Another year has passed and the search engines have continued to be one of the most important channels for companies that want to create a digital presence and generate new business.
Therefore, in order to continue or begin to dominate among the search results, we thought about how to succeed with SEO (search engine optimisation) in the coming year!
Focus on user-friendliness
While content and links continue to be the driving force for climbing the SERP, ever greater emphasis is placed on ease of use.
We took this up a year ago when we talked about SEO. However, nothing seems to indicate that user-friendliness will be a less important ranking factor. Rather the opposite.
After the introduction of RankBrain – Google’s AI algorithm which helps to process and sort the search results – we will probably see the same trend for many years to come.
As you know, artificial intelligence becomes smarter the more data it has available. Something that should indicate that you do not plan to abolish the user-friendliness in the near future.
3 tips for better user friendliness
1. Minimize the loading time of your site – We humans seem to have a lower concentration ability. We want everything to go fast. The same applies to our websites. Today, no one can wait for a web page to load for 5 seconds. Not even Google that introduced its Speed Update in the past year .
According to a survey , 40% of respondents state that they leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. However, as many as 83% state that they expect a site to take no more than three seconds to load.
Interested in knowing how the average charging time looks in your industry? Google has compiled benchmarks on how the charging time looks in different business areas . Does your website live up to the “industry standard”?
2. Compressing your photos – Large and heavy files such as images help your site load slowly. By compressing them, you retain the same high quality while at the same time taking considerably less space. A personal favorite with me is the tool TinyJPG which makes it easy to compress their pictures!
3. Obtaining an SSL Certificate – If you did not obtain an SSL certificate on your site, it is high time to do so. In this way you guarantee your visitors an encrypted connection, which the majority today requires. Even Google.
In 2018, the search giant took the security to a new level. It was announced that they began to mark all the pages that did not hold an SSL certificate as uncertain. Something that creates a negative user experience.
Focus on content
If this is something that we at Adsight have noted during the past year, it is that text content is one of the most effective methods for positioning itself in the search engines and generating traffic.
As an example, we ourselves have managed to pinpoint a first place on the keyword “SEO”, which is undoubtedly the most competitive word in our industry. Only this site has generated thousands of new visitors to our site during the past year.
By continuously updating our knowledge bank with keyword-driven content, we managed to increase our organic traffic by 200% in 2020 compared to the previous year.
After implementing similar strategies with our customers, we have succeeded in delivering traffic increases of up to 700%.
Therefore, if you are not already content content, it is high time to do so now!
Make sure to customize your website
Still having to point out how important it is with a mobile-adapted website may feel more 2015 than 2021, but the fact is that many still have a site that is only made for desktop.
Unless the following statistics and events make you realize how important a mobile site is, I don’t know what can do this:
- According to a survey, 85% of the Australian population surfed on mobile during 2017, most of them daily.
- Half of all mobile users will not use a website if it is not mobile adapted.
- 61% of mobile users would leave a website if they didn’t find what they were looking for.
- Almost 80% of mobile users who do not like what they find on a website will leave it and move on to another site in the search results.
- In March 2018, Google announced that it began to migrate all indexed sites to a mobile-first index .
Focus on attracting links
Also links can be felt as a worn-out topic that fits better in an annual summary for search engine optimisation 2010. In fact, however, links continue to be one of the most important ranking factors. By links I mean, of course, those that come from respectable and relevant sources.
During the past year, we have put a lot of effort into attracting high-quality links to SEO Expert Melbourne. The result? Nearly tripled Trust Flow (TF) and remarkable position improvements.
If you want to learn more about the subject, you may want to look into our earlier article Link Building for the SEO art of attracting links .
Make sure to build a strong brand
During the past year, it was clear that Google was putting more and more emphasis on brands. A trend that will most likely continue in 2021. In the eyes of the search engines, a strong brand means that many are looking for a specific company name.
In other words – if you have a strong brand you will probably get better placements faster. As a former CEO of Google once said:
“Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool. ”
In summary
To succeed in the search engines in the coming year, the same hard work is required as before. There are still thousands of factors that affect your investments. Something that is becoming increasingly clear is that those who focus on user-friendliness become more important and important.
