ID3AS Blog

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an evolving art form that is contingent on industry trends, and the forces of search engines themselves. A large aspect of the revolving world of SEO is analyzing competitors and determining the ranking factors behind keywords while spotting new trends within your industry. In order to keep your business ahead of the competition, you must keep your finger on the pulse of the ever-changing SEO landscape. SEO is in motion, and it is critical for your company to make relevant changes in how you approach your search engine optimization strategy. It takes just a short amount of time for what used to be best practices, to become outdated practices.

Mobile-First Indexing

Did you know that 52.2% of worldwide online traffic is generated through mobile phones? Over the last few years, the signs have been clear, the way that we use the internet is changing. Fewer people are sitting at their desktops, opting instead to use their mobile devices to search. In 2018 Google rolled out its new algorithm for mobile-first indexing, this means that websites that have mobile-friendly pages will rank higher than those without.

Going mobile is critical for your business, whether you’re providing restaurant information, blogging about current events, or selling products to potential clients. Be sure that your visitors are having a good experience on your site when they are visiting from their mobile devices. A non-mobile friendly site can cause frustration, which will result in a high loss of potential customers. To get started, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to analyze your page and determine if you meet the qualifications of a mobile-friendly site. 

Page Speed

No one likes to wait on a webpage to load when they’re trying to access information on a site. This is why in July 2018, mobile page speed became a high ranking factor for SEO on mobile devices. Page speed is critical for user experience, and studies have shown that websites with longer load times tend to have a higher bounce rate, meaning the site visitor has moved on, and/or lower time on average spent on the site. In addition, when your website takes longer to load, that means that search engines can crawl fewer pages for relevant information, which could negatively affect where search engines index your site.

Pro Tip: An easy way to quickly improve your site’s loading speed is to compress the images. On average, images take up 50-90% of a page’s size, therefore the more you compress your images, the faster your page will load. This is a quick fix that will give you the biggest return on your page speed. 

Voice Search

Voice search is when you ask your smart device a question, and your smart virtual assistant quickly provides you with the most relevant answer. This concept launched with the introduction of Siri in 2010 and has rapidly grown to include Google Assistant for Androids, Cortana for Microsoft, and Amazon’s Alexa, just to name a few. According to Google, 50% of all online searches will be voice-based by 2020. This means voice search SEO will become increasingly important as smart speakers and voice assistants continue to be added to more and more homes and vehicles. 

Did you know that 20% of all queries on Android devices and Google's mobile app are via voice search? In response to this, keyword research continues to change too. Long-tailed and conversational keyword strategies now reign supreme. In order to understand how to optimize your site for voice search, you must first understand how people search on different devices. For example; if someone is looking for the best pizza in a particular area, they might type in something like “best pizza in Ocean City, Maryland.” However, when they’re asking their virtual assistant using voice search, they will most likely speak in a conversational tone, something like “Alexa, where’s the best place to get pizza near me?” This formula remains true to any search scenario. A text search contains short written snippets, and a voice search will be a full, conversational question. Don’t forget, voice searchers are often looking for an immediate and local response to their question, making it critical to be sure that your business is locally optimized via platforms such as Google My Business. 

Google My Business

Did you know that a reported $10.3 billion is lost annually because of inaccurate listing information? Creating a Google My Business account is the key to leveraging location-based SEO tags, so your business is never missed in a search. Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that Google offers to help businesses manage their online presence across its search engine. Being sure that your local business is claimed and verified on Google My Business is an important first step to your maximizing local SEO strategy. 

Creating a Google My Business account can increase your chances of showing up on Google Maps, Local Finder, and voice search queries. However claiming your business on GMB is not enough, what many businesses don’t realize is that there are a variety of features that Google offers to optimize your Google My Business listing. Begin by setting up your GMB profile and completing all of the information that Google asks for and then have fun! Consider adding a booking button feature to allow your customers to easily book appointments with your business directly from your GMB listing. Or perhaps promote an event or special offer by creating a post which can serve as a “mini-ad” which will be displayed in your listing as well. Don’t forget to check your listing often for customer reviews! Receiving and responding to online reviews is great for both SEO and increasing strong public relations. When you respond to positive and negative reviews, be sure to follow best practices, and include your keywords to help Google find and index your company and increase your overall rating on Google.

Stay Ahead of SEO Trends for 2020

Staying ahead of SEO trends does not need to be difficult! Reach out to our team of seasoned professionals and allow us to perform an SEO audit on your site, and review the results with you! For the month of October, D3 is offering a Free SEO Audit and Review with one of our specialists! Allow D3 to help you in determining your website's strengths and weaknesses, and the direction that you’ll want to take to keep ahead of SEO trends moving into the new year!

Offer valid through October 31, 2019. To schedule an appointment, call 410-213-2400, or email us at marketing@d3corp.com