The world of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is ever-changing — and can be somewhat mysterious. As Google and other search engines evolve their algorithms and implement nuances, such as Google’s introduction of BERT, and consumer behaviors evolve from mobile search to voice search and beyond, marketers and customer experience practitioners can find it challenging to keep up.

So what can digital marketers do in 2020 to stay ahead of the curve? I asked SEO pros for their best SEO tips for 2020, and here are 10 of them.

SEO Tip #1: Image link building

“Your business has spent time and money on attractive images of your products and services for your website. Then one day you are searching around your industry and find YOUR image on another website.

Don’t get angry and fire off an email for them to take it down. Think of this as an opportunity for an inbound link to your website. Write an email to the website that includes: a link to the original image, a thank you for using the image, and a polite request for attribution and a link back to you.

Now think, if one website has used our image, maybe others have? Do a Google search of your image to easily find other websites that have used your image. Repeat the email request for every site you can.”

Brogan Renshaw, SEO Director, Firewire Digital

SEO Tip #2: Relevant landing pages

“My best tip for 2020 is to ensure your landing page is relevant to the user’s search intention. It’s pointless trying to rank for keywords for the sake of traffic if your landing page doesn’t satisfy the user’s intent. Take the time to work out whether the keyword you are targeting and the content you plan to create will match what the user is trying to obtain from the search. Nothing wastes more SEO or users’ time than misaligned intent!”

Alistair Dodds, Marketing Director and Co-Founder, Ever Increasing Circles

SEO Tip #3: Audit your meta data

“My one biggest tip would be to audit and resubmit your meta data including meta description and title. Since Google’s BERT update, keyword density has become less important as Google’s crawler bots have become smarter at understanding a site’s content. We no longer need to stuff keywords into our meta descriptions. This means we can now focus on the click-through-rate of meta titles and descriptions, so we are more focused on attracting the customer with sales language rather than stuffing the available characters with keywords.”

Aled Nelmes, Digital Marketer, Diploma MSc

SEO Tip #4: Speed is king

“It was two years ago that Google publicly announced page speed as a ranking factor. And with all websites being switched over to mobile-first indexing by the end of the year, it’s essential for your SEO and business success to make sure that your pages load quickly and offer great user experience to your visitors.”

Amir Shahzeidi, Digital Marketing Manager, Uscreen

SEO Tip #5: Focus on content themes vs keywords

“My number one SEO tip for 2020 is to focus on themes instead of keywords. Instead of using lists of keywords, I like to simply think about the content people are interested in, and naturally add it to the article. I find that comprehensive articles naturally contain variations of the main keywords. Focusing on themes instead of keywords is not only great for SEO but also for users since it makes a website’s content sound much more interesting.”

Benjamin Houy, Founder, Grow With Less

SEO Tip #6: Mobile matters

“A great SEO tip for 2020 is to focus more on mobile. In September 2020, Google will switch all websites to mobile-first indexing. This means that Google will increase the focus on mobile user experience to evaluate websites on SEO.”

Erico Franco, Inbound Marketing Manager, Gravity Digital

SEO Tip #7: Take note of titles and subtitles

“Make sure your content has titles and subtitles. You would be surprised how many people don’t do this and wonder why they are not ranking high enough. Also, optimize your article length. People usually think that longer is better, but if your article answers the question quickly and effectively, you will more than likely rank better.”

Dustin Vann, Owner & CEO @ Trusy Social – https://trusy.co/

SEO Tip #8: Social media is a priority

“The most crucial tip for SEO in 2020 is social media. Social signals that include the totality of a webpage’s likes, shares, and overall social media visibility in the eyes of search engine crawlers indicate the interaction of people on your brand’s content on social media. The collaboration of SEO and social media together give audience relevance and value, both directly and indirectly. Similarly, the more people engaging with your content through social media, the higher your page SERP (Search Engine Result Page) ranking.”

Rameez Ghayas Usmani, Digital Marketing Executive, PureVPN

SEO Tip #9: Build content for your users

“My best SEO tip for 2020 is to focus on building content for your users. Create content based on what users are searching, content which answers users questions, and content which is useful in the customer journey. These types of content pieces will attract qualified users to your website, which is half the battle. Crafting the right piece of content can also attract backlinks to your website which will increase your website’s authority, trustworthiness, and boost your website in Google search.”

Brian Barwig, SEO Consultant, Integrate Digital Marketing

SEO Tip #10: Utilize YouTube

“A little-known SEO tip is to place an embedded YouTube video on your page. This keeps people on the page longer, so Google thinks your content has the most value.”

Becky Beach, SEO Strategist and Business Blogger, MomBeach.com

SEO is a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to search and display. You need to also make sure your home page can be found and is easily read and navigable. See “What Your Website’s Home Page Should Look Like: 5 Things to Consider.”

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