Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most effective ways for the attracting potential customers to your website. But here’s the thing, you need to use it in the right way. According to stats, there are estimated 3.5B searches on Google each day. But while only 0.78 percent of Google searchers click on results from the second page, the result in Google’s organic search result gets an average CTR of 31.7 percent.

SEO trends to leverage in 2021

To the higher rank and simply maintain your rankings, you need to keep modifying your SEO strategy in accordance with Google – as its algorithm evolves. Here is a breakdown of the most significant SEO and Google trends to inform which tools you use and strategies you prioritize for 2021.

Core Web Vitals as a Google ranking factor

In May 2020, Google announced three new metrics, called ‘Core Web Vitals’ to be used for measuring user experience – Loading, Interactivity, or Visual Stability. All three metrics are basically related of the one thing, and that is page speed: how fast does the page load, how soon it gets interactive, or how stable is it while loading.

Core web vitals will be among Google’s ranking factors in May 2021, meaning you will have to pay close attention them in order to appear on the first page. For instance, if there are two pages with equally relevant content, then user experience metrics will help search engine bots to decide which one should be ranked higher. Some small business of SEO strategies here:

Voice search

According to Google, a staggering 27 percent of the entire global population is using voice search on their mobile phones. Furthermore, ComScore reports that more than half of smart-phone users are engaging with voice search technology in 2020.

Now here’s a thing, most of the voice search queries are long-tail and very specific. Users look for specific answers to their queries when they use voice search. And such users are at the consideration stage of the funnel and are more likely to convert than the rest of the users. Since voice search optimization is still growing as more people are opting for it with the passing time, it is expected to continue trending in 2021 as well. So this can be a necessity in terms of SEO.

6. Artificial intelligence

Like most of the industries, AI is changing the SEO and marketing industry as well. The reason behind this impact of AI is the personalization that AI provides. And here’s a fact: Google utilizes AI to provide the searchers with results they are looking for.

But how can AI help with your SEO strategies?

 It takes years to understand the search engine algorithms used to rank web pages. And then creating strategies accordingly takes a lot of time. While SEO experts can help with such strategies, utilization of AI and machine learning can be a game-changer. It would be much more efficient and powerful in terms of decoding the algorithms and creating favorable strategies.

There are several companies like HubSpot, Frase, or MarketMuse that are providing AI-based solutions that can help the companies with their SEO efforts and in the coming years, such tools can become a major trend in the industry.

Video marketing

YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google with over 1 billion users. So even if you are not into videos, it’s high time to get started.But how to optimize that video content for search engines? Start with optimizing your video channel name and description. Though the description should not be overloaded with keywords but provide a user-friendly description of what your channel is all about.

Nevertheless, even keywords are important. For example, if you are optimizing your videos for YouTube, you can use YouTube’s auto-complete feature. Start typing your video’s topic or then some suggestions will pop-up in the search field. The suggestions are the related keywords that you can use for optimizing the video for reaching the right set of audience.

Featured Snippets

Featured snippets, and Position Zero, appear at the top of SERP in that a rectangular box.These snippets are not just useful for the searchers but also beneficial for websites.  Nevertheless, you cannot be able to select the content that is shown in the Featured Snippet for any given search; it’s the Google algorithm bots that do the job.

The exact method of getting your web page in the Featured Snippet is not clear. Marketers and SEO experts use a few strategies that might be helpful. For instance, to get in the featured results, you need to answer a specific question, and answering in bullet points (well-structured content) would be better.

 Influencer SEO

Influencers are the ones with millions of followers, and these followers may become your customers if you can get your business in front of them.

Such influencers earn the trust of your potential audience over years or if they come forward to support your brand, the ROI can be enormous. And about 89 percent of marketers believe that the ROI from influencer marketing is comparable to the better than other marketing methods. Nevertheless, you need to be quite specific while choosing influencers to supplement your SEO strategy. Not every influencer can help your brand. You need to choose the ones who have the right audience – the audience you want to target.

EAT & branded SEO

Google prefers content quality when it comes to rankings, but does the quality alone work. There comes the EAT principle – authoritativeness, expertise, and trustworthiness.

Brands are the future of SEO. SEO is shifting to branding and authority. The more popular and authentic your brand, the higher or much frequently you will rank on Google. And you will notice this in the upcoming months.

That’s why you should make efforts to establish your brand’s reputation. Give it a top priority in 2021 SEO strategy. Also, build brand awareness to increase brand search queries. Brand queries are a hidden ranking factor that will help you to rank higher and establish yourself as a trusted brand on Google.

If the working in ‘YMYL’ (Your Money Your Life) niche then this is even very important for you. Work on improving your EAT, as the Google’s itself says that it is very conscious of ranking YMYL sites or taking EAT seriously.  (EAT is not a direct ranking factor, but Google uses some algorithms that analyze EAT for sites). The Publishing your business on news media publications, complete well-described (including qualifications and recognitions) author profiles, address, details about founders or C-level, awards, proper contact details, etc. helps you to improve your website EAT. The SEO trends that you need to move towards in 2021. Keep these trends in mind and to continue driving relevant traffic to your website throughout this year or years to come.