20 Neglected Yet Trendy SEO Topics
Some trendy but often overlooked SEO topics that can provide valuable insights and opportunities are:
- Image SEO: Optimising images for search engines can improve the user experience and help your content appear in image search results. This topic includes using descriptive file names, alt text, and compressing images for faster loading times.
- Site Architecture and Internal Linking: Proper site structure and internal linking can enhance user navigation and improve search engine crawlability, leading to better indexation and rankings.
- User Experience (UX) and SEO: User signals like bounce rate, time on page, and click-through rates are increasingly important for SEO. Ensuring a seamless user experience can positively impact your rankings.
- Content Refresh and Updates: Regularly updating and refreshing your existing content can help maintain its relevance and authority, potentially boosting its search engine visibility.
- Mobile-Only SEO Strategies: SEO can focus on mobile-first indexing, and optimising for mobile devices should be a priority. Tailoring strategies specifically for mobile users can give you an edge.
- Local Link Building: While backlinks are crucial, local businesses often overlook the potential of building links from local directories, chambers of commerce, and other community websites.
- Video Transcripts and Closed Captions: Adding transcripts and closed captions to your video content not only improves accessibility but also provides more textual content for search engines to index.
- HTTPS and security: Google considers website security a ranking factor. Transitioning to HTTPS and ensuring your site is secure can positively impact your SEO efforts.
- Long-Click vs. Short-Click Metrics: Analysing user behaviour metrics like long clicks (when users stay on a page for an extended time) and short clicks (when users quickly return to search results) can offer insights into content quality and relevance.
- Google Discover Optimisation: Google Discover delivers personalised content to users without a specific query. Optimising for this feature can lead to increased visibility and traffic.
- Page Speed for Conversion Rate Optimisation: While page speed affects SEO, it also impacts the user experience and conversion rates. A fast-loading site can lead to better engagement and conversions.
- Structured Data and Rich Snippets: Implementing structured data markup can help your content appear as rich snippets in search results, enhancing visibility and potentially boosting click-through rates.
- Content Pruning: Regularly auditing and pruning outdated or low-performing content can improve your site's overall quality and focus, potentially benefiting SEO efforts.
- Influencer and Expert Collaborations: Collaborating with influencers or industry experts for content creation and promotion can broaden your reach and bring you high-quality backlinks.
- Alternative Search Engine Optimisation: While Google dominates, optimising for alternative search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, or even niche-specific search engines can tap into different audiences.
- BERT Algorithm: Google's BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) algorithm update focuses on understanding the context of words in a search query. Learning how to align your content with BERT can improve your rankings.
- E-A-T and YMYL: Google emphasises expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) for content related to Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics. Understanding and implementing E-A-T principles is vital, especially in the health, finance, and legal niches.
- Zero-Click Searches: Many searches now result in "zero-click" interactions, where users get their answers directly from the search results page. Understanding how to still benefit from these types of searches is vital.
- AI and automation in SEO: AI-powered tools are changing how SEO tasks are done, from finding keywords to optimising content. Keeping up with AI advancements can give you a competitive advantage.
- Search Console Enhancements: Google Search Console continually updates with new features and insights. SEO can teach you how to use its tools effectively to help you monitor and improve your site's performance.
SEO can explore and address these lesser-discussed topics and potentially uncover new opportunities to enhance your website's SEO performance and gain a competitive advantage.
Exploring Overlooked SEO Trends |
How can SEO enhance the Search Console?
SEO can nobly enhance the utilisation and effectiveness of Google Search Console. Here's how:
- Data Analysis: SEO professionals can use the Search Console to analyse performance metrics such as clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and average position. This data assists in comprehending the site's performance in search results and pinpointing areas for improvement.
- Keyword Insights: By examining the queries that drive traffic to your site, SEO practitioners can gain insights into which keywords are most effective and adjust their content strategy accordingly.
- Page Indexation: The Index Coverage report helps identify any issues with pages that may not be properly indexed. SEO experts can use this data to ensure that all vital pages are crawled and indexed by search engines.
- Sitemap Submission: Submitting XML sitemaps to Google Search Console can help search engines discover and index your pages more efficiently, enhancing your site's visibility.
- Mobile Usability: Google's emphasis on mobile-friendliness makes the Mobile Usability report in Search Console crucial. SEO specialists can identify mobile-related issues and optimise the site for mobile users.
- Structured Data Testing: SEO professionals can test and validate structured data markup using the Rich Results Test tool, enhancing the chances of rich snippets and search results.
- Performance Optimisation: By identifying pages with slow loading times in the Core Web Vitals report, SEO experts can focus on improving the user experience, which is a prime ranking factor.
- Backlink Monitoring: While Search Console primarily focuses on internal data, it also provides some information about external backlinks. SEO practitioners can use this data to monitor incoming links and assess their quality.
- International Targeting: For websites targeting multiple languages or countries, the International Targeting report assists in optimising hreflang tags and geotargeting settings to enhance search visibility.
- Security Monitoring: Search Console can alert you to any security issues, such as malware, on your site, helping you maintain a secure and trustworthy online presence.
- Manual Actions: If your site receives a manual action penalty, Search Console can provide details about the issues and steps to rectify them. SEO experts can then work to remove the penalty and restore rankings.
- URL Parameters: For websites featuring intricate URL structures, the URL Parameters tool enables you to communicate with Google about how to treat specific parameters for indexing.
SEO professionals can use Google Search Console to gather data, identify problems, and optimise their websites for better search engine visibility and user experience. Regularly using the insights from the Search Console can lead to improved rankings, increased organic traffic, and overall site performance.
In wrapping up our journey through the realm of SEO, we've delved into some often-forgotten but undeniably trendy topics. By exploring these overlooked trends, you're taking a step ahead in the dynamic world of search engine optimisation. Remember, staying open to new ideas and approaches can bring fresh perspectives to your SEO strategy. Here's to your continued success in optimising your online presence!