The enormous need for quick and accurate information between customers has highlighted the importance of having a solid SEO strategy. The pandemic has resulted in economic disruption and societal change on a scale and was discovered in more than half a century.
The covid-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in industries such as education, travel, in-store retails, and all others as well. It has highlighted the importance of having a strong digital presence altogether in every industry. If there is one lesson, we take from the pandemic 2020 and 2021, it is that life is unpredictable. Covid pandemic has shifted the SEO trends and here are some of the changes we’re seeing after surviving the pandemic.
Let’s get to the important list of SEO trends in the post-pandemic world
- Mobile SEO: a major shift in SEO Trend is the shift and devices for SEO. It has been proven that mobile SEO is most impactful because people nowadays go for most of their searching on mobile devices rather than desktops. Focusing on the mobile is really important and is going to become more so because people find more comfort in searching their queries online more. Pandemic has given the chance to the mobile users to be handier.
- Voice Search: Again, talking about comfort and being easy going, the trend of voice search is going to change the way of interaction. Conversation sampling occurs on an everyday basis and we have noticed that AI races to a world where we get the answers before even asking them will and doubtedly change the SEO landscape. AI has also been proven very beneficial at the time of pandemic and now post-pandemic. The voice search accomplishes the ultimate goal of anything by making it more efficient.
- Video Content: The impact of YouTube on SEO continues to increase because of its worth keeping in mind that your SEO strategy should have a video component. One thing that you have to keep in mind while making a video is that your videos should contain the target keywords in the form of voice and should be optimized for search. You also need to include a video targeting the same keyword on your landing page. Pandemic has changed the way people have started looking for their answers. They are now focusing on watching more and more videos and understanding them. From small kids to big businessmen, the older generation is looking up videos to get their answers online.
- Core Web Vitals: In 2021, SEO will focus more on the user. It was recorded earlier this year that the Core Web Vitals will gain prominence as a ranking factor, in the month of May. This means that in order to rank in the top 10 of SERPs, the websites must be optimized for a good user experience that also should include quick loading and response times along with easy mobile navigation. The more your website will be focusing on meeting the needs of the users the better your SEO will be. The post-pandemic world SEO has shifted its focus to the user experience.
- Cumulative Layout Shift: If you are working in the marketing public relations or advertising field you are very much likely to be involved with SEO and Cumulative Layout Shift is one of the most significant changes in this arena this year. Users notice when the site content suddenly ships resulting in a mistaken click. Google has stated that it will become a ranking factor following the month of May. They have implied that it will have an impact on Google search results, thus it is something that all marketers should focus on or be conscious of.
- Less telling and more showing: In the post-pandemic world now, the context influences as or more than the keywords as well as the word count. Consider engaging video, audio creators as well as graphics along with your content. We live in a shattered world, and any attention that can be earned must be cultivated with care and protection. SEO is nothing but the start of the journey and it must not only attract but also convert the attention you are getting with the help of its users.
- High-quality Backlinks: John Mueller, Google’s search quality advocate recently stated that one single high-quality backlink from a top-tier news site is much more valuable than millions of links that are low quality from other websites. That means if you do good PR, you might be better than others if you work with a traditional SEO company. For the future of search, technical SEO and media relations are a wonderful combination.
- Produce more Buyer-Centric Content: Keeping aside the technical algorithm changes, the majority of which are beyond your control, you can simply ensure that your content is searcher-and buyer-centric, rather than just focusing on “me-&-me” sales copy. Be useful, be present and address the specific pain points that your buyer is looking to solve or restore. Instead of attempting to outwit the search engines, concentrate on your user, and in this way your site will perform better and, in the end, rank higher.
- Zero Click Search: Never underestimate the local search listings. Because of the steady rise of the zero-click searches, where top search results provide answers directly from the SERP, local SEO is very critical. Because many zero searches are local, it can be really helpful to establish a solid backlink profile and a Google My Business Account.
- Google’s SMITH Algorithm: SMITH aka Siamese Multi-Depth Transformer- based Hierarchical can be a new algorithm developed by Google that builds on bi-directional encoder representations from Transformer’s algorithm to help Google understand better the sentence and purposes of extended, more in-depth pages with a high frequency of content. This also enables the possibility of housing various topics on a single page, rather than dedicating segregated add landing pages to each topic.
These were some of the important changes we are seeing and will see in the post-pandemic world. Pandemic has brought many changes in almost every industry and we are finally experiencing it. We Buffalo Soldiers Digital for the best tips and tricks, and work with SEO experts.
About the Author: Radhika Agarwal – I’m a digital and social media marketing enthusiast. In 2019, I began writing about it for the first time. These topics have always piqued my interest, and I’m glad I can contribute with my writing.
