SEO in 2021 – Trends, Predictions, Tips & Strategy
The epidemic has changed the landscape of digital marketing and consumer behavior dramatically, and a few themes are emerging as game-changers for SEO in 2021. The popular question among the latest SEO trends experts is, “What SEO approaches and strategies will work in 2021 to dominate the SERPs and make more revenue?”
So, let’s have a look at the SEO trends and forecasts for 2021.
Here’s how to be the best at SEO:
Snippets of Interest
Google has improved in recent years to provide a better search experience for users, such as through Featured Snippets. These normally appear above the first organic result, which the SEO community refers to as “Position 0.”
These featured snippets appear for the majority of Google searches, particularly those that include the words how, why, will, does, do, can, is, should, and so on as a preposition.
Featured snippets generate tables, lists, and paragraphs, according to research by SemRush on a range of topics. For queries with the word “how,” 52.2 percent of queries generate “lists.”
In 2021, How Do You Rank for Featured Snippets?
To get your work into these featured snippets, follow these steps:
- Make FAQs for the most frequently searched phrases.
- To exhibit the data, use a tabular format.
- Within your copy, use both listed and unlisted bullets.
- Make your sentences shorter.
- Your heading tags should be organized in a hierarchy.
- Wherever possible, set up structured data.
Finding themes or key phrases for which no snippet is created would be extremely challenging. You’ll be lucky if you find one. You’d have to compete with the current ones by creating better and more informative articles than they do.
Also Read:- A Beginner’s Guide To Twitter Marketing
Voice Search & BERT
Let’s start with the basics: what is BERT?
It’s a natural language processing (NLP) technology based on neural networks that helps Google grasp context on a word-by-word level and then give better search results.
Google has made a giant step ahead in making search-about intent matching rather than sheer string matching by including BERT into its ranking and highlighted snippets algorithms this year.
By 2021, about half of all searches will be voice-based, reducing the amount of typing required. As a result, there will be more long-tail keywords and hyperlocal searches.
In 2021, the BERT algorithm update, coupled with RankBrain, will be dominant, with voice searches understanding natural language and machine learning processing SERPs. As a result, your content becomes the next most important factor.
Content for Humans, Not Robots
Though it may appear to be the polar opposite of what I just said, creating interesting and relevant content for your audience can only benefit you in 2021. When we write material that isn’t focused on SEO keywords, we write what we believe is relevant to the topic. Because BERT is concerned with natural language processing, it is preferable to write in a conversational tone.
The purpose of the content developed should be to shift people’s mindsets to a more topic-focused mindset, where they create material that addresses a full subject holistically rather than just focusing on a particular term or phrase on a page. To gain more backlinks from bloggers and journalists, provide statistics, surveys, or an industry study.
Clusters of Information
In order to create a comprehensive content strategy, the content should be organized into content clusters. Hubspot is an excellent example of a site that uses content clustering.
Content-Length
The length of content has also been a hot topic in recent years, and it will continue to be in 2021. Many studies have demonstrated that writing for a long time results in a higher rating on the search engine result page.
This is something I completely agree with because if you write about a topic in-depth with all of the research content, you will instantly reach a good content length without looking verbose.
Content on Video
Incorporating video content into your SEO approach will be another top SEO trend in 2021. According to Forrester Research, video is 50 times more likely than plain text to appear on the first page of a SERP.
In addition, the video appears in 62 percent of Google’s universal searches. A question, a detailed explanation, and a plot of the incident and events that can be related to your audience can all be included in the video material.
A video can be hosted on your web server or on YouTube.
Local Search Engine Optimization
Everyone is seeking local SEO with the surge of “near me” queries. In 2021, the local SEO industry will rise by a factor of ten.
DID YOU KNOW? According to Google, 46% of overall searches have ‘local intent.
For most businesses, catering to the local market has become critical. The surge in demand for local providers has given the brands new commercial prospects.
Local SEO is made up of three main components.
Proximity: How close is your business to the searcher?
Relevance: How relevant to the search query are your products and services?
Prominence: What do other consumers say about your products and services?
Other important factors of Local SEO in 2021 will include NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) syndication, citations, local reviews on social business pages, local directories, and supporting content.
Conclusion
SEO is critical for all organizations, regardless of industry. Year after year, SEO trends in 2021 will be similar, as search engines seek to serve the right material to the right search query, resulting in user pleasure. You’re on the correct track if you think the same way.
The Emerging Trend of Voice Search / The Rise in Voice Search- What You Should Know?
Ever since the launch of the voice search feature by Google in the year 2002, voice search has come a long way in terms of technology, usability, and utility.
Voice search and AI (Artificial Intelligence) are playing a major role in this era of the digital marketing revolution that we are witnessing.
Instead of being typed in on a keyboard, a growing proportion of searches are being spoken nowadays.
Around 3.25 billion people are currently using voice-activated search and assistants globally.
Apple Siri, the first voice search assistant, was launched in April 2011, and since then we are surrounded by many more major names like Google Assistant (Google), Alexa (Amazon), Bixby (Samsung), and Cortana (Microsoft).
According to Forbes, It is estimated that 50 percent of all the searches across the internet will be voice-based in 2021.
In this article, we will discuss the voice base search and its emerging trends.
Let’s Dive in.
Why is Voice Search Getting So Popular?
The voice search experience depends on the following factors:
- The device
- the assistant
- the type of question being asked.
Gone are the days of typing in the search query.
Almost 7 out of 10 people prefer to search by using voice-based assistants rather than typing.
Humans generally have the tendency of making their lives simpler and easier.
As typing is a tedious task for most of us, we prefer voice search any day and anytime.
With the advent of voice assistant devices and improvements in smartphone voice assistants, it has become super easy to give commands and get things done.
Voice search allows users to get things done instantly and efficiently and also allows them the opportunity to multitask.
Not just advanced features such as carrying out online purchases or controlling other smart home gadgets, its more popular usage remains the basic queries and information requests like checking the weather, playing music, or setting a reminder.
The most noteworthy and potential benefits of voice search have taken place for the disabled community, especially the visually impaired people.
It allows them to bypass the text-based functions which are quite inconvenient for them.
Improvement In Voice AI & Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies control and influence our internet searches and also our interaction with our smart devices.
According to a report by Google, around 72% of people who own voice-activated devices claimed that they used these devices as part of their daily routine.
Since the prevalence of AI base technology is increasing, the search algorithms to accommodate machine learning must keep evolving from time to time.
Mobility of Voice Search Devices Globally
Almost everyone owns a Smartphone nowadays and they know that voice search has become more mobile than ever.
Most of the searches are done using natural or conversational language.
Google’s voice search on smartphones is available in over 100 languages. The Voice Search feature is not just limited to smartphones or smart speakers, it is available on many different devices.
Use of Voice For Local & Hyperlocal Search
As per the recent stats, 58% of people were able to find local businesses using the voice search engine on their smartphones.
The searches for ‘near me businesses have also gone up.
If we compare, the mobile searches have surpassed the desktop searches in recent years which has significantly led to the growth of ‘Local Search’.
This certainly has led the local business vendors and marketers to fine-tune their SEO strategies in order to capitalize on the rise of hyperlocal searches.
How Voice Search Is Changing SEO?
With the rise in the trend of using voice search engines, the biggest challenge faced by Digital Marketers is to regularly fine-tune their SEO strategy to optimize for voice search.
With an accuracy of 95%, the Google voice recognition feature is not the only platform working on the perfection of voice recognition in order to capitalize on voice search.
China has come up with its own speech recognition system, – iFlytek. With an accuracy of 98%, it not only translates English to Mandarin but Mandarin to many different languages.
Moving forward any business which seeks to attract the most possible inbound traffic to their websites will have to implement Voice SEO.
According to Google, 65% of all voice search queries are delivered in a conversational manner.
The search engines are turning into answer engines as voice searches have resulted in increased web traffic and higher retention.
The most important function of a voice search engine is to provide prompt and correct answers and not just a result to the user’s query and that’s why it has become all the more important for SEO and Digital Marketers to ensure the provision of credible information which can be easily processed by search engines in order to provide answers efficiently.
One can optimize for voice searches on their site in the following ways.
How To Optimize For Voice Search?
- The key is to use natural language with direct answers to specific questions.
- Schema markup and rich snippets can be used to help keep queries and answers organized in a way that is better understood by search engines.
- It’s important for merchants to keep their Google My Business listing and eCommerce stores in proper order with up-to-date operating information since voice search is often used to conduct local searches.
- The content should be fresh and optimized and it should be ensured by the elimination of duplicate pages, obsolete contact information, and old operating hours.
- The appearance of voice search results is greatly influenced by the Domain Authority and traditional Search Rankings.
Conclusion
The voice search industry is expected to grow into a billion-dollar industry in the years to come.
Not only it’s advisable to invest in this and capitalize on the opportunity, but it is also imperative to use it in the best possible manner in order to generate profits and add significant value to the overall purpose of this technology.
Optimizing for voice search is not merely a market trend – it is a necessity.
Considering all the best practices and challenges, one must create a voice search strategy that not just delivers but is also calibrated to their unique business objectives.
