the top of the first page in a search. And good SEO will help you achieve that.

What is SEO?

There are three key components to SEO:

  • Quality of traffic: you want to attract visitors who are genuinely interested in products that you offer.
  • Quantity of traffic: once you have the right quality of people clicking through from search engine results pages (SERPs), you want more of them.
  • Organic results: organic traffic is any traffic you don’t have to pay for. Adverts make up a large percentage of SERPs.
So how can you increase both the quality and quantity of your web traffic? Here are the key trends in SEO for 2019.

 

  1. Quality content

Creating quality content is nothing new, but Google’s recent algorithm updates means it’s more important than ever for good SEO. With the rise of fake news, Google is keen to promote content that is written with expertise, authority and honesty.

Content should always be informative and helpful and must contain the right keywords (see below). In addition, with voice search becoming more relevant (more on this later), you need to think about creating content that answers questions your target audience will be asking.

  1. Mobile phone friendly

In March 2018 Google began mobile-first indexing. This means Google ranks websites according to the user experience on mobile phones. So if your website isn’t mobile-friendly it will miss out on a huge amount of traffic.

You can use Google’s mobile test site to find out if your website is responsive – this means it responds to different devices, ensuring an optimal viewing experience on desktops, laptops and phones.

  1. Voice search

During the past few years voice search has become a part of every day life. The likes of Alexa, Siri and Google Voice means we can now ask our devices for the nearest tack shop, or whether it will be raining at the weekend.

According to Google, 20% of searches on Android devices and Google’s mobile app are via voice search. This means you need to employ voice activated SEO if you want your business to survive.

Just as with written searches, it’s important you know the phrases and words your customers use when speaking about your products and services. There is a handy tool called Answer The Public, which tells you the common questions people ask, based on your keywords.

  1. Long-tail keywords

With the rise of voice-activated searches long-tail keywords have never been more important. This is because when people search for stuff using their voice they use more natural, longer language as opposed to shorter, snappier keywords that perform well in desktop SEO.

Long tail keywords are three and four keyword phrases that are specific to what you are selling. The reason they are so powerful, is these specific searches (eg horse arena rubber surface Sussex) are far more likely to convert to sales than generic searches, which consumers typically do before deciding to buy. You can use one of many keyword tools to help you identify strong long-tail keywords for your SEO campaign.

  1. Page speed

In July 2018 Google made mobile page speed a ranking factor. Users will quickly leave a page that takes too long to load, and search engines are quick to dismiss pages with poor performance.

Google has a tool you can use to analyse your website’s performance, and to make improvements.

  1. Be more social

These days web traffic isn’t just generated through search engines – many of your potential customers will find you through social media. Make sure you know which platform your audience uses, and communicate with them. If you engage with your audience they are more likely to click on your website for more information.

You can get more advice on how to create a loyal audience here.