Search engine optimization is one of the most important aspects of any marketing mix. By improving your website ranking in search results, you can also improve the efficacy of your other channels. In other words, when your business is easier to find, you earn more sales.

However, search engines are constantly changing. They update their algorithms regularly and introduce new features. These updates enhance the way that people search, but they also make optimization a moving target for businesses. Therefore, it is important to stay up to date with the latest trends. Furthermore, businesses must stay active with SEO in order to bring as many relevant visitors to their sites as possible.

Voice Search

It may be hard to believe that voice search first became part of the Google mix back in 2012. At the time, it seemed to many like a fad feature that would be fun to play with but that would never have a major impact on search. Of course, in 2020, we know that voice search is here to stay.

The growing popularity of home speakers and smartphone assistants has helped to make voice search not only a permanent fixture but also an important focal point of SEO. Today, tens of millions of searches are initiated by voice every month. To capture a slice of these, you need highly optimized content that plays well with Google’s voice search results.

Implementing structured data targeted at voice search and leveraging Speakable markup can increase your website’s visibility. Understanding Google Actions is also helpful for making the most of voice search.

Google Actions/Entities

Google is increasingly putting development time into more defined and structured data. Whereas search algorithms were once enough to provide valuable search results, today users expect more. Furthermore, there is so much data on the internet that Google expects businesses and developers to “play nice” with its functionality in order to rank well.

Actions on Google and entities are examples of this. The first is voice search actions that can be integrated into software to allow Google Assistant to control it. Entities are a well-defined thing or concept in Google’s search results. Websites and apps with data that are structured to work with these types of results tend to perform better.

Topics & Semantics Over Keywords

In years past, SEO involved a lot of gaming search engine results pages. People would pack their content with keywords to help it rank better. Today, Google and other search engines have gotten smarter. They are structuring their algorithms to more closely match what people want to see.

Perhaps the most significant example of this is the heightened focus on topics and semantics. Increasingly, Google can understand the meaning of users’ searches. The engine isn’t just matching keywords from search terms to words on web pages. Instead, it figures out what the user actually wants and finds content that is highly relevant to that topic.

For businesses, this means one thing: High-value, relevant content is king. To rank well on searches, there are fewer games to be played. Instead, the content needs to raise and answer questions that users are actually searching for. Webpages still need to be optimized so that Google can understand them. However, there is no replacing high-quality content.

Get Help Harnessing the Latest Trends

If your business needs help with SEO in 2020 and beyond, Unwired Web Solutions is here for you. We are a digital marketing agency that helps brands like yours compete online. Our services include web design, content management, social media, and search engine optimization. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help your business succeed.