SEO Trends that Dominated 2016

Insights from the SEO World: Key Takeaways in 2016

Let us look at how the SEO industry has grown in 2016 and summarize with key takeaways for 2017. SEO, which comes always in disguise, has been a stepping stone for many brands and startups.

Accelerated Mobile Pages, Big Leap in Organic Mobile Search

Faster loading, faster accessibility- better performance!

Accelerated mobile pages, or AMP pages, were introduced for mobile users to easily surf the web in real time. Amp Pages are accessible with a click, load instantly, rank higher in search results, and appear in an AMP “carousel”. Pages that adopt Google AMP specifications have been given preferential treatment in mobile searches as well.

Featured Snippets & Answer Box Optimization

Google uses structured data to highlight important content of your page, which can be quickly and easily understood, and could displayed in a rich format, such as a rich snippet in SERPs. The mantra to get it right lies in identifying generic questions for your targeted customers.

Updates that Dominated in 2016

Keywords, Search Snippets and Content – User Search Behavior

Longer and organized content got a warm welcome. The focus shifted from keywords rich content to long tail key phrases to understand consumers’ search behavior. Remember, Google still focusses on CTR and uses user-behavior factors in its ranking algorithm.

Video Content

With the increasing demand in video content, the trend of social media platforms’ re-sharing and re-tweeting video content boomed.

Brand Mentions – No More Links

Search engines are understanding what to trust, and the SEO in 2016 was more about brand awareness and reputation management.

Voice Search is the Future of SEO 

People are increasingly using speech. For SEO, it is a form of semantic search while understanding a user’s intention, since what customers are going to ask or question is difficult to predict.

AI Technology

RankBrain, a Google algorithm based on artificial intelligence, is among the top three ranking signals. It is based on matching user queries with web page and showing better results on relevancy.

• Page Rank Dead from Google Toolbar

What does it mean for an SEO project manager?

• Mobile First – Digitialisation coupled with 100% mobilisation is from where we need to start
• Technical SEO remains important
• Focus on visual content
• Rich answers, featured snippets to dominate organic search results on all devices
• Optimise content for users’ intent and not just keywords
• CTR to play a bigger role, with the death of the pagerank and link operator – Optimise your Google search snippets
• Organic search results might decrease from 7
• Google My Business GMB Listing to attract more traffic, local mobile SEO
• App optimization, AMP and GTM to thrive
• Adopt to multi-channel, cross channel marketing