Where Will SEO Be 1 Year From Now?

In SEO, it’s always important to stay one step ahead. It’s pretty unlikely that SEO is going to become irrelevant any time soon, but we do know that the best practices in SEO are liable to change. Keeping up with what matters and how to get more from SEO ensures your business can stay in the spotlight for longer. It’s difficult to predict exactly what SEO might look like in a year’s time, but we can consider the direction that it’s heading in and what the future of SEO might look like. Not only will SEO still be relevant to your brand’s marketing strategy next year, but it could be even more important than ever to get it right.

COVID-19 Has Impacted SEO

We’re all tired of hearing about it, but the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many things in many different ways. SEO certainly hasn’t escaped this, and the virus outbreak may have changed the landscape of SEO both now and in the future. We’re already seeing the various effects of people’s changing behaviors, from staying inside more to asking voice assistants to answer questions that might once have been answered by other people. 

Internet use has increased during the pandemic, including online searches. When things get back to a place of relative normality, we can expect to see this drop as people go back to work and return to their usual activities. However, there’s also a high chance that many people will keep some of the habits that they have developed during this period. In particular, people might still be looking for ways to shop local and support SMBs, and they will continue to use search engines to find what they want.

User Intent and SERP Analysis Will Be More Important

Understanding user and search isn’t anything new, but it’s something that always needs to be reassessed. These things are changing all the time and in a year it will be more important than ever to make sure you’re paying attention. We need to understand why people are searching and what they’re looking for so that we can provide them with the answers that they need. Some experts suggest that search intent is going to be even more important as search engine algorithms get stronger, making traditional SEO best practices less of a concern. Paying attention to search results is part of this. Google and other search engines will show you which results it thinks are most relevant. Analyzing these search results will inform how SEO should be approached.

Page Experience Will Be Key

Google recently introduced Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor for web pages. This has meant that page experience factors have become more important and will continue to be so in the next year. This includes factors such as page loading speed, mobile-friendliness, how responsive a page is to user interactions, and the safety and security of the site’s connection. These factors have been important in SEO for a while, but they are becoming increasingly relevant and will need to be taken into account for any SEO strategy. The next year should be spent ensuring all of these factors have been assessed and improved upon.

Mobile SEO Will Be Unignorable

It has been necessary to pay attention to mobile SEO for a while now, but it’s reaching the point where it definitely can’t be ignored. In fact, instead of thinking of mobile SEO as a separate thing, it’s essential to think of all SEO as being mobile SEO. Every move that is made needs to take mobile SEO into account to ensure a good user experience is provided for mobile device users. Responsive website design is one thing to consider as part of mobile SEO, ensuring you offer simplicity and usability, as well as personalization. Google won’t be ranking your desktop and mobile experiences differently anymore, so mobile is more important than it has ever been. If you’re still using a separate mobile site, it’s time to make a change.

More Automation Will Be in Use

Automation can be useful in many areas of your business, including SEO. A year from now, we can expect to see SEO automation having grown in a number of ways. Throughout 2020, more SEO tasks were automated, and the trend is set to continue over the course of 2021 too. Automation allows important SEO tasks to be carried out without someone having to manually complete them every time. This saves a lot of time and so saves a lot of money too. However, it’s also important not to remove humans from the equation completely, as people are needed for quality checks, creativity, and other things that technology might not be able to take care of.

Long-form Content Will Be Published More

If you want to consider the specifics of getting SEO content right a year from now, one of the things that you might not want to miss out on is long-form content. Written content plays a huge role in SEO, but many people stick to publishing shorter pieces. However, many have seen that longer content often out-performs shorter content. By focusing on content that is at least 1,000 words, you could see a lot more traffic, sharing, and other benefits.

The key thing to remember is that SEO is not going anywhere. In fact, in a year’s time, it’s going to be more important than ever. All business owners should make sure that they’re keeping up with significant changes in SEO and working with people who can help them to get more from search engine optimization. With things changing all the time, it’s essential to have expert help to ensure you don’t get left behind.

Changes in search engine algorithms and user behavior, new technology, and global events are just some of the things changing the face of SEO today. All of these factors and more are rapidly creating a new SEO landscape, so make sure that you seek out expert help to provide you with the skills and knowledge that your business needs.