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Website optimization - latest trends

SEO

Each year that passes, search engines develop new rules and algorithms hoping to combat spam links and those trying to exploit the system.

They are the rules set by the giants Google and Bing and usually emulated by the smaller players in the industry. And they mean every webmaster must keep up to date with the constantly changing SEO world in order to help customers achieve their search based targets.

  1. Make the most of accelerated mobile pages (AMP)

More responsive pages are essential for reducing bounce rates and have been the primary force in Google’s SEO strategy for 2016.
Perhaps the most practical solution they devised is AMP integration by webmasters.

It should be noted AMPs are open-source protocols allowing pages to instantaneously load on mobile browsers. AMP is a marvel in the SEO community because of it allowing user to load pages instantly but with a reduced data rate. Average webpages use eight times the data of an AMP when they are loading content.

This year, this trend is likely to grow, and you should take advantage of it in providing more responsive pages to your users.

  1. The growing presence of artificial intelligence (AI)

Google’s search algorithms were boosted towards the end of 2016. The boost served the purpose to integrate machine learning with search algorithms with the goal of making them more intelligent.

Google’s RankBrain is predicted to make searching smarter and provide only the most relevant information to users. This effectively means website owners and webmasters must focus on being unique in the area they operate in to combat theincreasing use of AI in search.

The opportunities to con the system with “black hat” SEO ploys are likely to be even less effective this year. This means your content resolution post New Year should be focused on taglines, writing dense articles, and on making an impact with the information you post.

  1. The emergence of user-experience optimization

The internet’s evolution which is signified by the term Web 3.0, is gradually becoming stock-standard for all platforms reliant on the internet. As part of this user experience has begun to become the leading factor. Websites are now more focused on user friendly platforms and, in turn, search engines are taking note. Google and Bing have increased the need for a greater user experience by integrating experiences to help websites rank higher and webmasters must take advantage of this.

For the past two years search engines have favored web pages that are well-designed and get people to spend some time viewing their content. This means the responsibility to increase user experience and ease of access to your site is yours. In order to do this, you should aim to design landing pages that are more user-friendly, make use of infographics in blog posts and simplify the navigation process of your website.

  1. Personal branding is crucial

Claiming a place in a crowded space is difficult anywhere including across the internet. Because of this Google has focused on sites that creatively push their brands.

One of the best techniques for this is the use of URLs that are branded to carve a unique position for your business on the web.

There are many advantages to having URLs that are personally branded, however the most important thing is they it help a website rank highly in Google’s search algorithm and will greatly advance your efforts with SEO.

  1. Integrate short branded links

Among the most important key performance indicators search engines consider when they rank web pages is ‘iteration’. In SEO terms, Iteration means the more a piece of content is read and shared across the web, and how credible and unique the information it contains is. By far the best way to have your content shared is by using ‘short branded links’.

This new type of link format is being used by numerous Fortune 500 companies such as The New York Times (nyti.ms) and Pepsi (pep.si) to market their respective brands on the internet and it is paying off for them. Research illustrates using branded links increases click through rates by up to 35%. They are also useful on social media platforms that limit the number of characters you can post.

  1. Conclusion

These five trends should be integrated into your 2017 SEO strategy interchangeably. So do not get stuck on trying to understand which of them you will implement, but instead try to implement multiple techniques for ensuring your website enjoys better visibility.