As businesses get geared up to enter the new year, the question on the top of everyone’s list is what will change in the digital marketing ecosystem this year and how it will affect our business? SEO is constantly changing, and it is more important than ever to stay on top of the newest trends. Statistics show that 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and over one billion people use Google search every month. While staying on top of technology is crucial, even more so is understanding and forecasting what’s on the horizon for getting the most production out of your SEO.

SEO Trends 2020

The Power Of Voice Search

While there is a plethora of SEO optimization and digital marketing resources, it’s best to whittle things down to what the top few trends will be in the upcoming year and stay focused on those. Once you get a grasp, work with an SEO consulting firm to shore up a plan and get the wheels turning early to get a jump on the competition.

Because 58% of searches are now done via smartphone, two of the major trends to be aware of is Voice Search and Visual Search. In fact, research shows Voice Search will account for over 50% of the total internet searches in 2020, These searches are not only done on phones, but they can also be performed on home voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo, Samsung Smart TV, and Alexa.

Visual Search Growing Fast

Visual Search is the new-age concept to conduct a search for images and data culled from a camera. As this concept continues to evolve, users will soon be able to snap a picture of an object on their phone or tablet and upload an image to the browser. They can then request the item that is featured in the image and then order it online. According to MIT, 90% of information transmitted to the human brain is visual. When we shop in the offline world, advertisers are aware we use our eyes to find what we want. In much the same manner, Visual Search transfers this method to the online world.

The Impact Of Local SEO

Optimizing a website to improve location-based rankings to promote the business for local customers is called Local SEO. Local optimization helps your business to be discovered online and visited afterwards. Local searches comprise 46% of all Google searches.

That’s almost half of all internet searches, stressing the impact localization can have on a company’s website. Every business owner, CEO, or director needs to ensure that the company appears in the search engines when buyers are close to the physical location of the business. Bringing new customers as 88% of customers who discover a new company either call or visit it within 24 hours.

Featured Snippets Are Getting Hotter

If you are not familiar with what Snippets are, Featured Snippets are a small block of info off of a website. They typically appear above the number one organic search result, commonly referred to as “Position 0.” To take advantage of Snippets and drive more clicks to your site, you need to provide clear answers to commonly asked questions on your website. Google has a way of determining the quality of answers to the most commonly asked questions on your website. To give you an example of the power Featured Snippets provide, 54.68% of clicks from Google now originate from them, driving more than half of search engine clicks.

Staying one step ahead of the game is the key to success in optimization. As the technology continues to advance and open up new doors, as business owners, we must expand our horizons along with it.