An Overview of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Changes In 2017
The SEO industry is always going through a lot of changes to accommodate the current optimization needs of the business firms. The algorithms of Google get frequently updated which calls for new SEO strategies and with the introduction of new technologies and layout changes, the business houses looking to boost their online visibility on search engines are required to implement enhanced methods that can take their enterprises to higher levels of success. Like the previous years, there have been numerous new SEO trends and changes that were observed in 2017. The changes and new trends have not only helped business firms to enjoy better online rankings but they have also improved the overall user experience of the online visitors.
Let’s have a look at some of the dominant SEO trends of the year 2017.
- Mobile optimization has taken precedence over desktop optimization more than ever in 2017. In 2016, Google declared its intensions of coming up with a mobile first indexing strategy that is going to improve user experience for people who love to access from their mobile phones. This year, Google has actively rewarded websites that are optimized effectively for mobile users. Google has also introduced mobile-centric features like AMPs or accelerated mobile pages that are designed particularly to load quickly on all mobile devices. It has been noticed that websites that are developed for mobile audience have enjoyed greater online traffic and conversion results.
- In 2017, there were only a few minimally impactful changes in Google’s algorithm which is unlike the previous years where we can observe multiple major updates. In February 2017, an important unnamed update was launched which led to a critical phase of ranking volatility. This was followed by an unconfirmed update known as “Fred,” in the month of March. Nevertheless, none of these changes were anything major and overall the algorithm has remained more or less unchanged. The updates so far this year have been minimally invasive and they have unfolded in a gradual manner.
- There has been a major surge of use in IoT or Internet of Things and voice search. Numerous systems and applications that make use of smart speaker have become increasingly popular. Some of these include Amazon Echo and Google Home. Alongside these, digital assistants such as Google Now, Siri and Cortana are completely changing the way people search for things online. Users now love devices that can understand and carry out commands by interpreting speech patterns. While IoT has been rather slow to attain mainstream popularity, most users have started loving what smart speakers can do for them.
- With an aim to make searing for queries even easier for the people, Google has come up with the concept of related questions that appear after a user has searched for literally anything at all. The machine learning algorithms used by Google are analyzing and studying consumer behaviors and coming up with questions or queries that are related to a particular search query. This has made it even more convenient for the users to look for the things that they want online. Whether it is a particular form of information or a product or service, people can now benefit from fast and easy searching that has been facilitated by related questions.
- While at one point of time keyword research mainly focused on the basic text included in content, in 2017 there has been a surge of algorithms that focus on the context of the content. Therefore it has now become important to create high quality content that deal with the specific nature or topic that the visitors find useful for their needs.