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Search engine optimization is not a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. With regular algorithm updates and evolving user behavior, SEO requires constant optimization and adaptation to remain competitive. By staying aware of the latest SEO trends and changes while building your website, you can ensure your efforts focus on what will actually drive results this year.
In this post, we dive into some of the most important SEO trends to integrate into your website strategy for the coming year.
User Experience as a Core SEO Focus
Positive user experience is a clear marker of a high-quality website. Page speed and mobile friendliness have become hugely influential ranking factors. Additionally, Google’s Core Web Vitals, including LCP, FID, and CLS, now directly impact how pages rank in search results.
LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)
LCP measures how long it takes for the main content of a page to load. Specifically, LCP tracks when the largest image or text block renders on the screen. A fast LCP helps pages feel snappy and responsive. Slow load times lead to poor user experience and higher abandonment rates.
FID (First Input Delay)
FID measures the time from when a user first interacts with a page (e.g. clicking a button) to when the browser is able to respond. A short FID signifies a site is quick to process inputs and feels nimble. Long input delays signal sluggishness and make sites frustrating to use.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift)
CLS tracks visual stability as a page loads. It measures how often content jumps around the screen during load. Minimal layout shifts keep things feeling cohesive. High CLS from ads or images loading in makes sites disorienting. Users struggle to click desired elements when content moves unexpectedly.
These Core Vitals quantify key aspects of user experience. Optimizing them makes sites feel faster, more responsive, and visually consistent. Poor Core Vitals, in turn, can increase abandonment likelihood.
Overall, providing a smooth user experience needs to be a primary consideration for website owners. Technical optimizations like image compression, code minification and caching are essential to improve page load times. Additionally, content should be optimized to be easily readable on mobile devices, avoiding tiny text or cluttered layouts.
Beyond page speed, content quality and relevance are also key for user experience. Pages should serve the user’s intent and offer valuable information. Search engines are getting better at analyzing content to determine if it satisfies searcher needs. Thin, low-value content will rank poorly. Optimizing for specific keyword intents and including multimedia can help create more engaging pages.
Voice Search Optimization
With the growing adoption of smart speakers, people are increasingly using natural language and conversational queries. Voice search optimization requires a focus on long-tail, question-style keywords. For example, a user may ask, “Where is the best Italian restaurant in NYC?”. FAQs and featured snippets optimization provide opportunities to rank for voice search.
Voice search also relies heavily on structured data like speakable schema that adds pronunciation clues. Optimizing your content for featured snippets and using speakable markup can help gain visibility in voice search results.
Prominence of Featured Snippets and Zero-Click Searches
Attracting featured snippets allows your site to appear prominently in search results without needing to rely on click-throughs. Crafting compelling meta descriptions optimized for featured snippets can help you drive traffic even with zero clicks. Make sure to follow Google’s structured data guidelines to enhance your odds of generating rich results.
It’s also essential to monitor your click-through rate and tweak optimization over time. Be sure to balance optimizing for snippets while still encouraging clicks to your site when relevant. Featured snippets are powerful, but striking the right balance is key.
Video SEO Rising in Importance
Video content tends to be more engaging, visual, and trusted by users compared to plain text. With YouTube as the second biggest search engine, video SEO is growing in importance. Optimizing your video title, description, tags, and transcript can help improve rankings and visibility. Leveraging YouTube-suggested videos provides additional opportunities for discovery.
For YouTube, ensure your videos are easy to understand, provide value, and have compelling thumbnails. Check that videos play well on mobile devices and limit distractions like excessive intro animations. Video SEO has unique best practices but offers immense value when done right.
Structured Data Markup
Structured data refers to formats like schema.org and JSON-LD that add more context and meaning for search engines. When added to your pages, structured data can enhance site links, enable rich snippets, and improve the way results display. For local businesses, it’s particularly vital for driving local SEO by highlighting your business name, address, opening hours, and other info.
The appropriate structured data can make pages much more visible and clickable in SERPs. It also improves the organization of information for search engines, helping them better interpret relevance.
Optimize Your Site With NameSilo
As you optimize your website and content, it’s important to be cognizant of the technical requirements for a high-performing site. Choosing the right web hosting plan that offers website builders tailored for SEO can give you tools to build a fast, mobile-friendly site designed for visibility.
NameSilo’s hosting plans come bundled with website builder software containing features to help you optimize pages for speed and core web vitals. These include image compression, minification, and caching to improve page load times. The site builders also make it easy to add voice search optimizations, video, and structured markup needed for rich snippets.
Staying cognizant of the latest SEO trends is useless without the technical foundation to apply them. As such, make sure to leverage the right web hosting and site builder combo that empowers you to turn your SEO knowledge into results.
Check out NameSilo today to learn more about how we provide the ideal platform for SEO success.