5 SEO Trends that will Matter Most in 2020

SEO trends are born. Let’s view what trends will make a difference in 2020.

1. Mobile-first indexing
In a nutshell, mobile-first indexing means Google uses the mobile version of your page for indexing and ranking. Since March 2019, Google’s started the method of migrating sites to mobile-first index. it'd happen that the Search Console has already notified you about it.
Bear in mind, a mobile-first index doesn't mean “mobile-only.” There’s still one index with both mobile and desktop versions. However, the entire “mobile-first” buzz means Google are going to be using them mobile versions for ranking once the site’s migrated.
You get it, right? together with your mobile version being the first one for ranking, there’s no excuse to procrastinate with mobile-friendliness.
Action plan:
Any mobile version type is ok . Just take under consideration a couple of moments. Google’s Trends Analyst John Mueller mentioned: “If you would like to travel responsive, better roll in the hay before the mobile-first launch”. So, if your site hasn’t migrated yet, and you’ve been brooding about switching, do it now. Plus, Google strongly recommends against m-dot and responsive for an equivalent page, because it confuses crawlers.
To understand how program spiders see your mobile pages, crawl them with a mobile bot. for instance , WebSite Auditor can roll in the hay for you:

Track your mobile pages’ loading speed. It’s easy with PageSpeed Insights.
Regularly check whether your pages deliver the impeccable user experience. you'll use WebSite Auditor and its mobile performance section for this task.

2. Page speed
Google’s nuts about delivering the simplest UX and delivering it fast. Desktop page loading time has been a ranking factor for a short time . In July, it got a twin sibling – mobile page speed’s become a ranking factor for mobile.
This crucial change involves understanding which metrics matter for Google in terms of page speed evaluation.
Historically, when analyzed in PageSpeed Insights, a site was evaluated just on the idea of technical parameters. Now, both for desktop and mobile, it’s graded consistent with two different metrics: Optimization and, a new one, Speed.
The game-changing part here is how Speed score is generated. the info for the metric’s taken from Chrome User Experience report, the important users’ performance database. It reflects how your site loads for every visitor. It’s obviously hard to live how briskly each visitor’s device loads your site. As a result, the metric’s impossible to urge through local tests.
As for Optimization score, you'll totally control it by fixing all the problems preventing your site from loading fast.
So, which metric has the strongest influence on rankings? consistent with the mobile page speed experiment by SEO PowerSuite, the correlation between the page’s Optimization score and its position in SERPs is robust (0.97). And there's no correlation between the page’s position and its Speed score. In other words, now Google can rate your site as slow, but your rankings stay an equivalent .
However, Speed metric are some things new, so it’s clear Google’s testing it. With time, those correlations may change.
Action plan:
Optimization score is what matters now for rankings. Luckily, site optimization and result tracking are totally in your hands. Google’s nicely provided a handy list of recommendations. you'll also ask the even more detailed guide improving the Optimization score.
3. Brand as a ranking signal
Gary Illyes, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, has stated at Pubcon that Google uses online brand mentions in its search algo. There’re two ways it can use a brand as a ranking signal.
First of all, through unlinked brand mentions, the program learns that your brand’s an entity. By further analyzing all the properties mentioning it, Google gets a far better picture of your authority during a particular field.
Second, each component’s sentiment and context matters reputation, trust, advertising, complaint-solving, etc. Through context, Google learns to inform the great from the bad. for instance , its Search Quality Guidelines state that reputation matters for rankings. Consequently, the sentiment around brand mentions can affect the site’s rankings.
Action plan:
Backlinks are still a robust ranking signal. However, building links fast is never a white-hat business. Use the facility of linkless backlinks then. Mention your name online whenever you've got a natural opportunity.
Cater to your reputation. attempt to address the customers’ pains together with your brand. Engage with happy clients also . For that, track mentions of your brand online. Try the monitoring tool Awario for locating such linkless mentions all across the online .

Find influencers able to mention you (but who haven’t realized it yet) or who are already talking about your brand. Awario tool has everything to assist you here also .
Look at your competitors. By reverse-engineering their strategies, you'll check out your own SEO efforts holistically, not single-pointedly. For that, check out the competitors’ brand mentions seeing how they grow awareness. Or choose a deep analysis of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
4. GDPR
Let’s bet you bought annoyed this spring when your inbox got crammed with GDPR and Privacy Policy mails. What’s this thing?
GDPR is that the General Data Protection Regulation passed within the European Union . It regulates a really nagging issue – who owns the info created by users’ interactions online. From now on, it’s users who do, not corporations which collect it. Consequently, users can now request to ascertain what personal data the corporate has about them and invite its correction or export. If a corporation doesn’t suits the regulations, it are often hit with severe fines (€20 mln or 4% of the company’s annual profit).
This regulation affects EU companies and customers. However, international companies should also suits GDPR. As a result, Google’s decision to introduce changes into its Analytics. Now all personal user data expires after 26 months since it had been collected. Such data includes demographic and affinity data (earlier kept perpetually) and doesn’t include sessions and goal completions. However, each site owner can change this data collection default period. Plus, it’s now possible to delete the info of individual users upon their request.
Action plan:
If you've got no European customers:
You can switch to the “do not automatically expire” option in Google Analytics. Beware that this manner Google shakes off the user data protection responsibility on you. Plus, these user data control efforts can extend well outside the EU. Just await it.

If you've got European customers or plan to:
Review all the sources collecting user data on your site. confirm you don’t accidentally send some private data to Google Analytics;
Update your Privacy policy file by GDPR requirements;
Revise your cookie consent form. It should have the subsequent content: what information you collect, why you are doing it, where you store it, affirm the info’s protected;
If you employ Google Tag Manager, activate IP anonymization. Don’t worry, you'll still have a general idea where your traffic comes from. It just are going to be a touch less precise.
5. Amazon search

First things first, Amazon’s not a universal program . It’s an algo almost like Google’s, but used for internal search within Amazon pages. What’s the fuss about then? Well, more and more people go straight to Amazon to try to to shopping. consistent with a study, 56% of consumers visit Amazon first if they need shopping in mind. 51% ask Amazon after finding something elsewhere.
These figures tell us that Amazon’s becoming Google of e-commerce. It means if you sell something and you’re not on Amazon, you're missing out on all those 56% of potential customers.
Thus, if you’re a seller of books, music, electronics, etc., include optimization for Amazon into your SEO strategy.
Action plan:
1. Run keyword research. To be more industry-wise, use Amazon itself. Rank Tracker, for instance , has Amazon Autocomplete keyword research tool:

2. Make item’s title&description efficient and user-friendly (+ smart use of keywords);
3. Provide high-quality images;
4. Cater to “backend keywords” (or meta tags, if in Google’s terms). They tell Amazon algo that a selected item targets a selected keyword on the site;
5. Track customers’ reviews and address complaints.