2020 forced the world to reinvent how we go about our daily lives, do business, and interact with others.  For most, this change hasn’t been easy and has caused significant challenges.  For others, this change was much needed and has been full of silver linings.  Many companies have proven to be resilient, while others have struggled drastically.  One thing we can all agree on is that the hub of business is now digital, with more users operating online than ever before.  

This large increase in online traffic, companies have been forced to change the way they work online as well.  Digital marketing is now vital for businesses and we have the latest and greatest SEO techniques catered to the upcoming year.  

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to staying relevant in a digital business world that continues to grow each year.  SEO can turn your brand into a household name.  Here are 6 SEO trends that we all should get ready for this year.  

Competitive Research

Competitive research (or analysis) is a field of strategic research that specializes in collecting and reviewing information about rival businesses or firms.  While most businesses are familiar with this, few choose to do the work due to it’s time consuming and tedious nature.  

That said, online competitive analysis tools make it very simple to find out what keywords your competitors are targeting in a matter of minutes.  Competitive research allows you to know your competitors inside out and use their weaknesses to strengthen your business.  You are able to check which keywords your competitors rank highly for and adapt your SEO strategy accordingly.  

In addition, market analysis helps to identify what leading brands and websites in your field of business are doing and how they are doing it.  Staying current on in-market demographics and the best-preferred marketing channels can tell you which marketing areas you need to invest in and which to reject.  

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence or AI is quickly taking over many aspects of business, especially online businesses.  Search engines are increasingly incorporating AI into their algorithms to provide users with the most relevant content to their search queries.  

Artificial intelligence has the ability to study our online patterns and continuously adapt itself as we change our online behavior.  With AI being such a vital part of search engine algorithms, it makes sense to incorporate it into your SEO strategy.  There are several ways that AI tools assess the relevance of a specific page in its specialized area.  These can include quality of the backlinks, page accessibility, time spent reading, and how much traffic translates to leads and conversions.  

One way to use AI to your advantage in 2021 is by identifying factors that AI considers when assessing site relevance and ensuring you optimize them. In addition, you can use AI research tools to graze the internet for mentions or backlinks.  AI is also useful to rift through your data and get meaningful insights that will help you get the most leads. 

High-Quality Content

SEO has always been based on high-quality content, although in the upcoming year, the importance of publishing only the best and most relevant content is more important than ever.  People are online now more than they ever have before and are inundated with content from all sides.  

To stay relevant and stand out from your competitors, you must connect with your users and keep them engaged and wanting more.  To do this, you must research and identify what type of content is flourishing on the internet and how to tailor it to your brand and audience.  Not only will your users dislike poorly written content, but search engines will too.  

The days of writing short articles full of every keyword you can imagine are long gone.  In 2021, it’s vital to ensure your keyword choices are optimized as well.  Use them naturally and and authentically for the best results.  

Millennials are a significant population and research shows that they hate boring, traditional advertising and respond best to subtle, creative marketing.  This is the best way to reach this demographic.  

Focus on Quality Traffic, Not Quantity

Until recently, SEO has been about generating as much traffic as possible to your site.  This made perfect sense, and then came Covid-19. Due to the pandemic and the massive increase in online traffic, things have changed.  It’s become clear that there’s no real point in generating even larger traffic to your website if you can’t generate meaningful results.

Rather than using all of your resources on solely increasing traffic, focus some of your time and money on traffic analytics.  Traffic analytics not only shows you the areas when you get the largest number of online visitors, but also shows which customers purchase the most. To get quality traffic, it’s essential to have the right goals.  Looking at goals and your target audience, you can optimize your SEO strategy to include the most effective keywords that attract clients who invest.  

Mobile Optimization

While the current pandemic has led to a huge rise in the number of people on the internet, an advanced analysis will show that the majority of these people were on their mobile phones.  Surveys predict that 54% of e-commerce sales will be carried out from cell phones by 2021.  

As many storefronts close and others adapt to the current global climate, more and more online stores are popping up, increasing the e-market.  In addition, people are finding it easier to place online orders through their mobile phones.  Without optimizing your website for mobile devices, your SERPs will fall quickly  

However, a mobile website isn’t enough these days.  Your mobile site needs to load quickly and not lag or glitch.  Customers want a simple shopping experience and mobile-first indexing shows that the mobile website is more important than the desktop point in supporting this.  

Images and Videos

The way we use images and videos has changed from simply an entertainment tool, to an effective way for brands to make sales.  

Visual content plays a huge role in creating your brand’s image, and image sharing platforms have become increasingly popular marketplaces.  Webpages lacking images and/or media are seen as boring to users, so adding eye-catching images to your site is vital from a marketing perspective.  When adding photos to your site, be sure to optimize them for SEO by ensuring that you don’t add large images that will slow down your website.  

Videos are also essential in increasing your rankings on all search engines.  When creating videos, make sure you use keywords smartly to give users a clear and concise picture of your business.  Well-made videos with strong descriptions have the ability to boost search engine rankings as well in 2021.  Focusing on video titles and making them catchy yet relevant to the current global climate, is also helpful. 

Adapting your business to these top trends for 2021 will not only reward your business, but ensure that your business can maintain relevance in the post-pandemic years to come.