5 Important Tips for Your SEO Strategy

Beyond excellent content and high-quality backlinks, there are other things your SEO strategy needs to account for.

As the new year approaches it is time to think ahead. Here I will go through the newest factors, how new technologies are changing search, and the tactics and trends you can fold into your strategy so you do not fall behind.

1. The SERP revolution and rising competition for visibility

In Moz's analysis of searches and clicks, Rand Fishkin notes that 66% of distinct searches query Google's results, while 34% of searches receive no click at all. Looking at all queries, the ratio is closer to 60/40. I expect us to move even closer to Google over time.

Google answers many questions itself: search for "how to remove an oil stain" and Google meets the user with a snippet, handing over the information faster.

Recommendations for your SEO strategy:

• Research the SERPs for your sector, your content and your keywords. Look at what kind of results each keyword returns: shopping results, ads, product details, images, knowledge panels… organic results can be nowhere in sight.
• Keyword analysis alone is not enough for the SERP. You need new strategies for SEM, shopping results and snippets too.
• Use tools such as SEMrush or SEOMonitor to track your snippet visibility.
• Make sure Google fully understands your page for those SERP features — use schema.org structured data.

Start by learning what users are searching for, then hand them what they want faster through snippets.

2. RankBrain and machine learning

If RankBrain is new to you, read this Moz article. Since 2015 RankBrain has been a significant ranking factor. Data such as click-through rate, time on site and bounce rate heavily influence UX signals.

If users click the third result for a query and spend time on the page — reading the whole article, say — RankBrain will see it. If, for the same query, users click the first result and bounce immediately, Google will probably rearrange those rankings.

Recommendations for your SEO strategy:

• Focus on improving your titles and descriptions. Make your content as appealing as possible for users rather than for keywords, and raise your CTR.
• Make sure the content on the page genuinely satisfies the user, that the page loads fast, and aim for a flawless experience.
• Plenty of sites now optimise their pages well. You have to differentiate with creativity to stand out.

3. Let go of the "old" on-page tactics

SEMrush's ranking factors study found that 35% of the pages ranking for high-volume keywords do not carry the keyword in their title. That shows how much better Google has become at understanding synonyms.

SEMrush also found that user signals and direct website traffic matter enormously.

Recommendations for your SEO strategy:

• Make sure your site gives users what they were looking for and more, and try to build affection for the brand. Good UX and good content are what bring people back.
• Do not rely on on-page optimisation alone (keywords, page speed and so on).

4. The growth of voice search

Around 20% of mobile searches are already made by voice, and according to comScore 50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020.

Google Home, Siri, Cortana and Alexa recognise human speech with 92% accuracy. As these assistants improve, the popularity of voice search looks set to climb further.

Recommendations for your SEO strategy:

• Optimise for conversational language and add the questions people would ask out loud to your content strategy.
• You can use BuzzSumo to find the questions users are asking.

5. Think beyond Google

Think about all of the results — the ads, the shopping units, the featured snippets — not just the organic rankings. Every result in the SERP adds to your brand's visibility.

Because winning visibility is more competitive than ever, widen your net: I would suggest working on Amazon, Bing, Alexa, YouTube and, for B2B and B2C alike, Pinterest.

All of this is worth keeping in mind — but remember that excellent content, an excellent user experience, high-quality links and a technically sound site remain 100% essential to any SEO strategy.