Millions of people log onto the Internet every day. They are often in search of products and services to buy. The largest percentage of these simply enters the name of what they want in the search box of a search engine. They then get results that indicate the websites that can provide them with what they want.
Most people who perform these searches click on the first few links that emerge. Almost none of them ever go to the second page of results. Thus, for a company looking to stay afloat, it is very important that your company website emerges on the first page and ranks high on it too.
To ensure that your business website is on the first page of search engine results, you can perform Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) on it.
SEO refers to any activity that you can conduct so as to promote the rankings of your website in the search engine results. The most used search engine in the world is Google. This search engine has bots that investigate the content as well as number of quality links from other websites to your website.
There are many SEO activities that you can perform so as to improve the ranking of your website.
Here are 5 trends of SEO to look out for in 2016. They include;
- Optimize your business website for mobile devices
- Focus on SEO for your local area
- Increase the security of your business website
- Be ready to pay for advertisement on local maps
- Focus more on quality content than link building
1. Optimize your business website for mobile devices
Every single year, the SEO technicians keep advising webmasters to optimize for mobile. Well, this is still a trend in 2016. More people use mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to gain access to the Internet more than they use laptops of desktop computers.
As a matter of fact, Google made a statement that more people perform searches on it using mobile devices than using computers. The company made the statement in May of 2015. This is a clear indication that webmasters should optimize their websites for mobile devices.
Mobile optimization makes the website load faster on the mobile devices. In addition to that, the websites are able to adapt such that they show their content clearly in the smaller screens of the mobile devices. By adapting the websites in this way, webmasters can capture mobile traffic and keep it. This increases the chances of converting visitors into repeat customers.
2. Focus on SEO for your local area
This is an observation that search engines have made, for example, Google. As such, new algorithms are being developed that will allow local businesses to be unique and clearly visible in the search results. As such, webmasters should utilize SEO strategies that promote the ranking of their business websites when searches are made by local users.
Some search engines have special facilities for local businesses, for example, Google. Thanks to these facilities, you can easily get a profile that guides you to know how to develop your business website such that it ranks high in searches done in your area.
It is also very helpful to get information about your business website on Internet platforms, such as Moz Local and SubmitEaze. By uploading your business information to these forums, it can spread easier and promote your site’s ranking too.
3. Increase the security of your business website
The most visible sign of a secure website is a HTTPS in the website’s Universal Resource Locator (URL). Right after the announcement, the company indicated that this characteristic would not carry as much weight as other characteristics that they check. This was so that webmasters can have time to increase website security. Thus, in 2016 a website should be secure so as to rank high in the search results.
4. Be ready to pay for advertisement on local maps
For now, a website can rank high and appear in the local maps due to effective SEO strategies. However, from 2016 webmasters will have to pay for this to happen. Appearing in local maps is a great way to make your presence known in your area. In 2015, Google made some changes to the local maps such that a business can now pay to appear there.
5. Focus more on quality content than link building
One of the ways in which webmasters have been promoting the SEO of their websites is by performing link building. They construct a network of high quality links that lead back to their business website. This causes the search engine to regard the website as a good reference and rank it higher in the results.
In 2016, link building will be overtaken by quality content in determining the quality of a website. Quality content is website copy that not only attracts a visitor but also educates them and helps them to solve a particular problem. Search engines are focusing more on this factor than link building. As such, webmasters should adapt their websites accordingly.
Conclusion
If a business website has received quality and strategic SEO, it is ranked higher in the search results. This works to increase the chances of Internet users clicking on its website in search of a product or service. This increases the chances of the business converting one of the visitors into a customer and eventually boosting revenue.