Following all the updates and constant changes that Google is making to the principles on which the search engine works, it is very difficult to be 100 percent sure about what works and how. We already know that a lot of the old spammy techniques have no place in modern SEO, because they simply get what’s coming to them.
So, it’s time to look at the factors that are still working and will continue to work in the future, as well as which of the factors work better than others. This will help you focus on what is actually important and will let you know what the factors of lesser importance are (which should not be ignored if you are going in-depth with your SEO).
For now, it’s safe to say that the main factors that are simply essential and act as building blocks upon which to start enhancing your rankings are:
- Responsive websites optimized for mobile use
- Improve how the value of your work is perceived by customers
- Easily readable content, concise, and free of fluff
Without these basics, it will be very hard for you to start building a successful SEO strategy. Some of the other vital subjects you will need to cover are link-building and URL structures, which remain the same for the most part. However, there are parts of this field that will undergo a decrease in influence, which includes paid links and manipulated anchor texts.
We will cover a few categories of factors that will combine and rate which ones are most important to use and pay attention to in the future.
Keywords for on-page optimization
According to the overall assessment by SEO experts, titles containing a keyword will remain among the top-favored factors with a score of 8.34 (from 1 to 10). On the other hand, HTML elements such as bold, italics, etc containing keywords will have a lower score of about 4.16.
- Titles should be focused on the keyword and match the query syntax, so if you have a piece of content about construction but you have a couple of paragraphs writing about airplanes, your text will not rank well for its original purpose (construction).
- On-page factors such as keyword presence in titles and main content will still be a major factor but not that sufficient for better ranking and visibility.
Keywords for domain optimization
It’s a bit surprising to see, but an exact match in the domain name has less impact than it had some time ago, scoring about 5.83, and keywords in the sub-domain scoring as little as 2.55.
- If the keyword in the domain or sub-domain is not an exact match, there is little to no effect on the ranking whatsoever.
- An increase in CTR within the SERP is noticed, and this is a good long-term factor for ranking in the future.
- Keyword-rich domains are never a bad thing to have, but you should be more mindful of other factors influencing the domain such as mentions, local citations and inbound links.
Link-building for on-page optimization
It should go without saying that external links from high-authority sources will score high and they do, with about 7.78, so the more they are – the better. However, sentiment from external links that lead to the page score less, with 3.85.
- This definitely is one of the biggest gold mines for SEO because high quality links will always be more effective for rankings than pretty much anything else. If people link to you, you’re useful and you show quality. When people like you, Google likes you, period.
- The future of link-building will depend even more on content and the predictions are that the search engine will start ranking content on whether it is true or not (verisimilitude). This means that when this begins taking place, counting a lot of links won’t work anymore.
Brand awareness in domain optimization
While branding and SEO have nothing in common in their own principles, this does not mean that they are not working together to influence ranking. The search volumes for brands currently rank at about 6.54, so building a brand should also be one of the first priorities.
- Since Google is not brand-biased, and it will never be, it is we, the users and people who submit searches, that are biased about brands. So, if people want and are looking for brands, Google has to respond properly.
- We already noticed this trend, brands are being displayed much better for any kind of query. This means that Google is increasing the attention to brand-related factors and metrics, which is great for encouraging business owners to spend more time developing their brand.
Domain authority
One more big player on the board – domain authority ranks quite high at about 7.45, which is not that strange because it has always been a major factor. It’s understandable – if a website has survived the punishing updates and changes from Google, there’s a reason for it, and that deserves credit.
- This gives advantage over competitive websites with similar content, benefits, and all of the characteristics in general.
- There is a definite growth in long-tail search, and that means that content with more exact phrases relevant to the search will rank very high, and when the domain is close to the topical relevancy, we notice even better results.
The future of online search
As popular SEO experts suggest, there definitely will be changes over the next 12 months, and they will include:
- Engagement factors which will influence anchor text and incoming links.
The two worlds of app development and web pages will become closer to one another. - A continuing increase in mobile use, as will personalization, segmentation and structured data.
- Mobile SERPs will be more influenced by user location, including even more devices like cars and watches.
If you still need advice and relevant information for SEO trends and solutions, feel free to get in touch with the optimization specialists at 411Locals. They always have something to say and a helpful advice on any topic!