As 2015 comes to a close and 2016 looms ever closer, it’s time for digital marketing specialists to look at how search engine optimization is going to change over the next year. While SEO trends can’t be predicted with total certainty, the best way to ensure that your SEO services aren’t derailed is to have an idea about which trends will likely fade away and which trends will become more prominent.
So with that in mind, let’s take a quick look at how SEO is likely to change throughout 2016:
- This year was the very first year that mobile searches became more prominent than desktop searches, and it’s likely that mobile search will only become bigger in the coming year. This means that mobile web design and responsive web design will be even important, that online paid advertising will have to adapt to mobile device users, and that heading tags are used more often in content to make webpages more readable on small screens.
- Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is something that you may have already heard about recently. It refers to the process of getting the most number of visitors to “convert,” whatever that might mean for your business and website, and then being able to track these conversions. CRO relies heavily on web tracking and Google Analytics features, and as far as website design goes, it emphasizes usability over all else.
- Since mobile device users are searching more on smartphones and tablets, it only makes sense that they’d be using apps too — and this is another trend you’ll see in 2016. App store optimization, or ASO, focuses not only on in-app advertising but also search engine optimization strategies that will propel an app to the top of an App Store list above its competitors.
- Local search is another facet of search engine optimization that continues to grow, especially because mobile device users seek local search results more than anything else on the web. Optimizing for local searches is something that many businesses already do, and it should continue to be prioritized.
Now the real question is, is your search engine optimization plan ready for the coming year?
