For as long as there are search engines, there will be SEO. But as we all know by now, SEO is constantly evolving. Techniques that were “trendy” years ago will not be as useful today simply because the way people search is always changing.
SEO today is all about understanding the searcher. This trend will continue as search engines strive to find ways to better serve users by anticipating the reasons behind their searches.
As SEO evolves, here are some important areas you need to focus on.
Question Answering
In the old days, SEO was focused on targeting keywords. However, that has changed. Thanks to the advent of smartphones and other similar gadgets, our way for searching things has changed.
This is why question answering has become important. For example, many people search “how to change flat tire” instead of just typing flat tire changing. The question answering way of searching for something means that SEO needs to go beyond targeting keywords and focus on targeting questions that searchers are asking.
This means that we have to develop and optimize content that directly answers their questions.
Local SEO
There is nothing new about optimizing for local SEO but it is always neglected which is why we need to mention it often. Needless to say local SEO is here to stay.
Focusing on local SEO makes a lot of sense. Most of us shop for things that are located locally because it is convenient and easy. The same thing is true when searching for restaurants, entertainment and services. For instance, when we are looking for barbers or flower shops most of us want a shop that is near us.
So even though it feels like the word is a global community, most of us want goods and services that are located nearby.
Search Intent
Search intent is another neglected aspect of SEO mainly because we are focused on targeting search volumes when looking for keywords to rank for. However, we should also understand the intent of those keywords and phrases.
The reason for this goes back to our first factor: answering questions. The future of SEO is about honing in on who the searchers are, what they are looking for and why they want to know. This is how you can deliver valuable optimized content.
Wrap Up
SEO is not a statistic or a metric. The best way to keep your website optimized and deliver quality content is by paying attention to the evolution of search engines and searchers.
