3 Must-Know SEO Secrets for 2020

As Earth completes another rotation around the sun and we celebrate another year in the books, marketing professionals around the world are all looking forward to another roaring 20s! As we reflect on SEO trends in the past year, let’s analyze what trends are now dead and which trends are on the upswing.

Based on the thoughts of some of the top SEO minds on the interwebs, we’ve compiled the top SEO trends for 2020.

SEO Trend #1 – User-Based Optimization

If you haven’t noticed yet, Google is moving away from a “keyword = ranking” algorithm and moving toward a “question = answer” algorithm. In Google’s terms, they called the 2019 update BERT.

In the simplest terms, Google wants to make its search engine provide the absolute best answer the user is searching for. If you made any searches on Google in 2019 (and if you haven’t, it’s okay to come out from under the rock), you’ve likely noticed the Featured Snippets function. This gives about a paragraph that they feel best answers what the user is looking for. You may hear many SEOs call this “position zero,” as it shows up on top of any PPC Ads and before all of the other results.

A well-known SEO, Eli Schwartz told SearchEngineJournal, “Content will truly have to be written to user intent rather than just strings that a user might search,” He added, “Keyword research tools may even become less relevant with the primary dataset for content creation coming from suggested queries. In 2020, the smart SEOs will get up from their desks to talk to customers so they can find out what their audience wants from them.”

SEO Trend #2 – High-Quality Content

Although high-quality content isn’t a new trend for SEO, it will be a top SEO trend in 2020.

Without content, there is no Google. Without Google, most businesses would cease to exist. Well, not entirely, but that is how important Google is to most companies around the world.

The main word in this trend is “quality.” If you put up a blog that is remarkably similar to your competitor, but they put it up first and had better explanations and is optimized for the user better, your competitor will win. You don’t want to put up a blog for the sake of putting up a blog. Provide value. If possible, provide in-depth value. Give the user precisely what they are looking for, and you will be rewarded for it.

In addition to providing exceptional value, you’ll want to ensure that the articles you post to your blog are optimized for search engines, like Google, as well. This means having a solid structure for your website, as well as providing internal links. The internal links can lead the user to the exact spot they were looking for…or lead them to a conversion if your original content hit the spot!

SEO Trend #3 – Structured Data

If you work in internet marketing, you’re very familiar with structured data. However, if you’re a business owner and looking into SEO trends (we’re glad you’re here), this may seem nerdy. Indeed, it is nerdy, and we love it here at Stonefish Marketing!

This structured data is essentially a coding type of language that gives “hints” to Google on what the page is all about before it sends its digital spiders crawling around the website. Pardon the obvious, but it allows the data to be structured into a quick file for search engines to use. The most common structured data language, and the new standard for all websites, is called Schema.

Are you looking for an SEO expert to help your business?

If your growing business is looking for a team of SEO experts to work for you, contact us today! We would love to learn more about your business and your goals for 2020!