How to Keep up with SEO Trends and Changes

The world of SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimisation, is in a constant state of flux, adapting to technological advancements and shifts in consumer behaviour. Keeping up with the latest trends and strategies is essential to maintain a competitive edge and stimulate sales. 

How is SEO Changing?

SEO has undergone significant changes in recent years, adapting to evolving technologies like voice search and AI while also responding to changes in how consumers search for products and services online.

Technological Advancements

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, brands are feeling the pressure to innovate their SEO strategies accordingly. 

Certain technological advancements have been instrumental in reshaping SEO strategies: 

• Mobile Phones. Mobile phones have become an integral part of our daily lives, so ensuring that all content is fully optimised across all devices is crucial. 

• Virtual Assistants. The emergence of voice search, driven by virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, means content needs to be optimised to answer conversational queries. 

• AI. AI will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping SEO, so staying abreast of technological shifts is crucial for maintaining competitive SEO practices. 

• Local Search Optimization. With the prevalence of mobile phones, businesses need to be able to tailor their content to attract nearby customers and develop local client relationships. 

Changes in Consumer Behaviour

Alongside technological advancements, the future of SEO is closely tied to changing consumer behaviours. 

Here are a few key ways consumer behaviour has impacted SEO practices in recent years. 

• Voice Search. As people become more comfortable with voice search, companies must adjust their SEO strategies to target long-tail keywords that align with natural speech patterns. 

• Social Media. Social media has become a true powerhouse in the world of marketing; social SEO is fantastic for expanding your reach and enhancing the visibility of your content. 

• Higher Expectations. Users have come to expect a seamless online experience, so it’s important to provide an excellent user experience with mobile optimisation, fast loading times and user-friendly navigation. 

How to keep up with SEO trends and changes

Now that we’ve explained some of the changes in SEO and the reasons behind them, it’s worth exploring some strategies for improving your SEO. 

Staying on top of your website’s SEO is crucial for maintaining and improving traffic and rankings. Here are five top tips to help you do just that:

1. Choose the right keywords

If your content isn’t performing as highly as you’d wish, it might be because you are using outdated or irrelevant keywords. Volume (the number of times the keyword is searched per month) and competition (the ranking difficulty) fluctuate due to seasonal, cultural, industrial, and economic factors. In short, some keywords get harder to rank for, and others get easier. 

While high-volume keywords are great, they can often be difficult to rank for. Therefore, it’s worth including a combination of higher and lower-volume keywords to accrue traffic, increase engagement, and send positive signals to Google. Regularly monitor and update your keywords to boost the strength of your SEO and outperform your competitors. 

2. Keep up with algorithm updates

Google is constantly updating its algorithm, causing traffic and website performance fluctuations. Algorithm updates often cause old content to decrease in value, so it’s worth keeping track of Google updates via the Google Status Dashboard and implementing changes where necessary. 

Regardless of algorithm updates, the main thing to remember is that Google always favours evergreen content that adheres to Google’s E-E-A-T principles. 

3. Optimise Loading Speeds

Nobody likes a slow website, including Google. Google prioritises high-performing, fast and intuitive websites that provide an excellent user experience. If you’re unsure why your website is so slow, check out the Core Web Vitals Report within Search Console or Google’s PageSpeed Insight Tool. 

To optimise loading speeds on your website, try compressing large files, embedding videos and avoiding GIFs. You can also optimise your code by reducing excess characters, which is called minification. Or, implement asynchronous loading, which allows elements to load at the same time, or lazy loading, which loads the visible elements on a page first. 

4. Optimise Local Rankings

As mentioned, optimising your local rankings is vital, especially for small, brick-and-mortar businesses. Target keywords that represent both your services and your location to improve your local SEO. It’s also worth optimising all your business listings, such as your Google Business Profile, to ensure maximum visibility. 

Check out our article here to learn more about optimising your Google Business Profile. 

5. Invest in your SEO

SEO is a continuous process that takes work! It’s essential to regularly publish fresh content, update old content and perform technical SEO audits. It’s also worth building and monitoring backlinks and optimising images. If you’re disappointed with your website’s performance, it could be that you just need a helping hand to push your SEO to the next level. 

SEO is a long-term strategy that takes work, but the results are worth it. If your company has limited knowledge or resources to dedicate to SEO, outsourcing to an external agency could be the perfect solution. 

At Puddle, we pride ourselves on our extensive experience in staying abreast of the latest SEO trends, ensuring our clients’ websites reach their full potential. Enhanced SEO translates to higher conversion rates, increasing your site’s visibility and enticing more customers to engage with your business.

To find out more about how Puddle Agency can help take your SEO to new heights, give us a call at +44 (0)113 8561930.