There remain several months left in 2023, but for an SEO expert, the New Year is already looming. SEO trends move quickly, but SEO strategies tend to show results slowly, which means that SEO professionals need to look far to the future to make plans that bring success to their clients. Already, the world of SEO is thinking ahead to 2024 — and beyond — and here’s what you can learn from their predictions.
High-quality Content Is a Primary Concern
Content is king, and it will continue to rule over digital marketing for the foreseeable future. In fact, because search engine algorithms are becoming so sophisticated, it is even more imperative that businesses produce content that offers real value to web users — beyond that content’s capacity as a magnet for Google’s spiders. Rates of zero-click searches are increasing, and only high-quality, incredibly relevant content has a chance of being featured in a rich snippet. Therefore, businesses need to invest in producing content that web users need and want.
To start, businesses should avoid the temptation to use robots to produce their web content. Though generative AI tools have radically improved in their quality, they remain limited; the content that they create is often highly derivative, recycled and churned from content that already exists on the web. Because Google punishes websites that publish duplicate content, businesses should avoid relying on robots to produce their content.
Instead, to keep costs low, businesses might draw upon the expertise of their own staff to create unique and valuable content. Staff have first-hand experience that they can use to generate interesting and valuable content for web users and customers. If staff are unwilling or unable to contribute content, business leaders might look for professional writers with SEO experience who have knowledge of their industry.
Mobility Matters More Than Ever
Traditional computer web traffic was outpaced by mobile traffic years ago, and it seems that web users have no intention of returning to desktops and laptops for their web browsing. Because so many users are relying so heavily on mobile devices like phones and tablets, Google is rewarding websites that are properly optimized for mobile use. Dynamic pages are the bare minimum; a more forward-thinking solution is to simplify website and page layouts to ensure that the most important content is easy for users (and spiders) to find.
Additionally, businesses need to start optimizing their content for mobile and voice search, which operates slightly differently from traditional search. Mobile searches are much more likely to result in zero-click SERPs, which means that content needs to have clear relevancy to mobile keywords to appear in featured snippets. To learn more about how to optimize for the new world of zero-click searches, business leaders should reach out to a trustworthy SEO agency in Phoenix.
Better Backlinks Will Increase Ranking
If content is the heart of a strong SEO strategy, backlinks must be its backbone. In general, businesses want to accumulate as many backlinks as possible, as the more links Google finds to a webpage, the more authoritative it assumes that webpage to be and the higher it will rank that page in the SERPs. However, in the coming years, the raw number of links is likely to fall in significance compared to the quality of links. Businesses need to strive to earn or place backlinks on websites that are highly authoritative or highly relevant to its niche.
Achieving more and better backlinks is often easier said than done. Working with an SEO agency can help businesses connect with a network of publishers across the web, which can radically improve their backlink profile. Engaging with content marketing on social media can also help to improve backlinks, though it is worth noting that links on social media pages do not themselves contribute to the quantity or quality of backlinks. Regardless, producing high-quality, valuable content will make earning backlinks much easier, so it will continue to be worth the investment.
Conclusion
By no means are these the only trends in SEO likely to impact practices and strategies in 2024. Still, businesses that make these aspects of SEO their core focus are likely to see success and achieve their goals of higher rankings and better conversions in the years to come.
