If you Google “SEO,” you’ll see some many blogs you’ll go crazy. The trends are always changing and you really have to study it for a while to understand what is going to work for your business.
You’ll see things like ranking factors, ranking signals, keywords, dwell time, click-through rate, and so many more terms that you’ll probably quit doing it as soon as you begin.
This article is different. It will show the only SEO trends you need to worry about. Now, if you’re in an industry that is competitive you’ll have to do your best to bear your competition. This article will also show you that but in the easiest possible ways.
Click-Through Rate FTW
When customers find your website, content, blogs, etc. you need to make sure they love the headline enough that they click on it. Having a high click-through rate – CTR is the way to have a high SERP.
How do you do that?
It’s all about the headline. A good headline hits someone in the face and says, “I have to read this.” It’s not about being informative or helpful. It’s about giving people exactly what their after.
A great place to find out what people are wondering is Answer the Public. It’s a new website that helps marketers understand what their readers are asking?
Go there now and write down the most pertinent questions. Then use another free tool, Ubersuggest to find out the traffic associated with each question.
Find the questions and keywords that have the highest volumes and start crafting your content around that. We’ll get more into the keyword theory of ranking, but that is a very basic idea of how to get on the top of Google’s pages. DO NOT STOP HERE, THAT INFORMATION WILL NOT ALLOW YOU RANK. IT’S WAY MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT, SO READ ON…
High Dwell Time, Low Bounce Rate
Getting your traffic to click on your web pages is one thing, leading to the second and equally important SEO trend, dwell time. This is the length of time your customers are going to spend on each page.
You probably guessed it, that the longer your clients spend on each page the better. This is true, but …
This doesn’t give you the right to create super long posts. That might be necessary in some cases, and actually great for ranking high on a SERP, but if your readers view long posts as a turn off, then they will quickly leave and hurt your dwell time numbers.
In my opinion, it’s much better to keep people on the web page with great images, perfectly designed subheadings, and copy that ensure your readers will read all the way to the end and click on the link at the end.
This kind of copywriting is sometimes difficult to do, but necessary to get the dwell time you need to rank.
What is GOOD copywriting?
Copywriting is the art of salesmanship in print. You might think this article was just about picking keywords and backlinks, right? Well, today the way you write is more important than what you write about.
Your writing must be entertaining and something your readers actually want to read. Gone are the days of spamming keywords on a page and hoping that people will come to your page and buy your products or click on your ads for commissions. Yes, they still exist, but every update Google makes takes the edge of away from marketers who know the loopholes.
It’s trending towards creating the best content you can, that people will want to read.
Blogs have somewhat of a bad name, because people think they are worthless and unreliable. That used to be true. Today, that is becoming a complete falsehood.
Besides focusing on answering your customer’s questions, you need to seek to elevate their consciousness. Take them to new heights. Expand their minds.
Good copywriting is well-researched and full of amazing ideas that will make you into an authority and being an authority is an SEO trend you need to harness.
Building Authority Like a Pro
Building authority is an amazing SEO trend that most marketers don’t understand, which is fantastic for you. Why? Because, everything you do that other marketers won’t do or can’t do creates that separation and makes it easier to sell your products.
I’m encouraging you to take risks with your marketing. No, I’m not saying to make an ass out of yourself. I’m saying you need to be bold and try things that your competition is not doing.
For instance, in your industry, if you notice that all the ads that your competitors use have images with copy, what do you think you could do to stand out?
You could use better images, more professional copy, show off your awards, etc. Or….
You could sidestep them in a variety of ways. The easiest way to do this is to use video. Make it more appealing. Use the words that your competition is afraid to use. Talk like your customers and make them think you are one of them.
How about finding out where your customers are that your competition isn’t? That would work too. That way you don’t have to directly compete with them.
The key to building authority and maximizing the benefits of this SEO trend is to BE YOU! Not anyone else. YOU!
Keywords Abuse, Be Gone!
Finally, you’re here. The section you’ve been waiting for. This is the section that everyone wants to you to focus on, but is the most misunderstood.
Let’s say I wrote a sentence using the term, I’m ranking for this post “SEO Trend.” Here is the sentence the way you used to have to write it.
Search Engine Optimization – SEO trends are amazing tools to maximize your SERP ranking if you understand the strategies you need to master SEO trends. What did that say and who cares? Thank the universe for finally fixing this amazingly awful loophole marketers used to abuse like crazy.
Now, you can write like a normal person and actually help people. You can thank the Google Hummingbird update for that. Go ahead, say thank you making the internet a friendly place. Well, somewhat friendly.
Yes, keywords and linking are very important for your SERP ranking. Use free tools, like Keywordtool.io, Ubersuggest, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and many other free tools to help you get the right words for each subheading and title.
Within the posts, you need to focus on using those questions from the Answer the Public. It’s not a bad idea to throw those in the headings too, but not something you should do all the time. Google will slap you for that. Just be natural and write with the purpose of enhancing the internet and your customer’s opinions. That is the most important trend to jump on.
Linking (to you and to me)
When you link to another website, your own website, or when someone links to you, your website builds authority. That authority is paramount for Google to think you are relevant enough to get a high SERP. The way you do this is by writing great articles first, then linking to articles that enhance what you’re saying.
Don’t link to competitors. That’s just dumb, and don’t link to articles trying to rank for the same term as you either.
Link to sites with a high authority, like .gov, forbes.com, large publications, peer-reviewed journals, etc. Websites with built in credibility.
If you’re going to link to your own website, then link responsibly. Linking with your website is a great way to build authority with Google and increases the amount of time someone spends on your domain, but it doesn’t mean that they will spend enough time on each page.
Google ranks pages, not websites.
Backlinks are not that hard to get
If you’re trying to get backlinks to your website from some other site with a higher authority, then write something they don’t have and link to them. Then email them as beg them to link back to you. Say something like …
Hi so and so,
I’m a writer for XXX, and I love your post on YYY. I noticed that it didn’t talk about ZZZ, so I wrote this blog about ZZZ and linked to your blog for everything about YYY. It helps both of our SERPs to link to each other, so I was hoping that in the spirit of being awesome, you could link back to me.
Much appreciated,
Your name
It’s really that simple, you just have to use your melon and find out what other bloggers are not talking about and write about it. Then instead of being redundant and sounding like everyone else – remember the section on building authority – be creative and come up with original thought provoking stuff.
For more information on the latest SEO trends and strategies for building your business presence on Google, check out the Digital Cartel Media blog for more awesomeness.
