2017 SEO Trends: Panda Predictions

Pssssst: This article, 2017 SEO Trends: Panda Predictions, should be taken at face-value. No one can 100% predict the future (unless you’re a time traveler, in which case I have a million questions for you).

These 2017 SEO Trends predictions are personal ideas based and are meant to open up a discussion in regards to SEO over the next 12 months. With that being said, let’s begin.

Step aside, desktops — mobile platforms dominate search

The announcement of mobile-first indexing should raise plenty of eyebrows and provide a clear picture of the state of search — mobile should now be prioritized over desktop.

The reason for this change is quite simple: over the past few years, mobile search has quickly been climbing its way towards being dominant.

Mobile dominance is a no-brainer for our 2017 SEO trends predictions.

This graph shows how people are increasingly opting for their smartphones and tablets over their clunky old desktops.

*Hint hint* if your website isn’t optimized for mobile traffic at this point, you’re wayyyy behind the times. A responsive design is critical at this point in the game. Need a better website? Get in touch with us.

Does this mean that we should neglect desktop search? No! If we did, it would be a big mistake, especially if our website were an e-commerce site.

What to plan for 2017?

Mobile-first indexing, surely!

Google announced mobile-first indexing last November 4th but didn’t say the changes were coming immediately.

Google, instead, said this:

To make our results more useful, we’ve begun experiments to make our index mobile-first.

This means that we are still in a desktop-first index, but it’s almost sure that it’ll switch to mobile-first in 2017.

Voice search: the next biggest thing since sliced bread

Voice search has huge appeal and nearly unlimited potential.

It’s one of the fastest growing search options and is quickly making a name for itself in SEO land.

Surely, it’s deserving of being one of our 2017 SEO trends picks.

Hands-free and futuristic, it makes searching while multitasking a breeze.

Have a wrench in your hand and not sure where how to break that rusted bolt on your car?

“OK, Google!” and you’re off to the races.

SEO marketers would be wise to study voice innovation and think outside the box — what other applications are there for voice search, and how can we turn this cutting-edge technology into potential profit for our clients?

Have you ever used voice search marketing to your benefit or gain, or have any ideas of how you would implement it?

If so, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Rich answers and snippets gaining more traction

What’s the first thing we typically do when we have a question but are completely clueless? Whip out our phones and “Google it”, of course!

Turning to Google in our times of need has given Google loads of insight about what we want and how we want it. Thus, rich answers and snippets were born — ask a question, and a lot of times Google will display the requested information right in the search results, without having to open another website.

According to a study by Stone Temple Consulting, rich answers appearing in search results has nearly doubled from 2014 to 2016. Thus, it makes sense that Mr. Panda has rich snippets and answers as part of his 2017 SEO trends predictions list.

Having structured data markup to your website can increase your chances of having an enhanced SERP listing, being featured in a rich answer, or (in the case of branded searches) having a knowledge panel appear.

Everyone loves instant access to answers — so, get ahead in 2017 by having scheme markup (structured data markup) as a part of your site.

2017 SEO Trends Final Thoughts:

There are plenty of other SEO trends that may emerge or that have already formed.

We are always on the lookout for new trends and how to best utilize them for ourselves and our clients.

Have you found any SEO trends this year?

Leave a comment and let us know your thoughts on our predictions, as well as your own findings!

Story Source: https://fatpandadesign.com/2017-seo-trends/