An Intro to SEO Trends
With SEO acting as the primary method of online marketing, its services never appear to remain stagnant. There have been strategies in place to utilize SEO better than ever before, and like most SEO trends, they rise and fall over time. Since Google keeps the magical algorithm hidden, it is tough to truly utilize SEO in a single consistent strategy that will always work. While we cannot predict how exactly SEO trends may change in the future – both near and far – we can learn from its current trends. As SEO specialists, beMarketing has the ability and experience to study current SEO trends and adjust accordingly.
SEO Trends in Content Quality
SEO has to draw its appeal from content. If SEO is designed to act as the “yellow-brick road” then content must be Emerald City. Without quality content, SEO’s value begins to feel obsolete, for there is no value in what the search yields. The most effective tactic for SEO relies on its relevant content creation followed closely by keyword/phrase research. This tells us that the meat of the content is driving SEO forward, rather than specific phrasing of the subject.
If we were to predict a future trend, a safe bet would be to estimate that we would see more content-centered SEO, and that would result in heavier blogs filled to the brim with copy. Providing raw information for consumers will also only help future businesses in the long run.
SEO Trends in Organic Search
Recent studies claim that the traffic generated is still resulting from search sites, and less from paid advertising. Organic search results in 51% of SEO traffic, with paid advertising only at 15%. So, what does this mean exactly? Well for starters, it shows that customers are relying more on their direct inquiries and are personally seeking individual businesses on their own volition, rather than seeing a paid advertisement and be convinced that way.
Utilizing the Trends
Despite the above information, less than a third, 28%, of small businesses use SEO. And of that 28%, only 57% utilize blogs. It’s hard to figure out exactly why, but we believe that several barriers for clients focusing on their SEO efforts include: horrible past experiences with SEO vendors, not appropriately budgeting for it and a lack of understanding of the value of blogs. From a business standpoint, it may make more sense for a company to put less man-power into writing blogs, and more sense to utilize a paid advertisement.
