How has SEO changed in the last five years?

Oct 12
12:00

2016

ramas

ramas

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Find out how has SEO changed in the last five years. Explore the nature of advancements, its impact and how these advancements are adding a new dimension to the world of SEO.

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SEO off late has emerged as a digital marketing technique that has witnessed series of updates in constant intervals. Most specifically,How has SEO changed in the last five years? Articles during the last two to three years' updates/advancements are much rapid rather than on the expected lines.

Below, we highlight the advancements of SEO during the last five years.

The Emergence of Local SEO

Local SEO is the latest and popular of all advancements effected by Google over the years. The main objective of Local SEO is to enable Google let know about your location and your offerings. This, in turn, will increase the prospects of your business being shown up to the relevant target audience, most specifically to people who are within the vicinity of your business establishment. With the launch of Pigeon update, Google is giving extra emphasis for local SEO.

Hence businesses should incorporate location-specific keywords into the content and optimize it so as to suit the preferences of the target audience. Below we say, why local SEO is rocking?

  • Local SEO has prompted 50% of the mobile visitors to visit your business establishment within a day or two from the day of searching.
  • 50% of the mobile searches are done with an objective to figure out local results.

Through local SEO, consumer-brand engagement can be strengthened, and the effect of which positive reviews can be garnered for the business. This will simultaneously increase the rankings of the business in Google search rankings.

Adding videos

Gone are the days when google attached much credence to text-only content. As of today, Google accords priority to blended searches and results i.e. in short search results that stock the maximum information. Five years down the line, it is impossible to increase the search engine ranking position in google through videos, whereas now, since Google attaches weight to videos, SERP’s can be improved with relevant video content. It is said that 62% of the Google searches are of videos. Research findings of an independent agency state that videos command increased organic page rank compared to static text results. Perhaps, video searches solicit 41% increased click-through rate against static text content. Since mobile searches contribute to the maximum, incorporating videos can work wonders.

Google has incorporated a mechanism wherein it can index your video content in response to specific keywords when entered in the search query.

The era of Mobile optimization

The foremost yet critical factor for modern SEO is mobile optimization. A website need ought to be mobile-friendly in order to rank in Google. Given the fact that, audience use different kinds of devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptop optimizing the web page is extremely crucial. According to SEO experts, the number of mobile searches has witnessed an increase of 43% on year-over-year basis. As a sign of showing its utmost importance for mobile optimization, Google’s algorithm has been updated in such a manner that only mobile-friendly websites can get a search ranking boost. It is said that 95% of the smartphone users used google to extract local information and almost 70% of the mobile searches resulted in immediate action.

Aggregating the content

In tune with its objective to deliver the best of search experience by showcasing the most appropriate and precise search results, Google has started displaying knowledge graphs, local maps, wiki information, news, images and videos associated with the business. Content aggregation is nothing but collating, consolidating, and displaying content according to a pre-defined criterion that is poised to appeal the target audience. By doing so, website authority can be enhanced. While aggregating content, ensure that the content is sourced from high-quality sources.

Voice Search

Voice search has become a big hit among google users, especially amongst people who are on the go. For people who are multi-tasking, voice search is the best way to run a search query. Voice search feature is almost available across all mobile devices. The outcome of a study performed by Google indicates that voice search is mainly used for asking directions while driving or while commuting through different means.

Businesses contemplating to utilize the services of a professional SEO agency should verify the ability of the SEO company in terms of its expertise.