SEO Trends in 2021
SEO is a dynamic practice, and keeping on top of the game means knowing the trends and adapting your Search Engine Optimization practice.  While the foundation of any excellent SEO strategy is valuable content that supports your brand identity delivered on a website that is mobile-friendly and easy to use, SEO trends in 2021 represents what the top experts in the field are anticipating for the coming year.  Let’s have a closer look.

User Behaviour

Actually, understanding how users act and search is nothing new in SEO, but it’s important to always reflect on your ultimate goal which is to keep abreast of how users and their searches change over time.  At the end of the day, when you know how users search, you can provide them with the content they are looking for so they are more engaged with your site.  And so, even in 2021, providing valuable content to your visitors is paramount especial as Google and other search algorithms are more sophisticated and better match searchers with the content they want and need.

So what does this mean for an SEO expert?  Essentially, your copy should reflect the searcher’s needs rather than your products and services or other company-specific information.  Additionally, visitors should be able to navigate your site quickly, easily, and reliably so that people can find what they want without navigating distractions such as pop-ups.

Behavioural Analytics

It should come as no surprise that understanding user behavior will be driven in part by behavioural analytics.  Gone are the days when sites dense with particular keywords would dominate search rankings.  How does your customer engage with your site, what are they drawn to and what drives them away, and how can we increase engagement?  Once you have more information about what and how your customers are doing with your site, you can continue to adapt your pages to meet their needs better.  Consider this – visitor traffic to your site is only the first step in SEO, once you’ve acquired the traffic, your content must be worthy to them so they are not enticed by competitor brands.

Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)

Google is increasingly effective of not only knowing what and how internet users search, but they also know more about websites and by extension, the companies that make them.  Who are you, what do you provide, and what is your target audience are elements of your brand that can be measured through personalized knowledge graphs.   With that in mind, your brand must be reflected throughout your digital marketing strategy.  Keyword may still provide some benefit in your SEO, but topics and entities and their relationship to searches and user intent will be much more important for 2021.

As you can see, as Google (and other search engines) are getting better at understanding searchers, their underlying needs and wants, and ultimately their online behavior, it will be more important than ever in 2021 to deliver an online experience that reflects visitor behaviour while also leveraging company values to address visitor needs.