As a digital marketing company, we do our fair share of musing over SEO trends and changes. It’s a bit of bummer that businesses breaking into the digital space are bombarded with enough “tips and tricks” to make their heads spin. Every other month, you get wind that Google’s making changes; it seems like all the links you’ve forged, keywords you’ve blogged, and images you’ve posted are for naught. Not to fret! We’ve never been about tricking Google to get your business seen on the web, because we understand the paramount of SEO: the end user.
Google and his slew of search engine buddies want to provide users with the information they’re looking for. Understanding SEO is a complicated, ever-changing mission, but keeping the end user in mind is a cornerstone of running a successful SEO campaign. If an algorithm isn’t finding users the best and most useful information, it adapts to better serve the user. The bottom line? Just be yourself.
Breaking Down the 2016 SEO Trends:
While running a successful campaign boils down to “If you build it they will come,” it needs to be built with your user in mind. If you have a cake shop, you need to bake cakes your customers want to eat, not just the cakes you like to eat, right?
Trend 1: Mobile
Mobile is considered a trend for the sake of this blog, but it’s safe to say that it’s now a standard. If you don’t have a mobile site in 2016, you may as well saddle up your horse and look for the Pony Express. You’re probably reading this on you phone right now, and that in itself should be proof enough that having a responsive site isn’t a suggestion, it’s mandatory for success. Google said that more search queries are coming from mobile devices now than desktop computers, and ranks favorably sites that are easy for mobile users to navigate. If you don’t have a responsive or mobile site, you’re missing the chance to get in on some prime Google real estate.
Trend 2: Long-Form Content
Blogging and offering helpful content is a bonafide way to show Google that you are providing what users need: answers and advice. It used to be that 300-word blogs sufficed, but more and more users are reading, enjoying, and sharing longer articles. They’re finding value in pieces that fully research, explain, or otherwise bring light to a product or subject. Long-form content, defined between 1200-2100 words, is the most shared content on the web right now. It’s proving that even gold-fish sized attention spans can be captured with the right content.
Trend 3: Unique, Varied Content
You might feel like it has been said a million times over, but we’ve said it a million times because content is still so important. With more ways to share and get social with your customers, it’s the unique kinds of content you produce that provide personalized value to your customers. Videos and photos are much easier to absorb than blogs alone, and much more share-able as well. Take your own photos, make your own videos and share who your business is with the world. Google sees unique content as helpful to the user, because it travels from you to your customers. What Google knows is helpful gets ranked highly so it can help out more and more users!
What It’s All About
Reading this and implementing unique content and long-form articles to populate your mobile site will certainly help bolster your SEO efforts. But if you’re only doing them to help your SEO, you’re probably missing the point. When you think of SEO the most important thing you should consider is your EUO (End User Optimization – we just came up with that. Pretty nice huh?). Ask some of the big questions: How will your end user be able to interact with your site? Are they able to have their questions answered or buy your products easily? Can they share with their friends the amazing information they found on your site? If you can provide your users with exactly what they’re looking for, Google will notice. No matter if it’s 2016 or 2616, keep your eye on what is trending in SEO, but always remember it’s your customers that count.
Give them what they need and let Google find you.