How SEO is still a major factor in modern online business
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As old as the world wide web itself, search engine optimization (SEO) appears to still be a major player when it comes to online business strategies. Digital SEO companies are performing well which reflects the growing need for such services as the digital push towards an increase in online services and marketing continues. Even now, in 2021, it is estimated that 70% of small businesses don’t have an optimal SEO strategy in place, if at all, which means there is plenty of business around.
A small SEO agency in Sheffield, UK has recently announced that it is to hire a significant number of new employees based on the swathe of new contracts it has just won with roles relating to SEO optimization, PPC campaigns and web development being chief among their upcoming projects as clients embrace and continue to move forward with existing technology optimisation or adoption new ones as part of SEO and digital marketing integration strategies.
Current SEO
The current evolution of SEO from a purely referencing practice into something that takes in almost every facet of a website’s being as it relates to a search engine appears to currently be at a peak for the digital marketing sector, with organic search still being as relevant today, if not more, than it has ever been. Currently, around half of all web traffic comes from organic search results and for one of the world’s top blogs, only 0.23% of its visitors are attracted via paid search.
Conversely, modern SEO also takes into account social media posts across all known major platforms, paid or unpaid, that link to, mention or are associated with your website or business as part of established SEO practices such as backlinking, keyword analysis and results relevancy as well as other content hosts such as online publications and external blogs, but massive changes could be on the horizon for SEO.
Future SEO
The future of SEO, or more precisely, the present, is likely to evolve with expectations of a modern website since the core web design principles of a streamlined UX and CX are set to be taken into account with Google’s brand new Page Experience algorithm update that not only includes established SEO implementation as a performance metric but the “usability” of your site.
Traditional SEO practices such as relevant content and headings, image alt text, and the optimal use of keywords will undoubtedly form a key part of Page Experience when it scans a site and Google’s John Mueller has hinted at this by stating that:
“Now’s the perfect time for an SEO side hustle”.
However, Mueller has also stated that SEO technicians will also need to level up appropriately, whatever this means, but it is well known that page speed will play an important role in Page Experience’s ranking system meaning that many websites will need to be optimised for mobile and tablet which is a confirmed factor in Page Experience’s ranking system.
Peeing into the unknown, it is currently difficult to predict what impact the new algorithm is likely to have on existing content but many SEO experts predict that your site will be severely affected either positively or negatively, making SEO currently just as important, if not more, as any modern IT issue such as cybersecurity or network administration. SEO expert Neil Patel suggests that brand-related SEO is likely to decline in importance as a factor when it comes to future page ranking with a focus more on the page’s “user-friendliness” as a determining factor based mostly on how much people enjoy engaging with it.
Whatever next month’s Page Experience update holds for your sites going forward, now would be an excellent time to consider having your SEO partner take a look at your site and proposing a solution to improve the UX or CX to better meet the expectations of the new algorithm.
