Yes, you need SEO if you plan to kickstart your own business or if you already have one! Why this emphatic yes? There are over 2 billion people online, constantly researching, gathering information and making decisions online. Not only this, according to Statista, in 2018, 52.2% of the web traffic was generated through mobile search. Such powerful numbers can make a difference in your businesses’ profitability. You wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity that can help you get your brands voice out there and earn potential leads. Or, would you?
Nonetheless, 2019 is going to be yet another exciting year for search, especially for the local businesses. To help you outline your SEO strategy in 2019, here’s a list of key areas that will be core to your business:
Voice Search
As Gartner predicts the growth of AI and conversational platforms, we are in the middle of a paradigm shift to the way consumers interact with businesses today.
“Okay Google, tell me the best Chinese restaurants near me”.
We have all started looking out for answers this way.
Digital voice assistants have given you the power to ask without even typing what you need. If you are making use of this technology, your potential customer is also there in the list. Every year these searches are raising the bar for businesses to rank. Which is why 2019, you should give it serious thought. While desktop and mobile search are here to stay, voice search is going to be the talk of the industry. Optimizing your website for voice-based search keywords will help you garner traffic that matches consumer intent.
Wondering what kind of voice searches you should be targeting?
Natural speech. And this is based on the underlying fact that voice assistants are designed to understand natural human language. You can take advantage of this new trend and do away with basic broad level search term that is either too competitive and hard to rank for and doesn’t seem to resonate with consumer buying behavior.
Visual Search
Not only text-based search will experience a shift in search patterns, but visual search will also be on the rise. With platforms like Instagram, Pinterest amplifying the world of imagery, this will be an exciting new dimension to explore. Not only this, product imagery contributes to convenience and better decision making for customers, optimizing them would definitely be a good decision! A recent report by Pinterest shows that 72% of the Pinterest users get inspired to shop even when they are not actually looking for anything!
On similar lines, Google has been pushing up image search and making it more simple and intuitive for users to find images through the search engine. It has opened up opportunities for brands especially into e-commerce, retail, food, and decor to align their text-based SEO strategy with powerful imagery. This will continue to grow in the times to come and it would be logical to improve customer experience that positively contributes to your brand visibility and traffic.
To be able to adapt to the changing dynamics of this category in 2019, make sure you are using high definition imagery with metadata and relevant content that supports it.
Q&A Search
In 2018, there was a rise in the number of featured snippets for search terms and in-depth articles based on how content conveyed clarity and delivered value. This is not going to stop. Content is still the king. And this has given rise to new forms of searches that are gaining popularity in 2019 – Questions and answers. If you don’t understand what we are talking about, it’s the “People also ask” section. Lately, Google has been pushing such searches up the ladder in order to come up with the best possible solution for a search topic. So, is your content resourceful enough to answer what your potential customer is asking for?
Searches like: should I buy a Mazda or a Toyota – indicate that the user is already in the consideration stage and might flip into the buying funnel stage if your content provides an answer to similar searches.
Mozcast SERP feature shows, related questions, and knowledge panels are dominating SERPS pretty much since January. This is thought-provoking and an opportunity to capitalize your existing strategy this year moving forward.
There was a time when SEO was not even a priority for most businesses. It was considered to be an additional side-tactic. But now, with data taking precedence and the influence of digital marketing has changed the longstanding perception of the world of search. And as search engines are becoming more intelligent in driving insights from data to deliver value to online users like us, this niche has become even more competitive. So, if you haven’t yet recognized the power of search, it’s time you do.
It’s best to invest your time in these key trends this year. To help you with your search visibility and have an edge over your competition online, get in touch with our online marketing consultants to recommend you an effective search strategy.