What does 2021 have in store for your search engine ranking?
2021 is on the horizon, and with it comes a wave of new SEO trends (as well as a few that are tried and true). As 2020 draws to a close, it’s time to put the insights we’ve made, the lessons we’ve learned, and the flexibility we’ve cultivated and look towards the new year with confidence and anticipation.
There are some interesting innovations right around the corner! Here are the top five SEO trends that 2021 has in store:
Trend #1: Google’s Core Web Vitals is Changing the Search Algorithm
In May 2020, Google announced one of its newest updates, the Core Web Vitals. These Vitals are a set of three specific webpage experience metrics that Google considers highly important: loading time, interactivity, and visual stability. The Core Web Vitals are set to become and official ranking factor and are focused on evaluating your site’s overall user experience. The Vitals join the ranks with current ranking factors such as safe-browsing, mobile friendliness, and lack of interstitial pop ups.
While the Core Web Vitals won’t be a make-it or break-it ranking factor (you can still rank with poor Vitals scores) you should still work to have your pages optimized for its factors. Improving your page loading time; optimizing for traditional SEO; including well-placed and authoritative links throughout your content; minimizing popups and ads; and adjusting photos to appropriate sizes are all ways to maximize your Core Web Vitals score.
Trend #2: Google Passage Ranking will Change the Way Your Pages Rank
Google was on fire with its innovations in 2020. In October, it announced its new search technology called Passage, which will allow Google to rank specific sections—or passages—of a page independently of the rest of the page.
Google will still issue rankings based on the content of the entirety of each page, but its Passage tool will allow the search engine to home in on the relevancy of specific blocks of content. This is great news, because it means that every single page on your site now has more opportunities to rank. As long as your content still follows traditional SEO best practices and is optimized and organized, you are good to go!
Trend #3: Keep Remembering to E-A-T
Google evaluates your site based on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (otherwise known as E-A-T). As we rely on the internet more and more in our daily lives, having a site that is seen as reliable is incredibly important.
Here’s how to E-A-T:
- Be an expert in your field. Show searchers that you are a credible information source by representing your industry expertise with professionalism and intelligence and publishing content that is informative and high-quality.
- Regularly audit your content to keep it up to date.
- Be authentic. Build your site on a pillar of truthfulness and transparency, and consumers (and Google!) will never have reason to doubt you.
- Understand the intent behind what your target audience is searching for and tailor your content directly to them.
Share your smarts and be honest and trustworthy, and you are well on your way to having a respected and well-ranking site!
Trend #4: Focus Your SEO Strategy on User Intent
If you’ve taken E-A-T to heart, you will already know that user intent is an essential player in SEO strategy. In order to stay on top of this important trend as search engine algorithms continue to shift and improve, make sure your website clearly highlights the information that searchers are looking for. For example, if you run a law firm, you’ll want users to know:
- Exactly what type of firm you are
- What services you offer/who you represent
- You and any partners’ backgrounds and education
- What clients can expect working with you
According to leading-SEO website Yoast, searcher intent can be organized into the following categories:
Informational – This is the most common search query for search engines and where plenty of consumers start out. This consumer is trying to learn more about you as a business and about the services that you offer. For example, an informational searcher that types into Google, “law firms near me” most likely wants to find a local law service to assist them, but is currently unaware of what type of firm, exactly, they need.
Navigational – This consumer has already heard about your law firm and most likely already knows the type of service they require, but they need more information to proceed. Searches like “divorce lawyer Little Rock, Arkansas” is an example of a navigational search. Navigational searchers are of particular importance to small businesses, as they allow you to convert more leads.
Commercial –The commercial searcher already has the general information that they need—they know what they’re looking for and they know their best local options—but they have yet to decide which business to proceed with. This is where your custom content will shine. Highlight what you offer and name the reasons why your firm is the best at what you do. Have a solid “About Us” page. Keep your target audience in mind and be informative and authentic in your content.
Transactional –This searcher’s purpose is to buy. Whether this is a good or service, the intent is the same. A transactional searcher would type in, “divorce lawyer Little Rock, Arkansas rates” The key differentiator between the transactional and the navigational or commercial searcher is the use of the word “rates.” This user is actively looking for prices on a service that they have already decided on purchasing.
User intent is one of the most important aspects of having a highly optimized and well-ranking website. And as Marie Haynes, CEO of Marie Haynes Consulting Inc., puts it to Search Engine Journal:
“Google will get even better at recognizing when a searcher is looking for expert advice and will rank those posts above articles written by content writers who are lacking E-A-T.”
“The SEO pros who will be successful in 2021 will be those who can truly understand how to meet a searchers’ needs.”
Trend #5: Optimize Your Site for Visual Search
There’s no doubt about it: visual search is on the rise. With mega-popular site Pinterest receiving 600 million visual searches per month and Google Lens already being used one billion times, this is one trend that is here to stay.
And it’s only just getting started.
Besides using visual search for shopping, consumers are interested in using it for local business reviews, translating text, identifying landmarks, finding directions, and more. Optimize your site by making sure that all of your pages are mobile-friendly (90.6% of all Google Lens image results pass Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test); that any images currently on your site are optimized for traditional SEO (with alt tags and appropriate file names); and that any on-page content is relevant to your images.
If your target demographic is the younger generation, you should know that 62% of millennials desire voice search over any new technology—and pair that with the fact that over 90% of information transmitted to the human brain is visual, and you’ve got enough reasons to put optimizing for visual search at the top of your 2021 to-do list.
By understanding and implementing these top trends into your 2021 SEO strategy, you’ll be able to ring in the new year with confidence.
If you’d like to take an even deeper dive into the how’s and why’s of SEO trends and are ready to take your strategy to the next level, give our expert team of SEO strategists a call today!