2019 was a big year for content marketing, but it will be even bigger in 2021. These five trends will drive the evolution of content marketing moving forward and put your company on the right track to success. How confident are you in the SEO and content of your company? Year after year, technology forces content marketing to evolve. What was significant for most of 2020 may become a footnote in 2021. Do you want your site to be buried behind those that stay up with the latest content and SEO trends? Because the answer to that question is almost certainly never, now is the ideal moment to reconsider and review your content and SEO strategies. Learn what will define your marketing approach in 2021 and how to stay ahead of the competition.
Important content strategies and SEO developments:
1. Voice Search Content Optimization
Instead of entering terms into a search box, talking to your smart device is getting more convenient. When Google released its voice search tool in 2002, it ushered in a new era. We are still feeling the consequences of this massive technological transformation. The influence of voice search continues to grow. In 2017, 13% of households in the U.S. had smart speakers. According to data from OC&C Strategy Consultants, that percentage is expected to balloon to 55% by 2022. More smart speakers in more households mean more people using voice search. In addition, people are more likely to utilize voice assistants on devices like smartphones if they have smart speakers. Here’s some evidence to back up this claim: According to Voicebot.ai, 39.8% of smartphone voice assistant users also possess smart speakers.
Juniper Research, located in the United Kingdom, projects that by 2023, 8 billion voice assistants will be in use throughout the globe, more than doubling the current figure of 2.5 billion.
What does all of this mean in terms of SEO? Said, in 2021, content marketers must optimize for voice search. Here are a few takeaways to think about:
- Optimize your content to take advantage of SERP features. According to a SEMrush analysis, 70% of the responses returned from voice searches originated from a SERP feature, with 60% of them filling a Featured Snippet.
- Concentrate on utilizing natural language to phrase keywords. This contains options like question-and-answer and long-tail. When speaking out loud, avoid using term combinations that sound strange.
- Maintain a straightforward approach. According to Backlinko, the perfect Google voice search result should be entirely understandable by 9th graders. Verbal replies should be simple to understand and should not be repeated. Make changes to your material to reflect this.
2. Increasing the use of long-tail keywords in more targeted content
According to Hubspot, brands that produce strategic blog material get 67 percent more leads than those that don’t. B2B customers will read blog material 71% of the time throughout their purchase process. Is any blog material preferable to none at all? Perhaps, but there’s no need to be satisfied with mediocrity. Lackluster content will not compete with the production of knowledgeable and sophisticated digital marketers in 2021, as you will soon discover. Did you realize that long-tail keywords account for 70% of all internet searches? You’ll have less competition in your industry if you use long-tail keywords in your blogging approach.
More crucially, concentrating on long-tail keywords is compatible with voice search optimization. The following words are unlikely to be disconnected keywords if you start with “Hey, Siri” or “OK, Google.” Conversational language or queries will be used. In 2021, use deliberate layout to draw attention to long-tail keywords. While SEO trends come and go, certain strategies never go out of style. Using keywords with care and precision shows Google that your content is essential. Use the formatting techniques shown in this blog, such as bullet points, bold text, and short paragraphs. Long-tail keywords speak to user intent and help you connect with folks seeking relevant information. You’re more likely to impress conversion-ready prospects by delivering excellent search results.
3. Exceptional Niche Content to Meet Google’s E-A-T Standards
We touched on strategic content before with the usage of long-tail keywords. Creating amazing content, on the other hand, is an ever-evolving SEO trend in and of itself. Google’s “Medic” update, which modified the search engine’s basic algorithms, has ushered in a new era in content creation. So, what’s been going on since then? Marketers and content creators: You are what you E-A-T these days. Google places a premium on information that demonstrates Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
It’s critical to include the E-A-T approach in your content marketing. According to Jumpshot/Sparktoro, Google accounts for 97 percent of all internet searches. Good content is no longer sufficient. What you develop must be spectacular and competitive. Digital marketers that have been around for a while are accustomed to responding to changes in technology and platforms. The big fish are already deep in E-A-T territory, and they raise the stakes each day. To remain in the game with the big boys, you’ll have to work harder and smarter.
In 2021, how do you plan to get top Google SERP rankings? First, make certain you complete the following tasks:
- Demonstrate and prove your knowledge. According to Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, the E-A-T assessment is for content and authors. It is increasingly necessary to provide context and information about digital writers. These may be shown in profiles and boxes that appear after the main text of a page.
- Create a site that is useful, informative, and Google-friendly. Google highlights the importance of generating unique and user-centric sites in their Webmaster Guidelines. To fast climb SERP rankings, there are no tactics or deceptions. Instead, the algorithm promotes material that is actually useful and authoritative.
- Publish high-quality articles consistently. You run the danger of reducing your search visibility if you don’t keep to a program for site content changes. In addition, your content quality may decrease if you don’t upload new articles or update outdated ones.
We retain top Google rankings at Express Writers because we are dedicated to producing high-quality material regularly. We have consistently released one blog every week for the last eight years. There will be no exceptions or excuses. Today, Google ranks Express Writers for over 23,000 keywords. In addition, we get 99 percent of our potential leads from organic searches.
In 2021, content marketing – and, by extension, excellent content – will continue to evolve and expand with the times. Even though the present lesson is that slow and steady wins the race, the true approach is adapting and learning as quickly as possible. “Content marketing is the only marketing left,” stated information age entrepreneur Seth Godin more than a decade ago. The remark still holds today.
4. Emphasizing SEO-Friendly Imagery for Rich Content
Non-text material that is SEO-ready and relevant is another content trend to watch. Bye-bye, hazy graphics and haphazard stock pictures. Images that do not bring genuine value or additional information to a website are no longer useful and should be removed. The polar opposite is also useless. Anything overly showy, heavy, or distracting should be replaced with something more streamlined and beautiful.
What are the requirements for being prepared for the image SEO trend? Follow the steps below to get started publishing rich content:
- Make your own images. Infographics and simple explainers are examples of unique pictures that directly link to your written content. They’re more likely to be shared if done well, even by themselves.
- Use appropriate topic keywords to name and tag photographs. When designing filenames and alt tags, use logic and common sense. Without using terms that aren’t relevant, your picture descriptions must connect to the text content the photography is promoting.
- File sizes should be reduced to make sites load quicker. According to Think with Google, slower website load times boost bounce rates. Use an image compression tool or plugin to keep your site fast and efficient.
- Use a file format that is suited for your needs. JPEGs aren’t required for everything. To improve quality, manage translucent parts, reduce file size, or add basic animations, it’s sometimes advisable to utilize a PNG, GIF, or another format.
This all stems from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, which emphasize the importance of creating useful and unique content. In 2021, graphics on a website should interest viewers and help them comprehend the material more thoroughly.
5. Making Interactive Content Available
The third SEO trend to include in your digital strategy for 2021 is interactive content, which is related to improved images. According to Ion Interactive, 88 percent of marketers believe that interactive content is a good method to set their companies apart from their competition. Visual and interactive material, on the other hand, is preferred by 91 percent of B2B purchasers over static content. What exactly qualifies as interactive content? Assessments, games, quizzes, calculators, and material are just a few examples of what qualifies as actionable content. Interactive ebooks, infographics, lookbooks, and white papers are also feasible. Interactive material does not have to be difficult or time-consuming. Here’s an easy-to-understand example: A PBS quiz to see how many of America’s 100 most popular novels you’ve read.
PBS gives its viewers a lot of value by giving them several ways to engage with basically the same info. For those who want to improve their quiz results by working their way through the book list, there is a link to the contents of the quiz in checklist form. The “Read the 100 List” option on the top menu is less obvious. This takes you to a website where you may filter by genre or sort alphabetically by title or author to control the 100 lists, shown in a tiled fashion utilizing the book covers. On the other hand, the New York Times has a 2017 tax bill calculator. It works by allowing users to enter particular data, such as gross income and household members, and then animating the descriptive graphic appropriately.
When it was first published, this interactive visual example was bright, simple to grasp, and extremely relevant. The calculator adds to a feature on the Republican Tax Bill approved in December 2017. It converted a brief news item into a chance for individuals to interact personally with current events. Smart marketers will look for new and imaginative methods to engage their customers in 2021. The goal isn’t to produce stuff futuristic, edgy, or difficult. It should, like all material, be beneficial to the user. High-quality video or interactive video material is typically more difficult and expensive to generate than simple interactive content. A step up from relevant pictures, interactive content is unquestionably an SEO trend to follow in the future.
Conclusion
Now for the bonus round: all of the forthcoming trends outlined above have a common thread. Were you aware of it?
To summarize, the following are the five content and SEO trends that will influence your digital strategy in the next year:
- Creating information that is optimized for voice search
- Increase the use of long-tail keywords in more tailored content.
- Exceptional specialized content that meets Google’s E-A-T requirements
- focusing on SEO-friendly graphics for rich content, and
- Interactive material is included.
Each is a strategy for improving the value and relevance of your content and search results. The simple line is that they make it easier for you to develop content that your audience will like. Next, you must consider how your well-earned skills might assist users in 2021. Your brand and SERP performance should come in second and third place on your priority list, respectively. This is the golden period of content creation! The greatest strategy for 2021 and beyond is to take pleasure in sharing what you know. It’s not how well your material performs that makes it useful. Rather, the value is how it benefits the audience for whom it was created. This kind of content marketing may provide tremendous results for small and big businesses. So, with 2021 just around the corner, it’s time to plan and develop the content the old-fashioned way — for real people, not search algorithms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will be the trending SEO technique in 2021?
A: If you’re looking for the SEO trend in 2021, it will very likely be blockchain-based. The popularity of this technique is increasing, and companies are already putting great efforts into utilizing this system to create products that make them stand out from the competition.
Which SEO techniques generate the most updated results for 2021?
A: The more resources you dedicate to your SEO, the better the chance of generating a high number of updated results for 2021.