Top 5 Search Optimization Trends for 2020

Change is constant in the world of digital marketing and the web. It’s important to stay alert to changes that may impact your company or organization. To make it easier for you, we’ve culled our top 5 most useful trends in SEO (search engine optimization) as we move into 2020.

1. Video continues to be King of content

When tested, videos on landing pages and video ads perform better than images and text. Thankfully the cost to create a video is dropping. There are many different types of videos to integrate as content, for example, training, case studies, or how-to videos. When creating a case study video make sure to present the problem you solved, explain how you solved the problem, and give a clear call to action such as a website to visit. Here are several case study videos we helped our client Manex Consulting create. For our client Oro Loma Sanitary District, a series of how-to videos offer content that is educational and interesting.

2. Voice search is increasing in popularity

More and more people are using voice search, especially on mobile, which leads to searches that have longer keyword phrases. With text search a user might enter “shoe store” but when talking into their phone or Alexa, they might ask: “where is the nearest shoe store?” Using these types of longer keyword phrases when optimizing your mobile-friendly website will help the search engines to index your site so that it shows up higher in the results for voice search. Something you might not have thought of related to voice search is using structured data. This is code which is added to the back end of your website to provide search engines information about a page and different search display types. This will also help the search engines know how to deliver your information for different voice searches. See Google’s help article on structured data. You can test your structured data with Google’s testing tool.

structured data example

Here’s an example of what the search result looks like when using structured data code on your site. With valid structured data, a page is eligible to appear in a graphical search result, as shown below. In this example, the site developers used a “Recipe” type which includes properties such as reviews, nutritional information, image, and cook time.

3. Google ranks mobile websites first

With the uptick in the use of mobile devices, Google checks your mobile website to make ranking decisions and uses “mobile-friendly” signals like usability, page layout, and speed to load on mobile devices. Google offers a mobile test tool you can check your own site.

4. SEO (search engine optimization) is getting technical

It used to be that you just added keywords to the text on your web pages and a few links from other websites and you’re done, but not anymore. Now its important to make sure your website is technically up-to-date to get desired results. The reason is that Google and other search engines want to show sites that are up-to-date and adhere to current standards.

The two top technical issues found on websites are:

5. Setting up GTM (Google Tag Manager) on your website can make your life easier

GTM is a script (or tag) management system that allows you to install all your tracking scripts in one place so you don’t have to rely on your developer to install scripts. Once Google Tag Manager’s script is on your website, you’ll be able to quickly add other Google tags and pixels such as Facebook’s Pixel which help you track source traffic and get a better handle on the ROI for your marketing efforts. Using Google Tag Manager also helps to improve SEO performance by reducing your site’s load time.

Thank you to Main Street ROI for their informative webinar which was utilized in this post.

Post by: Suzanne Garcia-Misa