SEO is a vital part of strategy for any digital marketer or website owner. This is a very important aspect and will remain to continue even in the year 2020.

However, the strategies that would be dominant in year 2020 are as follows:

1. List of the topics

Keywords are very important for any SEO strategy. However they are not the most important things rather you need to have a list of topics for the first month up to the next month. This can be done by making a list of 10 short words and terms that are related to the product you are dealing in. Google’s keyword tool could be of immense use to help in finding the search volume and create variations that can be associated to your business. The words can be used to create short tail keywords, which would further help ion creating long tail keywords. The short tail keywords are thus called pillars as it serves the base for larger “cluster” of long-tail keywords.

2. Long-tail keywords based on topics

For each pillar that has been observed, it is important to create a long-tail keyword. There needs to be 10 different long-tail keyword that are organically used in the topic so as to get better higher ranking. The content can thus be created by keyword research, optimized images, creation of SEO strategy and other smaller topic or paragraphs in the SEO.

3. Unique page for each topic

For each pillar topic that has been created as per point one, create a web page for each of the outline at high level. Thus for each pillar topic there is a page but then it should be for a specific product or service or location that you are offering. Each web page needs to consist images and links to pages so as to enhance the user experience.

4. Start a blog

To engage your users in 2020 and to get significant rank in  keyword it is crucial to have blog post. Each blog post is web page that gives you a chance to rank higher in the SERPs. Here you will put up detailed information on each of the product, service or location and attract more and more of traffic and presence on Google.

5. Put more blogs each week for enhanced page authority

Blogging is for audience and it portray information about your line of products or services. Therefore, blogging every week will attract the users in search of information. The blog should have content that can keep the audience hooked. With the information in a very subtle way just pass on the information.

6. Create a link-building plan

Link building is a way to focus on the off-page SEO. Link building or getting backlinks to website from other pages is also a great way to get better rank on the SERPs.  Connect with the ones in the same line or associated and in their blog add a backlink that is associated with their product but lead to your webpage.

7. Compress the media before putting it on the website

As your web site grows it will have more of images and content and storing all be difficult. The larger files are not easy to access and with compressing you can make your website easily accessible and responsive. Usual practice is to keep the file in kilobyte for improving its speed and accessibility.

Create an Excel or Google sheet to check the web page analytics and thereby with this, you can monitor the organic traffic that comes to your page and how and where you need to focus for a better improvement in future.

SEO and Algorithm Updates

Google’s SERP improvement saga began in 2003 with the Florida update. Ever since then, Google has pushed out several algorithmic improvements that have contributed to the brand’s ascension. However, Google isn’t always informative about the nature of the changes that these updates cause. Thus, SEO experts spend hours trying to figure out the optimizations needed to recover from potential dips and losses in website traffic and ranking. Over the years, key updates like Fred, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Payday, Rankbrain, Panda, and more have shaped the direction that SEO campaigns have took. 2020 is no different. Thus, an overhaul of 2019’s crucial Google algorithm updates is integral to creating the best possible SEO campaigns in this new decade.

The B.E.R.T Update (October 25, 2019)

In the words of Google’s executives, the BERT Update is the biggest thing to have hit the search engine since 2015. The acronym stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representation for Transformers. Well, that’s a bit of a mouthful, to say the least. Nonetheless, this update will help google identify 1 out of 10 queries that have no search history. More precisely, BERT will target unknown queries that require natural language processing. The relevancy of search results, as well as featured snippets, will be greatly impacted by this update. As SEO experts, you can tackle BERT with only one tactic. The key is to create natural content that caters to the needs of an audience. Avoid keyword stuffing, or using bot-written content. As of now, BERT is available in 25 countries and is impacting search results in English. However, with time, this update will become functional in more countries and multiple languages.

Broad Core Algorithm Update (September 24, 2019)

Broad core algorithm updates do not target specific features. Instead, they impact a myriad of factors and affect many websites. Undoubtedly, some winners and losers emerge out of such updates. SEO experts found that the September Broad Core Algorithm Update impacted YMYL websites the most. Since no concrete details by Google about the nature of the update are available, nothing can be said for sure. However, from an SEO perspective, the best bet is to focus on E-A-T. 2019 also saw two other Broad Core Algorithm Updates in March and June.

Review Rich Results Update (September 16, 2019)

Google Reviews impact the trustworthiness of a website to some degree. With the advent of this update, websites will be under strict scrutiny from Google with regards to self-serving reviews. This is a step in the right direction for ethical SEO analysts as they’ll no longer need to compete with underhanded practices.

Site Diversity Update (June 6, 2019)

Google announced this update in the form of a Twitter post. The tech-giant asserted that they’ve considered some constructive criticism, and will be improving the diversity of search results. Transactional search queries or queries where the user has a purchase interest were the most affected by this update. Unlike your instincts would lead you to believe, this is great news for Small and Medium Enterprises. This gives them the chance to show up in search queries more frequently by reducing the dominion that giants like Amazon have on the given domain. Moreover, Google is making sure that diversity doesn’t come at the cost of relevancy.

The New Direction

The above-mentioned updates have facilitated a new wave of changes that SEO experts need to account for. Here are some tips to stay on top of your game:-

• Optimize E-A-T: The acronym stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. To improve these attributes, integrate cited sources into your website’s content. Establish trustworthiness by garnering genuine reviews. Hiring an expert to create your content can help in terms of establishing authority.

• Be Mindful of Featured Snippets:- Since the BERT Update directly impact featured snippets, align your SEO practices to account for that.

• Don’t discount Voice Search Optimisation:- Many experts believe that voice search is the future. By optimizing your content strategy accordingly, you can future proof the ranking of your website.

The Take-Away

Google Search is getting smarter with each passing year. As SEO analysts, your job is to help websites benefit from the developmental strides that Google is making. Thus, being mindful of the latest algorithm updates is a good place to start!

Who calls the shots now?
Influence has undergone a paradigm shift or a redistribution of sorts. The audience chooses its influencers now, and brands have no choice but to cater to these so-called spokespersons of the public. Such a climate has fostered the evolution/segregation of digital marketing into several channels. It’s no longer just about setting up an affiliate marketing campaign. It’s no longer just about getting Instagram famous. Success on one platform doesn’t guarantee anything anymore. The advertiser’s true challenge today is curating a campaign that does well on not one, but many of the marketing channels out there. But, what does the word channel mean here anyway?

The top digital marketing channels out there:

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a versatile channel that not only serves advertising needs but also facilitates lead generation. Even though there’s a risk of going directly into the spam folder, a powerful e-mail marketing campaign runs the benefit of reaching out to the audience on a personal level. At the end of the day, effective e-mail marketing only leads to higher brand visibility.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is the place where almost 3.5 billion people engage with each other daily. There’s not even a single minute of silence on these platforms. Everybody has a voice, and all voices get heard. Some even get echoed and find their way to the ears of the masses. This sweet spot is where all social media marketing happens. In 2018, companies spent $74 billion on social media advertising. Don’t think of this statistic as just some random number out there. Entire R&D departments zeroed in on the opportunity that social media provides, and declared it worthy of the capital investment.

Search Engine Optimization

Imagine a scenario in which you plan on buying a shower curtain. Let’s also assume that you’re an avid online shopper. What’s more likely?

a) You google shower curtains and buy the product advertised on the 11th page of your search.
b) You open the product that you first set your eyes on (located in the top area of the first page of your search), and buy the product right away.

If option (a) runs true for you, you belong to a very small minority. But most people will go for option (b), and that’s exactly what makes SEO so powerful. It increases the visibility of your business on the internet. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that increased visibility equals increased growth.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Unlike the channels mentioned-above, pay-per-click advertising cannot be executed without an initial investment. In most cases, the extent to which your amp up your investment determines the success of your campaign. However, the flip side is that you exercise a very tangible amount of control on your target audience. If you play your cards right and choose the right keywords to target, PPC advertising can fetch your huge returns in a short burst of time.

Content Marketing

This digital marketing channel is perhaps the backbone of every other online advertising method. Content was, is, and will be king. Content marketing costs way less than traditional marketing. In concrete terms, Content marketing is 62% cheaper than its traditional counterpart. It doesn’t matter which platform you choose to target. As long as you keep pushing out informative and non-plagiarized content that adds value to the lives of your target audience, you will see returns. Mix up text-based content with visual mediums, and keep things original.

The list of digital marketing channels doesn’t end here. But, if you nail your strategy for the 5 channels listed here, you’ll be surprised by the results you see!