5 SEO Strategy Musts for 2020

Destination Google: The Rise of Featured Snippets and Human-Centric Content

The year is 2020. Smartphones are the size of toasters, podcasts are actually good, and Google is no longer the Internet’s gatekeeper — in fact, it’s now the destination for many web users. This is due to a recent overhaul of the entire purpose of the mega-giant Search engine. Until recently, users would ask their question and receive a simple list of websites. Ok, I know you know how Google works, but bear with me.

Now, Google has completely changed the way we receive and view search results with Featured Snippets, or what many refer to as Position Zero. And that’s just number one on our list of the most important SEO strategies of 2020. Keep reading to learn which five SEO trends you need to know about.

1. Featured Snippets

At a Glance

Here’s the good news, those who land in the coveted space of the snippet will likely reign supreme over the rest of the organic search results. This golden goose will have the chance to show-off their content right on Google’s results page and, ideally, drive more users to their site.

The not-as-good news, is that the snippets may discourage users from actually visiting a third-party site if the snippet isn’t persuasive, so strategically crafted content is more paramount than ever. The features also take up valuable real estate once belonging to organic search results, pushing them lower down the page — often below the fold — so users don’t see them unless they scroll down quite a ways.

About Featured Snippets + Position Zero

As mentioned in our blog post from last week, List of 2020 Marketing Trends You Need to Know About, Position Zero is what every SEO Strategist is striving to reach in 2020. Position Zero is a section on Google’s search-results page found below paids ads and above the organic results, as shown in the graphic to the left. As you can see, Position Zero is located below the paid ads, but above the rest of the organic search results, and takes up a large section of the user’s screen, so the opportunity to woo users is unmatched on the page.

Featured snippets answer a user’s question right on the search results page by showcasing a section or “snippet” of your content. This not only gives you the chance to engage with customers and convince them to visit your site, it potentially steals clicks from your competitors in the organic results, which also helps keep you in the top spot.

While landing among top-ranking results is as crucial to driving traffic to your site as it ever was, your content now also needs to be optimized and ready to be displayed in Google’s features. Luckily, optimization for high rankings and features go hand-in-hand, with some very important nuances you need to know about to be successful. In addition to continuing your regular SEO efforts, continue reading to learn how to better optimize for a variety of Google’s features.

3 Tips for Optimizing “Snippet” Content

Optimize for a featured snippet by writing content that answers specific questions your target audience is asking.
To choose the right questions to answer, research common search queries pertaining to your field, as well as the other questions also asked by those users, which will help you create more targeted content.
Featured snippets appear as paragraphs, tables, videos and lists, so your content must be formatted properly to appear as intended.

2. Voice Search

In 2016 Google shared that at least 20% of mobile queries were voice searches. Today, there are 66 million Americans who now own a smart speaker like Alexa, Google Home, and Amazon Echo, so optimizing for voice search is essential in 2020. Additionally, the majority of voice searches are coming from smartphones, so when you consider the amount of voice-search-driven traffic occurring each day, it’s easy to see why optimizing your content for it is so valuable.

Many voice search answers come from featured snippets, but they are featured snippets designed to capture keywords based on the way people speak, not the way they type. For example, a customer typing an inquiry on their smartphone or tablet will write, “children’s skateboards” into the search engine. But, when they ask their smart speaker for help, they are more likely to say something like “What type of skateboard is best for kids?” This is why optimizing for voice search is one of the most important SEO trends of 2020.

Remember: Most voice searches come from mobile devices, so much of your mobile search optimization also benefits voice optimization. Site speed, optimizing for local search, and using structured data are all mobile optimization techniques that will benefit your voice search strategy.

3. Videos

Online videos are the new king of content. Cisco Systems, Inc. predicts that by 2022, 82% of all internet traffic will be video. Google now displays a video carousel which sits above organic results and Video Featured Snippets, so including optimized videos as part of your SEO strategy is a huge opportunity for visibility.

5 Tips for Optimizing Video Content

1. Just like snippets, videos should answer common questions pertaining to your field.
2. The file name, video title, video description, and thumbnail need to be clear, concise, and engaging.
3. Including a video transcript makes it more accessible to a larger audience.
4. Consider the length of your video – promotional videos should be kept short, while educational videos may be longer.
5. Choose the right platform to achieve your goal. YouTube is great for brand awareness, but users will be directed to YouTube instead of your website. If you’re trying to gain website traffic, it’s best to embed your video on your website with SEO-friendly metadata, which helps your video to get indexed and ranked.

4. Influencers

While influencers are not a Google feature, they are a huge SEO opportunity in 2020. Partnering or hiring an influencer can result in brand awareness, lead generation, and boosted search-engine rankings. They also help get your brand in front of a larger audience of people already interested in your niche. Influencers can help drive more traffic to your website, get you more social media engagement, and improve your brand-engagement metrics. All of this tells Google that your business is trustworthy, which results in higher rankings and, potentially, the coveted Position Zero.

3 Tips for Hiring Influencers

1. Make sure any influencer you hire suits your brand.
2. Research their followers to make sure they’re the right customer base and not all bots.
3. Do your research on their success with other campaigns and past collaborators for possible conflicts and/ or undesirable connections.

5. User-Focused Optimization, Mobile Friendliness, Structured Data + Secure Website

These optimization techniques are not new, but they are still as important as ever in 2020. Google’s ever-changing algorithm is still focused on bringing users relevant, high-quality content that answers their questions and connects them to the products and services they need.

4 Core SEO Strategies + Knowledge

1. Google crawls and indexes the mobile version of your website, instead of the desktop version, so mobile friendliness is essential.
2. A secure website builds trust with Google, as well as your users.
3. Structured data helps Google understand and display your content.
4. Targeting a variety of keywords and creating a user-friendly layout is essential to providing both Google and you users with the right kind of content.

If you’re busy wearing the many hats of a small business owner, hiring an SEO expert and content strategist can help you take your digital presence into 2020 with a style.

Contact Honey + Hare today to see how we can help you achieve your online business goals.