1. TRAFFIC FIRST, LINKS SECOND
Links are not running the show anymore. There was a SEM Rush study that revealed direct traffic, bounce rate and page views are the three highest ranking factors. In addition, Google is striving to make links even less important to ranking well. That's why traffic will be my key performance indicator.
DIRECT WEBSITE TRAFFIC IS THE #1 RANKING FACTOR
2. ONE BLOG PER MONTH
Just one blog per month is an achievable target for a website that doesn't have that many resources. An approach like this can generates enough content to benefit your website from an SEO perspective (internal linking and organic traffic). It also makes it easier to focus on creating high quality content, which consistently performs better in search.
TIMP 60% OF BUSINESSES WHO BLOG ACQUIRE MORE CUSTOMERS
3. SCHEMA MARKUP EVERYWHERE
Google can be one smart cookie but it still struggles to make sense of what a webpage is actually about. This is where schema markup comes into play. It's a form of metadata added to a webpage that tells the algorithm what it is crawling and how to categorize it. Using schema has many benefits. Way back in 2017, Google launched an algorithm update that penalized websites without it.
A RICH SNIPPET RESULT INCREASED ORGANIC TRAFFIC TO THAT PAGE BY 138.95%
CLICK-THROUGH RATE IS KING
Google has been using metrics related to the relevancy of results (think bounce rate) as a ranking factor for quite some time. Now, there's more evidence than ever that generating more clicks on a result compared to competitors will result in higher rankings.
EVERY 3% INCREASE IN CLICK-THROUGH RATE IMPROVES A GIVEN ORGANIC POSITION BY ONE SPOT
BEST SEO TOOL: A THESAURUS
The days of having to worry about just one keyword are over. Now, keyword targeting requires an in-depth knowledge of synonyms and related industry terms. This year, I'll be keeping my thesaurus bookmarked for just that reason.
AROUND 2% OF ANY ARTICLE SHOULD BE MADE UP OF KEYWORD SYNONYMS
MOBILE-FIRST WILL BE TOP OF MIND
Mobile traffic, already an important aspect of SEO, is the next big thing. With the launch of the mobile first index and the continued growth of mobile traffic, all SEOs will need to keep their websites and strategies mobile-first.
52% OF ALL GLOBAL WEB TRAFFIC WAS ON A MOBILE DEVICE
