Every year, SEO trends and signals are changing, such as:-

• 2014, HTTPS became a ranking signal

• 2015, mobile usability became a ranking signal

• 2016 shifted content development due to RankBrain

• 2017, a significant push for more HTTPS websites

• 2018 mobile first and page speed were the next big ranking factor

So what will be important for SEO in 2019 to ensure that our websites are still ranking well? The good news is that the SEO trends of the past years are still current and with a little creativity and knowing the new SEO trends and signals, it’s absolutely possible for you to rank well in 2019. Here are the ranking factors that will really matter this year, and why.

1. Use of High Quality Content

Quality content is the number one driver of your search engine rankings and there is no substitute for great content. Quality content created specifically for your niche increases site traffic, which improves your site’s authority and its relevance.

Whenever a user adds a query in the Google Search bar, the Google crawler will start looking for the best result it can offer. Google looks for the websites, blogs, web pages having the best relevant answer and starts listing those websites in the SERP (search engine results pages). The one having the best information will rank the highest, however, to achieve this is not easy.

To get a high ranking a lot of user and keyword research, as well as content development, which has all the information relevant to those queries and key phrases is required. So make sure to develop content which is relevant to your target market and your niche.

2. Improve User Experience

Improved user experience are going to continue to be important this year.

Ignoring user experience will cause some serious problems with SEO because it is proven that Google Analytics uses various metrics to evaluate website quality. In fact, a big percentage of people will stop engaging with a website if the content and layout is unattractive.

Having a website or blog with useful information is crucial. Additionally, if the website is user-friendly and provides a positive experience for the user, the visitors are going to stay on your website or blog for longer and will look for other relevant pages.

All of this will help you to gain more loyal viewers, improved bounce rate, increase in the number of page views which are some important analytic factors Google uses to judge a particular website.

3. Mobile Indexing

Google is a big reason as to why everyone is developing mobile-first websites. Google is now experiencing more search traffic from mobile devices in comparison to desktop devices and has already stated that they have started mobile first indexing.

So, it’s absolutely crucial for website owner to make sure that their website is mobile friendly and working on all devices.

I recommend every website owner to pay more attention to the mobile optimisation of your website. In future, mobile is going to be the most crucial topic in terms of SEO. All potential clients are looking for products, information and services on their mobile devices.

4. Website Speed

Website visitors liked fast sites in 2018 and so does Google. We are living in the world of 4G and 5G internet connection and if your website is not able to load even in such a high-speed internet connection, you will be in trouble.

Make sure to remove all obstacles which are slowing down your website speed. There are various ways like reducing HTTP request, minimising server response time, using optimised images, minifying of CSS and JavaScript and more to improve website speed.

I am sure you can relate to this with your past experience. Most of the time we ignore a website if it takes too much loading time. So the same thing is going to continue in the future.

5. Blogging and Videos

Blogging is the most recommended SEO tip for 2019. If you are interested to gain more traffic then you should start blogging. It is one of the best ways to interact with users and to improve your ranking.

Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge and to engaging more user. The more quality blogs you write, the better the chances of the user to stay on your website. Always give information which is valuable to your customers and write content relevant to your niche.

Another good way of engaging visitors are quality videos. Some surveys suggest that viewers are more interested to gain information from videos rather than reading. Therefore be prepared to make yourself open for video contents as they are going to become the biggest factor for SEO 2019 ranking and promotions.

6. Social Media

Google often trusts those websites which have high social media shares. And it is a proven fact that Google uses it as an important factor when it comes to ranking. If any content on your website is popular across social media then it is possible that Google will index that page much faster in comparison to other pages.

Conclusion

Remember to focus on solid content creation and copywriting fundamentals, engage your viewers and stay up to date with trends like site speed, mobile first, blogging and video content.

If all this seems overwhelming — take a deep breath. Making the effort to understand even the basics of SEO will help your website gain higher click-through rates, engagement and of course, rankings.

But if you need more personalised, specific advice on how you can start ranking for competitive terms in your niche, become recognised as a thought leader in your industry, and make more money through organic search traffic, contact me for a chat!