Are you a business owner in the greater Phoenix, Arizona metro area? Are you confused about how to increase your organic traffic this year? If so, then you need to check out these top nine SEO trends for 2021.
Don’t worry if the idea of search engine optimization sends shivers down your spine. We won’t mention anything too technical that you can’t implement right away. Instead, we’ve got practical suggestions in plain language so you can scale your business this year.
1. Go Local
The best place for you to spend your time and money this year is to focus on improving your local SEO game. It can be difficult to compete with the big national brands, but you don’t need to. If you’re a local business owner, then you can still make huge strides by focusing on finding customers right in your backyard.
The best way to do improve your local SEO is to optimize your Google My Business profile. This means that if all you have is your name, address, and phone number listed, then you need to prioritize this first thing in January.
2. Focus on User Experience
In the new year, it’s time you stop worrying so much about Google’s algorithm or pleasing the bots. This year it’s time to start focusing on the people who visit your site and read your content.
To start, remember, everything is mobile in 2021. The fact is, 96% of Americans own a cell phone these days. Ensuring your website is mobile responsive isn’t an option anymore. You must give your users a great mobile experience or you will eliminate virtually your entire audience.
3. Give Great Content
The new year will continue to show that quality content is the name of the game. Since Google’s EAT update, you need to show you’re the expert in your industry. And you can prove you’re an authority by producing quality content that answers your client’s questions.
If you already have customers or clients you can easily learn what they want to know by sending them a quick survey. If you’re in the middle of a business shift, or you’re just starting out, you can turn to Google itself.
Start typing in your topic and see what Google suggests, these are keywords people are already searching for every day. Then choose one and scroll down a bit until you see the section on questions people ask. Again, Google is telling you what others are already asking. This is a great way to learn what content to create for your blog.
4. Search Intent Is Key
There are dozens of expensive keyword tools available to you for discovering great content for your blog. However, if you discount user intent, or ignore it altogether, then you risk creating great content for the wrong audience.
So, be sure to focus on what your ideal customer means when they search for certain topics online. This can mean the difference between attracting the wrong audience who doesn’t want your product or service. Or, worse, you could attract your ideal audience but not answer their questions adequately in which case they will bounce off and find the information they want on your competitor’s site.
5. Video Content Will Prevail
If you haven’t started creating video content yet then you’re missing out on a large segment of your audience. Many people today want to consume their information in video format, so if you’re not keeping up you will quickly find yourself falling behind in 2021.
YouTube now has over a billion users and is the second-largest search engine behind Google. To optimize your organic traffic this year, you must include video in your SEO strategy.
6. Stay Agile
If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that we need to be willing to change if you want to succeed in business. This is true with your SEO strategy as well. You can’t predict the future so stop trying.
Give great content and answer your customers’ questions. Beyond that, the best trend for 2021 is to stay open to change and willing to pivot.
7. Build Brand Awareness
Your SEO strategy doesn’t end at your website. It is an extremely interconnected web with your entire internet presence. You need to be everywhere all the time. And if you want to improve your rankings you need to give the SERPs the right signals that your audience loves your content.
You’ve already created great content in tip three and made sure that it answers the right questions in tip four. Now it’s time to drive traffic to your content with social media.
8. Automate Everything
If you found yourself cringing in the last tip to be everywhere all the time, then you need this tip as well. You can’t be on all the social media platforms all day long, you have a business to run.
This is why you need to automate everything and then outsource the rest. There are plenty of tools available to you so you can automate your scheduling. However, when it comes to creating the right strategy and content, you need to turn to the experts so you can get back to growing your business this year.
9. Track Your Analytics
If you want to maximize your organic traffic this year then you need to have an ear down to the ground listening for new trends coming your way. And the best way to do this is to use the free tools Google already provides you.
Be sure to keep your eye on your analytics to see what is bringing in the most traffic to your site, then create more of that. Additionally, use the Google Trends tool available to you to spot new trends coming on the horizon. Using Google Trends for SEO is a great way to stay ahead of your competition and grow your business in the coming new year.
Now You Know the SEO Trends to Watch for This Year
These new SEO trends remind us that in the coming year you don’t have to be a technical computer guru to drive organic traffic to your business website. Instead, bring in the right audience to your business every day by improving your rankings this year.
And if you’re ready to outsource your search engine optimization today, then check out our limited time offer. We help business owners just like you every day to rank on the first page of Google and drive targeted traffic every day.
