Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving game with frequent updates to the rules.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving game with frequent updates to the rules. If you’re not on top of the latest trends, you’ll fall behind competitors in the search results. Here are a few things to look out for in 2017.

An Increase in Accelerated Mobile Pages

Website speed has always been an important part of search rankings and Google is always pushing the boundaries to serve the most relevant content as fast as possible. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) is an open source initiative that allows web publishers to create mobile optimized content that loads almost instantly on any device.

Essentially, by having webmasters update your webpages to AMP HTML, your website is eligible to be shown in a carousel above the organic results resulting in higher click-through rates.

Google has been shifting to a mobile first approach and favors AMPs over traditional mobile pages. I anticipate this trend to continue in the future.

Intent-Based Keywords

Keywords have, and always will be an important part of SEO. However, consumers today are now entering full questions and queries into search engines.

Where is my super suit?

After a search query is entered, search engines do not just display the page with the most keywords on that page. Search engines are focusing on the intent of the searcher. With this query, what would this user like to see?

Brands have to optimize their digital content based on what a user intends to see on a page, compared to just a keyword here and there. For a start, look at what keywords users are using to get to your content. You can then adjust content on your page to tell a story, answer a question or spark ideas for new pages or content.

For example, if you have a website focused on Nike Air Jordan sneakers, instead of trying to keyword stuff the page with the term “Nike Air Jordan,” try answering a specific question such as, “What Nike Air Jordan sneakers are releasing in 2017?” 

This gives you the opportunity to list out specific sneakers with their release dates that can potentially drive traffic for the entire year.

In 2017, I know that optimizing long-tailed keywords on sites will be a big part of SEO and if done correctly, can help boost your search engine rankings.

Rich Answers and Snippets

Have you ever done a search in Google and the answer appeared in a box at the top of the page? These direct answers are the result of structured data markup, also known as schema markup.

Adding schema tags on your website helps search engines better understand the information on your website to provide the most useful content to users.

For example, if you search for “guacamole recipe” in Google, you’ll most likely see a rich snippet that has been extracted from a site so the searcher can get exactly what they need, as fast as possible.

The information in these answer boxes shows not only text, but charts, tables, maps and other forms of content so its important to make your content as clear as possible to search engines. Rich snippet results doubled from 2014-2016 so I know that it would be wise to consider implementing schema markup on your webpage this year.

Of course, as time goes on, algorithm updates will continue to change the rules of the game. These are just a few trends to look out for in 2017.

P.S. I’m looking forward to the “Banned” Air Jordan 1’s. Again.