As technology continues to evolve, so does the field of search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a critical aspect of any successful digital marketing strategy, and staying up-to-date on the latest trends and predictions is crucial for businesses to stay ahead of the game.
In this article, we will explore the top 8 SEO predictions for 2024, based on current industry trends and expert analysis.
From voice search optimization to the continued rise of video content, these predictions offer valuable insights for businesses looking to enhance their SEO efforts and stay competitive in the rapidly-changing digital landscape.
1. E-E-A-T
The term EAT has been present in the Google Quality Rater Guidelines for some time, and a recent update has expanded it to EEAT. This expansion reflects Google’s recognition of the importance of accuracy, honesty, safety, and reliability in information.
The additional letters in EEAT stand for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, which are critical components for content to be considered of high quality. As synthetic content becomes more prevalent, Google will increase its scrutiny of content quality, potentially impacting the performance of language models.
In 2024, brand equity will become increasingly significant, while performance marketing, social media, online advertising, and TikTok videos may lose influence. There is even a possibility of TikTok being banned in the US.
The rise of AI-generated content can diminish the value of search results, making strong brand identity and the use of structured data more essential for success. Implementing error-free structured data can guide crawlers, enhance brand authority, and support eCommerce endeavors, especially when using sophisticated product and review markup.
Brands should prioritize creating connected data by linking data sources, identifiers, and external citations for increased profit. To succeed, businesses must focus on building their authority, creating a strong structured data strategy, adhering to Google’s content quality guidelines, and establishing an off-site structured linked data plan to enhance link-building.
2. AI CONTENT
The realm of website content is on the brink of significant advancement. In recent years, there has been notable progress in AI-powered content generation, and we anticipate a growing number of websites will adopt AI-created content.
This is beneficial for website owners because AI can produce content that is more effective than ever before. With AI-generated content, websites can be confident that their content is current, precise, and captivating. AI can analyze data to customize content to meet the needs of its audience.
AI-powered content can also save time and resources, as it can be produced with minimal effort and speed. While content creators may find the prospect of relying on AI daunting, the truth is that with human input and editing, AI can create flawless content.
AI-generated content can enhance SEO ranking in various ways:
Freshness: AI can swiftly generate new content, enabling websites to update their pages frequently with current information that can enhance their SEO ranking.
Relevance: AI can scrutinize data to identify popular topics and keywords that are relevant to users, thus enhancing the content’s relevance for search engines and users.
Optimization: AI can analyze content and optimize it for SEO by incorporating pertinent keywords, meta tags, and other optimization techniques.
Automation: AI can proceed with automated content creation, allowing websites to create high-quality content at scale and compete with larger websites.
Personalization: AI can personalize content for users, improving engagement and user experience.
It’s important to note that AI-generated content should still be reviewed by human editors to ensure its quality and accuracy and meet user needs and expectations.
3. Using a mobile-first strategy in SEO
According to a recent report from Statista, in February 2022, mobile devices made up an enormous 55% of Australia’s total internet traffic.
This demonstrates that employing a mobile-first approach to SEO is now a necessity rather than a choice. Search engines such as Google have recognized this trend and are now prioritizing mobile-first indexing. This implies that they will rely heavily on your website’s mobile version to determine your search ranking position.
If your website is not optimized for mobile devices in 2024, it will be at a disadvantage. Your search engine rankings will suffer, your visibility will decrease, and you will miss out on the traffic and conversions that come with ranking high in search results.
So, what can you do to adapt to mobile-first indexing in 2024? To ensure that your website remains competitive, here are some essential SEO steps you should take:
- Use a responsive design that adapts to all screen sizes to optimize your website for various devices.
- Ensure that the content on your mobile site is easily readable and accessible across all devices, even on small screens such as those smartphones and tablets.
- Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for quicker loading times.
- Optimize your images, videos, and other types of media for mobile devices.
- Keep your page loading times to a minimum by optimizing your code and minimizing files as much as possible.
4. Voice Search Optimization
The popularity of voice search technology, such as Google Voice Search, is on the rise. According to a survey, approximately 112 million US adults use voice-operated assistants to perform search queries by simply speaking into their device’s microphone.
This technology is not new and has been in development since at least 2008. It is part of a larger trend towards more conversational user experiences.
Voice search is becoming increasingly important for local search optimization, with interfaces like Siri, Cortana, and Alexa leading the way. To reach your target audience, you must consider both the medium and the content of the query.
Voice search technology is powered by natural language processing (NLP), which helps Google learn how to interpret conversational queries instead of typed searches. For example, while a user might type “best guitar music shop” into a search bar, they would say something like “Which is the best guitar and music shop?” when speaking.
Market Research Future predicts that the global voice assistant market will reach 30.74 billion dollars by 2030. As consumers increasingly purchase smart devices and speakers that use speech/voice recognition and natural language processing, the importance of voice SEO cannot be ignored.
Fortunately, several strategies can boost SEO across different approaches. These tactics include optimizing for local search, as many voice search users are searching for local businesses. It is crucial that you take control of your Google My Business listing.
Additionally, using featured snippets, which provide concise answers to vocal queries, can be effective, as 40% of search results come from snippets.
Using conversational content and building quality, long-form content is also crucial. Finally, incorporating schema markups can provide better context to Google Voice indexing through structured data.
5. Google will lessen how often it crawls and indexes
Google’s recent changes in crawling and indexing frequency can be a game-changer for webmasters, as it can save search engines significant resources by reducing the number of times they crawl a website.
This can help save time and money for website owners, as search engines will not need to crawl their websites as often. Additionally, this change can make it easier for search engines to find relevant content since it reduces the need to crawl the entire website to identify important pages.
This change can have a significant impact on website owners by making it easier for their content to be indexed and ranked, potentially leading to more organic traffic and increased success. Google may decrease crawling and indexing frequency for various reasons, such as poor website quality, high server load, duplicate content, or limited crawl budget.
It’s important to note that reducing crawling and indexing frequency may not necessarily impact a website’s ranking, but it can affect the speed of updates to its search ranking. Webmasters can improve their website’s quality and optimize their servers to prevent reduced crawling and indexing frequency.
Overall, this change by Google is exciting and should be taken advantage of by webmasters.
6. Prioritizing Core Web Vitals is essential
For those working in SEO, understanding the significance of Core Web Vitals is crucial. These metrics provide Google with valuable insights into the user experience on your website.
The four main metrics are First Contentful Paint (FCP), First Input Delay (FID), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). To incorporate Core Web Vitals into your 2024 SEO strategy, you can use Google Page Speed Insights to measure how your web pages perform for each metric.
This tool will not only evaluate performance but also provide suggestions on how to improve loading speed and visual stability. Regular monitoring of Core Web Vitals is essential to continually enhance the user experience and prevent any degradation in site performance.
7. Image Optimization
Optimizing images has always been crucial for delivering quality content to internet users. According to Moz, Image Search accounts for around 20% of all Google searches. However, the importance of image SEO has been difficult to determine.
For 2024, image optimization best practices should include auditing as part of your content strategy. Properly labeling and tagging images is a well-known best practice for modern webmasters.
To improve the inclusivity and accessibility of your content, it’s important to use filenames, captions, and alt-text. This type of image enrichment can also help you target keywords and attract traffic from the image SERPs.
Using original images isn’t always necessary; it’s worth paying for impressions or using royalty-free options as Google doesn’t worry about duplicates. In many cases, source images appear higher in search results than the original image.
8. Google Shopping is undergoing expansion
As COVID-19 restrictions ease, offline shopping is increasing. Google is combining its e-commerce tools, including Merchant Center, Products, and Google Shopping, into a single space, and expanding its shopping features.
Google is now an e-commerce aggregator, offering product information and reviews but not selling goods directly. This trend suggests that e-commerce sites should consider adding Google Shopping services to their sites to appear in the “where to buy” section.
The advantage is that businesses can easily compare their pricing strategy with competitors, but the downside is that Google Shopping may take a significant portion of clicks from e-commerce sites and disrupt marketing funnels.
Adding Google Shopping features may help e-commerce sites win back clicks from organic results and compete with other businesses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the world of SEO is constantly evolving, and keeping up with the latest trends and predictions is essential to staying ahead of the game.
From the increasing importance of voice search and mobile optimization to the continued rise of AI and machine learning, businesses need to adapt their SEO strategies to meet the changing needs of consumers and search engines.
By implementing these top 8 SEO predictions for 2024, businesses can gain a competitive edge, increase their online visibility, and drive more traffic to their websites. The key is to remain flexible and agile, continually monitoring and adjusting strategies as needed to keep up with the ever-changing SEO landscape.
English
English
French
German
Russian
Spanish