6 SEO Marketing Trends in 2019 That Entrepreneurs Should Know About SEO marketing trends to help any business thrive in 2019.
By Scott McGovern •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Search engine algorithms are ever changing, which means that anyone with a website needs to stay up to date on today's SEO marketing trends. Not only is new technology changing the way humans search, but search engines crawlers are using different criteria to rank your website.
Implementing these SEO marketing trends will help any business stay competitive in 2019.
1. Consider search engines other than Google.
While Google is inarguably still king of search, don't forget about optimizing your content for Apple and Amazon's search engines.
Amazon is the most valuable public company on the planet. This means that anyone with a product to sell should conduct Amazon keyword research.
Similarly, Apple's App Store is increasingly important for driving traffic. Today, over 60 percent of online traffic comes from mobile. But 90 percent of the time people spend browsing on their phones occurs on apps. The future of mobile search could be the App store, not Google.
From a business' perspective, the increasing importance of the App store means understanding its unique organic search algorithms. These value factors like app click-through rate, engagement and whether keywords match search queries.
Related: 5 Tips for Choosing Your Next SEO Firm
2. Quality content is worth more than quantity.
One of the most important Google search algorithm updates in 2018 shifted the search engine's attention towards content quality. This trend will persist in 2019.
Though backlinks remain important, Google is getting more sophisticated when it comes to determining how good your website content is. Of course, the amount of content you produce is still important. But one of the most significant SEO marketing trends of 2019 is prioritizing quality more than ever before.
Specifically, this means writing long-form content and not misleading search engines or the consumer. In 2019, entrepreneurs should place special attention to on-page SEO. Increasingly sophisticated crawlers are paying special attention to user-friendly URLs, optimizing images, and internal structure and linking.
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3. Website speed affects UX and rankings.
Increasing website speed is one of the most important SEO marketing trends in 2019. Luckily, with all the SEO tools available on the market, it's easy to check just how fast your website is.
Speed is more important than ever thanks to Google's mobile-first index policy. Of course, website speed has always been an important aspect of user experience. Today, it's important for Google crawlers, too. Ideally, a website should take less than a second to load, which can be hard to accomplish without the assistance of a qualified SEO firm.
And the faster your website is, the higher Google will rank it.
4. Voice search is no longer a novelty.
With the rise of technology like Siri, Google Home and Alexa, voice search already represents 20 percent of total mobile search. It's predicted to reach 50 percent by 2020.
In other words, integrating voice-search optimized keywords is among the leading SEO marketing trends of this year. Voice search keywords are often shorter, more colloquial, and in the form of commands or questions.
Related: Why Do We Need Voice Search Optimization?
5. Don't dismiss linkless mentions.
As its name would suggest, a linkless mention is when your brand is referenced without a link being attached.
While backlinks are still an important factor used by search engines to determine content quality, linkless mentions are given more weight than ever before. This is partially due to the perception is that linkless mentions are more genuine, unlike black hat SEO techniques like paid links. Social media mentions are also playing an increasingly important role in evaluating website quality.
In a Google patent, the company even classifies "implied links" as a subset of a type of links.
6. Structured data is more important than ever.
Structured data is an overarching term for organizing website data. For example, information that you see included along with a website's meta description is structured data. The knowledge graph that appears on the right-hand side of Google is another type.
Its purpose is to make it easier and faster for search engines to crawl your website.
So whether you're including online reviews or more detail about your content, structured data is one of the top SEO marketing trends to help Google classify your information in 2019.
7. SEO marketing trends for Google and beyond.
Virtually every business in the world is competing for Google rankings. On top of that, Google regularly changes its algorithms and the technology we favor for search will continue to evolve.
The biggest takeaway for 2019 is that mobile is more important than ever. This has a ripple effect: Entrepreneurs must optimize their content for Apple's algorithms too, as well as follow Google's mobile updates that prioritize speed and structured data.
Not only that, but other tech giants like Amazon and devices that include voice search are changing what "optimization' means. But above all, a website's overarching goal should always be to appeal to its audience. The better your content is, the higher Google will rank it.
