SEO Trends

The SEO industry moves at a fast pace. That’s why staying in-the-know and adjusting your SEO strategy accordingly is essential. With the pandemic driving an increasing number of businesses online, streamlining your approach to SEO can lead to a greater number of click-throughs and improved conversion rates. So with this in mind, here are 3 SEO trends that look set to continue throughout 2021.

1. Zero-Click Searches Will Continue to Rise

By 2019, the number of zero-click searches was at 49%, with this trend showing no sign of slowing down. The reason why people aren’t clicking through from a search result is because Google is answering more and more questions in the SERPs. Featured Snippets at the top of the page hold valuable information relating to a search query and that’s often the only thing people need to see. As Google’s algorithm gets better at delivering answers, zero-click searches are likely to rise. While people not clicking on your content might be daunting, optimising for SEO is still of paramount importance. This is because:

• You want your content to appear at the top of search engine results pages as this promotes brand awareness and credibility. It also increases exposure.
• Optimising for Featured Snippets can help your content stay in the limelight even if people are not actually visiting your website.

1. Voice Search Will Continue to Grow in Popularity

Around 3.25 billion people used voice-activated search and assistants worldwide in 2020 with this number predicted to hit 5 billion in 2021 and 6.4 billion in 2022. Smart speakers are also predicted to reach 55% of US households by 2022 meaning the popularity of voice search will increase. Technologies such as Google’s Knowledge Graph are being used to understand how voice searches are made as they typically involve more natural language.

Optimising for voice search should therefore very much be on your radar. With 58% of voice users running a local business search, it’s really important to update your Google My Business Profile as this is where Google will pull essential information such as your business address and contact details You should also create content around location-specific terms.

1. The User Experience Will Be Even More Crucial

User experience is an SEO ranking factor. After all, Google is itself a business that wants to deliver the very best service to its consumers. And that means sourcing websites that’ll leave people happy. Google’s Page Experience will include speed metrics called Core Web Vitals as of June 2021. This includes:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). This monitors how fast the largest element above the fold is loaded. It should be 2.4 seconds or less.
• First Input Delay (FID). This is how long it takes for your page to respond after a user interacts with it. It should be 100ms or less.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). This monitors how much things move around during loading. It should be 0.1 or less.

As a business, you should definitely run a Core Web Vitals report via Google Search Console as this will tell you if your URLs are ranked as ‘good’ or considered ‘poor’ and ‘need improvement.’ Of course, all the other user experience criteria count too such as making sure your content is broken into easy-to-read chunks and that your text is clear and attractive.

Contact Whitefish Marketing today for an SEO strategy tailored to your business and stay on top of all the latest trends throughout 2021 and beyond.

About Chris Surridge

Chris is our marketing director. He comes from a split background in automotive and accountancy marketing, having worked with such brands in the past as Lookers PLC, Mercedes Benz and Vauxhall, as well as working with governing bodies such as ACCA and CIMA in the accounting world.