Identifying SEO & Web Opportunities in 2021 — Part 1

We’re already one month into 2021 (holy heck, where did that time go!) which means you should already have your Q1 marketing and SEO strategy underway. If not, have no fear, I’m here to share some tactical SEO gems of wisdom with you.

Towards the end of 2020, I sat down with my colleague Scotty to chat about what SEO trends and opportunities we foresee for the year ahead. We identified six key areas of opportunity that are essential for success.

If you came to our SEO Breakfast with Orange event late last year, you would have heard us share some of these tips. If you missed out (spots do fill up very quickly) don’t worry, I’ll be diving into the juicy details in Part 1 and 2 of this blog.

*That’s me!* Side note: if you haven’t been to a ‘Breakfast with Orange’ event before, put that on your to-do list! It is always a really great morning filled with delicious coffee and food as well as some pretty great company.

Before we get into it, just in case this is the first time you’re hearing about SEO and you’re wondering what on earth it is, here’s a simple definition:

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is the act of strategically optimising your site to increase the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

To add a little extra oomph to the importance of SEO in your marketing strategy — there are on average ten results on each page of Google. The unfortunate reality is that if your site isn’t ranking in the top 10 results for your targeted keywords, then your site is almost invisible from future users.

‘75% of searchers never go past the first page of search results.’ — Hubspot

So, now you know why SEO is important, in Part 1 we’re going to run through the first three concepts you should adopt in 2021:

1. Designing for your users
2. Aligning content with search intent
3. Optimising for page speed

Key SEO concepts for your 2021 strategy

1. Design for your website visitors, not yourself

Good SEO is about reaching quality users that want to use your website. Despite what many believe, just ‘growing traffic’ is not the end goal of SEO. My advice is to keep your user, or target audience, at the centre of your mind when developing or optimising your website and marketing strategy. This means you want to make your site as easy as possible to find (using the right keywords), and encourage your users to do what you want them to do once they’re on your site. As I’m sure you have already noticed, there is a big overlap between quality user experience and good SEO.

User experience is becoming a greater ranking factor for Google as time goes on. Factors that search engines consider include dwell time, bounce rate and pop-sticking. Pop-sticking is where a user will click into your site from Google and then return to the results page just as quickly.

Source: Giphy

When designing for your ideal user, the overall presentation of your website, navigation and content are all part of the ‘experience’. Make sure when you’re writing web content it is descriptive with straightforward navigation and calls-to-action. Also, remember that “content” isn’t just words. Using a combination of videos, infographics, photos and other interactive elements will increase the average time spent on the page (which is awesome!). The longer a user spends interacting with your site and engaging in content, the higher chance they will convert.

2. Align your content with search intent

Put plainly, search intent is; the reason behind a searcher’s query on search engines. It represents the objective the searcher is trying to accomplish.

There are four common types of search intent:

Informational intent is when the user is looking for specific information; this includes queries such as; ‘ What is the weather today?’ — where a user is looking for a simple and direct answer to their question. Alternatively, informational searches could also include ‘ Best SEO strategies ‘ where a user is looking for more in-depth results or answers.

Navigational intent is when a user is looking for a specific website or app. These searches are often brand based i.e. ‘ Netflix’, ‘ Facebook Login’ or ‘ Amazon ‘.

Commercial intent occurs when a user is looking for a specific product, BUT they haven’t decided to purchase just yet. This form of intent is seen in searches such as: ‘ Best laptops in 2020’ or ‘ Best Black Friday Sales ‘.

Transactional intent is when users are ready to purchase and have identified the product or service they require. This intent is reflected in searches like: ‘ Buy MacBook Air ‘.

Search intent needs to be considered when creating content for your website. If you want to perform well for the term ‘ Best laptops in 2021 ‘ you will need to structure your content for users who have a commercial intent (not transactional).

BONUS: Trending search query alert*

Local intent is a search query that has continued to boom. In 2019 it was recorded that 46% of all Google search queries featured local intent. In recent times, particularly since the COVID pandemic and lockdowns, there has been a significant increase in support for small businesses and Australian-made products. These searches may include things like ‘Best Cafes Near Me’ or ‘Brisbane boutiques‘. In the current environment, if you’re not doing this already, there’s no time like the present to get started.

3. Optimise for page speed

Page speed is not just ‘best practice’ SEO, nor is it a ‘trending strategy’. Page speed is a known ranking factor for Google and other search engines. If you have poor page speed, your user experience is not going to be great and this doesn’t help your rank.

So, how quick should your page speed be? Users now expect web pages to load in two seconds, and after three seconds up to 40% of users will abandon the page. Yep, you read that right — 2 seconds!

Source: Giphy

Now that you know how critical page speed is, I’m going to tell you how you can improve yours. Google has created a program, ‘ Think with Google: Test My Site ‘ where you enter your website URL and Google returns with core recommendations to start improving your speed.

Note: The list of recommendations is written for developers, usually in the order of most important to least.

If you are still sceptical about how important page speed can be to a user’s experience, or you need help convincing a colleague, check out Google’s ROI calculator for measuring the impact of speed. Other tools we use to measure a site’s speed include Google Page Speed Insights and GTmetrix.

Ok, that should be enough to get you started! If you need a hand with any of the above or want to speak with our SEO specialists for more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

In Part 2, I’ll be sharing three more tactical SEO tips to implement as part of your 2021 strategy:

1. Being proactive off-site
2. Using internal linking effectively
3. Treating Google as your homepage

Originally published at https://www.orangedigital.com.au on January 29, 2021.