As technology evolves, so does the way people find and connect with the things that matter to them.
As seen in our “How SEO has gone beyond Google” article, there are 4 areas of search where traditional Google search is no longer superior : transactional, functional, informational and navigational search.
Here are our key advices to level up your SEO strategy.
SEO for E-tailers
- Content fundamentals are still important – including relevant keywords in titles, bullet-pointed descriptions and in product page search terms
- Take advantage of structured data – Amazon details exactly what information it requires for products through prescribed detail fields, in a similar way to how search engine structured data works
- Conversion rate takes the place of site authority – whereas links make the difference in traditional SEO, Amazon pays attention to conversion rate as a ranking factor. That means ensuring compelling content in the form of images and positive reviews.
SEO for YouTube
- Again, titles, descriptions, keywords and tags should be optimised towards relevant keywords
- Improve user retention with interactive end cards, YouTube Cards & annotations and playlists
- A big ranking factor in YouTube is view count as it looks to engagement as a yardstick for quality – a tactical use of paid YouTube support can help to set a video on the path to ranking organically
- Don’t rule out long-form content – a third of all YouTube viewing comes from videos that are 20 minutes or longer.
SEO for Voice Search and Virtual Personal Assistants
- Optimise content for search engine answer boxes – voice search queries are typically longer and more question-led, in pursuit of a direct answer, optimising content to directly answer questions can help to position a brand in the answer box
- Embrace structured data – search engines use structured data to help understand websites by providing explicit directions as to the meaning of a page. Since voice search queries are typically seeking a specific detail, using structured data is a good way to signpost search engines in the direction of these details
- Think local – a Google study found that 40% of adults use voice search to ask for directions meaning brands need to ensure they’re optimised on all sources of location data.
SEO for Local Search
- Ensure consistent, widespread location data – search engines like consistency, so make sure address details are identical across all local listing platforms such as Yelp, Google, Bing & Apple Maps, Foursquare and Yahoo Local
- Provide as much detail as possible – include descriptions, photos and frequent updates to help search engines know what your business is all about
- Amass positive reviews – like with Amazon products, businesses which have strong engagement rates in the form of positive reviews are prioritised in search results.
For more information, contact our local search expert Benjamin Bonnet.