SEO can be used to increase brand visibility, improve website rankings, and drive organic traffic to websites. Here are the latest and greatest SEO trends, along with tips to help your business soar.
1. Mobile optimisation
More and more people are using their mobile devices to surf the web, so SMEs need mobile-friendly websites. Google uses a mobile-first algorithm, so if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ll struggle with achieving a high ranking.
Tips for mobile-optimising your site:
- Get a responsive design: A responsive design automatically adjusts the layout of your website to fit the device you’re using to view it. Whether it’s a desktop, tablet, or smartphone, your website will look great on any device.
- Improve image loading: Large images can slow down your website’s loading speed on mobile. If you want your website to be mobile-friendly, compress your images without sacrificing quality, reduce their file size, and scale them down.
- Don’t clutter your design: A cluttered design can be frustrating for users on a smaller screen. Use a clean layout, big fonts, and clear navigation to make your website mobile-friendly.
- Use mobile-friendly plugins: Make your website mobile-friendly by using mobile-friendly plugins for content management systems like WordPress.
- Test your website on mobile devices: Make sure your site works and looks good on various mobile devices before launching. Check your website’s mobile-friendliness with tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to fix any issues.
2. Voice search optimisation
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular and your business needs to ensure your website is optimised for it. This includes using long-tail keywords that are more conversational in nature [link words to voice search article] as well as providing quick and concise answers to common questions.
3. Artificial intelligence and machine learning
AI and machine learning technologies are becoming increasingly critical for SEO. You should explore how these technologies can be used to improve your SEO efforts, such as using AI to generate keywords and improve website content. AI is a friend, not a foe.
4. Local search optimisation
Local search is becoming increasingly relevant for SMEs, especially with the rise of voice search. Ensure that your website is optimised for local search by claiming your Google My Business listing and using location-based keywords in their content.
5. Content marketing
Content marketing remains one of the most critical components of SEO. Creating high-quality, relevant, and engaging content that provides value to your target audience will help you attract and retain customers.
5 simple tips for easy content creation:
- Create content that can be reused multiple times by using templates. Create templates for blog posts or social media updates that you can fill in with new information every time.
- Turn blog posts into infographics, videos, or social media posts. You can get more mileage out of the same content this way.
- You can make your content more engaging and shareable by using images, videos, and infographics. Easy-to-consume visuals make your message easier to understand.
- Create content that solves customer problems. As a result, you’ll build trust and credibility with your audience.
- Engage your audience and promote your content on social media. Using social media is a cost-effective way to reach a lot of people and drive traffic to your website.
- Be consistent. Regardless of what content you choose to create and share, keep it up. Nothing is effective if you only do it once. Consistency wins every time.
6. Link building
Building high-quality links from reputable sources is still a big part of SEO. You can do this by reaching out to other businesses and websites in your niche and giving them valuable content.
7. User experience
Your website needs to provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience for SEO. Design should be clean and simple, loading times should be fast, and navigation should be easy.
8. E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
You can establish credibility and authority in your industry by focusing on Google’s E-A-T guidelines for SEO. It’s getting more and more difficult to stand out in an increasingly crowded and competitive online marketplace. Create high-quality content that shows your expertise and authority to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
It’s easier to compete with bigger, more established companies with more resources and brand recognition if you follow the E-A-T guidelines. Create high-quality content that shows expertise and authority to level the playing field and build a strong online reputation. By doing this, you can attract more customers, build brand loyalty, and drive more revenue.
9. Video optimisation
Optimizing videos for search engines is getting more and more important. The title, description, and tags of the videos should be accurate, and the videos should be embedded in relevant content so they can be found.
If you focus on these nine essential SEO tips for SMEs, you can ensure that your business is miles ahead of the competition.
