3 SEO Trends That Matter In 2017

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From mastering the basics of local SEO optimization to keeping tabs on Google’s ongoing algorithm changes, staying on top of SEO trends is enough to give any brand whiplash. Trust me. I’ve seen it. And it ain’t pretty.

Sure, your company has covered the basics: you’ve claimed your Google listing for local search optimization, you’ve researched geo-specific keywords and you’ve optimized inbound anchor link text.

Don’t rest on your laurels just yet.

If your brand wants to be competitive with SEO in 2017, these are just the first steps. You’ll need to nail schema markup, optimize for user search intent, and ensure your website is as speedy as possible for mobile search. These three trends have already emerged as must-dos for SEO in 2017.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Structured data mark up. According to Over The Top SEO, “Crawler friendliness” is a major Google on-site ranking factor. It’s especially important for showing up in Google search features like Quick Answers and Rich Card that rely heavily on machine learning. In fact, machine learning is now Google’s third most important ranking factor. Google’s use of Quick Answers in search results jumped to over 40% in early 2016, and we can expect an even larger increase in the coming year. So how can you utilize Structured data mark up to help Google’s crawlers easily find the information they need on your website?

Structured data markup is used to describe “things” and “properties” on your site. For example, if you ran a food blog with recipes, structured data would describe the things (the recipes) as well as the properties of these recipes (photos, user rankings, ingredient summaries, etc.) When indexing websites, Google can only get this rich, searcher-friendly information from your site’s structured data markup. Without it, Google will simply pull any text it thinks is relevant from your page and display it in that boring little blurb in organic search results. If you employ structured data markup, visitors will know right away that your site can give them the information they need – and they will click through accordingly.

Not sure if your structured data markup is correct? Check out Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

Article source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2017/02/22/3-seo-trends-that-matter-in-2017/

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