SEO is constantly changing each year and 2020 is no different. Online businesses and brick and mortars that want more conversions need to take advantage of their positions in the search rankings. However, when things are always on the move, how do you keep up?
Luckily, while the change is non-stop, it’s also fairly gradual. To take advantage of SEO in the year 2020, there are a few tools you should have in your arsenal. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s SEO updates.
Page speed is more important than ever.
Customers want information and they want it fast. A good amount of consumer psychology is invested in determining why this rapid mentality developed. Largely, smartphones are to blame — or to thank, depending on your perspective. This need for speed has dramatically impacted how SEO experts navigate mobile optimization and website performance.
Start by compressing and downsizing rich media. This can speed up page load dramatically. Next, look at your CMS’s backend. Do you have any plugins that could be the culprit for sluggish speeds? Last, run a full site audit. This can help you spot any glaring errors.
Quality content is a major factor.
If your site isn’t getting enough high-quality editorial backlinks as a result of superior content, you need to go back to the drawing board. Editorial backlinks are a sign of truly shareable content that can greatly impact prospective customers. Plus, Google and its search companions assess a site’s backlink profile to determine its trustworthiness as well as its ranking potential.
To up your content game, look at what your competitors are doing and find ways to improve upon it. However, do avoid rehashing articles in a way that doesn’t add value.
Optimize your robots.txt file.
The robots.txt file is essentially a document that tells search engines how to crawl your website. Unfortunately, a lot of newer site owners and entrepreneurs make the mistake of “disallowing” this file. By setting the robots.txt to “disallow,” you’re essentially telling search engines “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t want my site indexed.” You can see how this might be a problem.
Go through your robots.txt file, make sure it’s set to “allow,” and also ensure that it is accurate. An inaccurate file will just cause more issues down the road.
Partner with an SEO agency.
Investing your time and resources into managing a strong digital marketing campaign is always important but there are times when it’s better to take a step back and let the pros work their magic. From creating quality backlink campaigns to helping you learn how to best optimize content for the first page of Google, SEO agencies like Link Laboratory — found at linklaboratory.com — are known for offering businesses top-tier services at a price the competition can’t match.
This way, you can stay on top of some of the latest SEO developments without struggling to make sure that your website and content are able to keep up. Plus, if you’ve ever read a Google algorithm update article, you’ll know just how confusing it can get.
Rethink your site’s security and encryption.
If you don’t have an SSL certificate on your site or any other form of encryption to protect consumer information, the search engines will notice. Security is paramount in the modern age. For online businesses that are in the e-commerce space, this is particularly critical as their site may be handling customer financial information.
Purchasing — and maintaining — an encryption and security certificate is incredibly important. If you’re not sure how to do so, an SEO expert can help.
While there are other prominent ranking factors, these ones are perhaps the most important in 2020. To take down the competition and showcase your business online, your go-to tool should be the power of SEO.