Domain Authority won’t be just about links
next year.
While the quality of the endorsement received by an external link still has
some relevance, the level of expertise, authority and trust awarded to your
site is just as crucial.
Although these three factors have been part of
Google SEO’s
guidelines for several years, Google seems to be emphasizing being a
“reliable source” as a key ranking factor even more than before.
Voice search will only continue to grow in
importance.
Don’t get me wrong. People will not start buying cars via voice in 2020; but
that doesn’t mean we should discount how important this particular type of
search has become.
Most voice searches are question-based; so, Google will often look for a result
that has both the question and the answer.
When was the last time you dusted off your FAQ page, or wrote a blog post
worthy of a featured snippet? Refreshing these types of content could earn you
much more traction in voice search.
Search intent will remain a big part of the
conversation.
This was a hot topic this year, and it isn’t going away next year. If
you’re still in the mindset that you need to stuff tons of keywords and
locations into your website, you’re going to get left in the dust.
When doing keyword research you MUST consider the intent behind the query.
If it’s a short-tail search, like “Ford Focus,” it’s probably a quest
for information.
If it’s a long-tail search, like “Ford Focus for Sale City, ST,” it
probably means that the searcher is ready to buy.
Understanding which keywords to use on which pages will be very important to
earning search visibility next year and beyond.
Click through rates will continue to decrease.
Google has begun filling the search results with more than just little blue
links.
Between image carousels, featured snippets, ads and more; it’s no wonder why
it’s harder and harder to get a click on your site.
To stay competitive you’ll need to find new ways to stand out in search; and
things like your meta descriptions and keywords in your URLs will only become
more essential.
Backlinks and content will remain your
foundation.
You know what they say: the more things change, the more they stay the same;
and that could not be truer about your backlink profile.
Without backlinks you won’t even make it to page one of Google; and without
good content worth linking to you’re not giving yourself much to work with.
Foundational elements such as these are hyper-critical to sustained success.
That’s all the time we have left for today’s workshop.
As always, if you have questions or comments, leave them down below and we’ll
get back to you shortly.