The year 2017 has brought with it a number of changes in the way companies market their services and products, the way brand marketers use search engine optimization to improve their rankings, and the way internet users browse the internet. Nonetheless, there are a number of trends that were successful in 2016 and will therefore continue well into 2017.
This article looks at three of the main SEO trends that continue gaining ground as we move well into the second half of 2017: social media, video SEO and email marketing.
Content on Social Media is Gaining Increasing Prominence
As time passes, social media content from platforms such as Twitter and Facebook will become an increasingly important factor in rankings. Industry research shows that a majority of digital marketers are already using social media marketing to supplement and ramp up their brands’ overall marketing campaigns by optimizing their social media content.
SEO experts had predicted that Google, Yahoo and Bing will index content from social media. In terms of optimization strategies, the line between ‘social media’ and ‘web’ is becoming blurred. Therefore, together with a team of specialists from a premier SEO agency, you need to start thinking about researching, generating and using great social media content in your overall marketing strategy.
Nowadays, social media profiles are listed among the top results for huge, well-established brands. According to Kissmetrics, links to content on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube among other networks make it easier for search engine bots to determine which sites are credible and deserve high rankings.
In recent months, content on social media has gained more prominence in search engine result pages thanks to Google’s Scrolling Carousel and Knowledge Panel.
Videos Continue to Play an Important Role
When it comes to entertaining an audience and keeping it engaged, videos are very effective. In addition to that, when you use them the right way, videos can greatly improve your rankings. Research has demonstrated that just over 60 percent of all searches on Google are video.
In addition to that, Google is placing increasing focus on blended searches/results. Take advantage of the chance to feature on page one of search results by incorporating engaging videos into your content. According to Quicksprout and Relesoo, when it comes to gaining organic ranks in Google, videos perform fifty times better than plain text.
By 2015, a number of marketers opted to ramp up their current marketing campaign using video SEO. Two years later in 2017, the number of marketers and online business owners that have adopted this trend has grown tremendously.
Note that, at the moment, the only way to be featured in search engines result pages through video is by using Google or video SEO to upload your video content. That way, it becomes easy for Google’s search engine bots to find the content and index it effectively, thereafter displaying your video in response to specific keywords.
Email marketing
Every day, just over 205 billion emails are sent out, and this number is likely to grow significantly in the next few years. Over the years, email marketing has evolved and strategies that were effective five years ago are not as effective now. Nonetheless, it continues to play a critical role marketing strategies in general and SEO in particular.
As a matter of fact, email marketing is among the primary marketing channels for a number of expert digital marketers. This is because it offers the best ROI in marketing and bring top results compared to other channels such as organic SEO, content marketing, paid search and affiliate marketing.
