Top 6 SEO Trends in 2016 You Should Not Miss

(This is a guest contribution by Manidipa Bhaumik. Read more about her in the author bio below the post)

I still remember when I was reading a couple of discussions on SEO back in 2015 about what would be the SEO trends in 2016? Now when I am writing this article, it’s already four months passed in 2016. In fact, people have started talking about what could be the SEO trends in 2017.

One thing is sure that, SEO trend is changing every year, or you can say it is changing because many search engine ranking factors are coming into the picture.

In this article, I will share such key points which are must follow to make your website SEO friendly and your website content optimized for the Search Engines.

What is SEO in 2016

Frankly speaking, SEO always has the same definition of beating your competitors behind and rank your web pages higher in the search engine.

Now one of the major search engines for which we all bloggers are putting life & time is – Google.

In last few years, Google has changed their algorithm in such a way that every blogger is trying to implement or audit their SEO tactics which might have worked earlier but not in 2016.

It is strange to observe that a blog post with more than 2000+words sometimes fails to rank compared to a coupon shared by a popular coupon website. I know this is a rare scenario, but I have noticed the same.

You might have also noticed a new article with much more detailed content is not able to outrank an old blog post which has not updated from last few years. To make this example worst, I have also discovered blog posts ranked no. 1 in Google which in reality doesn’t exist.

But if you follow some of the top SEO blogs of 2016, you will find that these things are getting rectified within a short period. Google is working hard to make their algorithm work best for the best content and a useful website, despite there are lots of loopholes which SEO experts are taking advantages.

But if you are working in a highly competitive niche like Blogging & content marketing, you have to work hard and keep your best out of it by following these SEO trends in 2016.

Best SEO Trends in 2016 to Stay Focused with blogging plan in 2017

If you are a beginner and planning to start a blog for money, then remember that by the time your blog is ready to attract traffic, you might be completing 2016. So, start looking for or start predicting the SEO trends in 2017, from the current things in case you want to stay ahead in this competition.

Let’s check out few of such SEO techniques which I believe will be in top most priority all the time.

1. Content is the King

This is 100% true. Do you also believe Content is King? If you think this is not true, then try to search Google for any keyword, and you will find top 10 articles ranked in Google for that keyword and look what is the length of that content. However, this may not work in some cases where you search for any coupon terms like Hostgator Coupon 2016, etc.

Writing an elaborating article with almost every detailed information is one of the top SEO trends in 2016. Google loves unique content and user experience. Also, when the users find your article worthy with every single detail within it, they will love to spend time in that post & also explore other similar articles on your blog. This will help to improve your bounce rate. This is a very good ranking signal for your article too.

2. Mobile Friendly Website

Recently I was checking my analytics of the last couple of months and also from where the visitors are accessing my content mostly.

There is no doubt that Desktop users are still on the top.  But the number of users accessing from various mobile devices like smartphone or tablets has been increased significantly.

That means you have to take it very seriously and design your blog with a mobile SEO friendly WordPress theme like Genesis Framework themes. Google has clearly said that websites with mobile-friendly design will get a better chance in ranking.

3. Social Media Outreach

This is not a myth anymore. Search engine ranking is highly impacted by your social media presence, and the number of social media sharing of your content and how many people are referring them to their friend circle.

You might have noticed that nowadays every blogger is aggressively sharing their content on all popular social media platform like Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, etc.

Most of the online marketers are using the social media sites as one of their top promotional platforms for their business and content. I think this is one of the most viral SEO trends of 2016.

4. Video Blogging is a big hit in 2016

We all know that video rank far better than content. Not only that, video blogging will help you reach a wider audience  and spread the information very quickly. Now, Google has started giving importance to contents mashed with useful videos to enrich the information.

If you can create a video in your how to guide article and attach the same to the content, then your chance of ranking will definitely improve.

5. Keyword Research is Still the Dark Horse

I have been going through many articles written by experts where I learned that Google is now looking keyword in a different way. In fact, I have also read that keyword research is dead, it’s all about building quality links pointing to your site.

But honestly, I don’t believe this is 100% true and I am sure many pro-bloggers also won’t.

Keyword research plays a crucial role in SEO as Google is nothing but an algorithm and it has to follow certain comparison metrics to return the search results for any query.

But, the typical way of keyword research doesn’t surely work in 2016. In recent times, you have to look for related terms, synonyms of the main keyword, LSI keywords, long tail queries of the keyword and even negative keywords to rank better. There are many professional tools like Longtail Pro, SEMRUSH, SEO-Power Suite, who can make your keyword research very easy.

6. Speed Optimization

Speed optimization is another crucial factor in deciding your ranking factors. It is directly linked to user’s experience. Means, if your page doesn’t load fast then the user will definitely choose another search result, means you will lose your traffic and from user’s point of view the search queries may look like un-relevant.

This is a great offense from Google point of view and they will definitely de-rank your ranked article with another one which loads faster compared to you. This is just one example comparing a factor; it doesn’t mean that if you website is faster than ranked #1 article in Google, you can outrank the same.

Anyway, the point here is, increase website page speed by keeping your website design simple & lightweight so that it can load fast. Use a cache plugin and services like CDN.

Do you also think these all SEO techniques are evergreen? Well, I believe SEO trends will never be sticky, and they will keep changing. With the current changes in the search algorithm, I think these are the key SEO trends in 2016 which almost every top blogger should be following and recommending. If you think I have missed out something, please feel free to mention in the below comments.

 AuthorBio: 

Manidipa Bhaumik is a passionate & dedicated blogger who enjoys to share Tips & Guides on Blogging, SEO & Affiliate Marketing through her webpage WPBlogging360.com You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook and Google+

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