SEO can be a huge contributor to e-commerce websites, attracting more web traffic and, ultimately, more sales. Just as with new technologies, SEO is always evolving, and new practices emerge with regularity. It’s imperative to jump on SEO changes in order to stay ahead of the pack.
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The following are some of the major changes that shook up the SEO world in 2016:
- Out-of-the-box SEO – Webmasters can now do on-site optimization of their sites using some out-of-the-box solutions. These solutions include third-party apps, widgets, and tools that optimize sites and improve results while using very minimal manual input. Included in these tools are WordPress plugins that handle on-site SEO automatically. These products, however, still require you to customize variables for maximum results.
- Long-form content – The old practice was for e-commerce sites to use short-form content, which was typically limited to a title, a brief description, a few photos and some customer reviews. Current demand has shifted toward longer-form content that includes more detail, long-tail keywords, conversational phrases, and more product differentiation due to the increased competition that has characterized the market in recent years. It is now common to see long-form content on company blogs, more insights on the company, and longer product descriptions.
- Video content – Users are now more inclined to use video content because of the increasing availability of Wi-Fi and video sharing capabilities. Video content shows up as rich media in terms of results and has more viral potential than any other type of content.
- Mobile optimization – This offers the best possible functionality and content experience to the ever-growing army of mobile users who are now outnumbering desktop users. It includes app optimization, which is heavily favored by new developments such as app streaming.
- Voice search and digital assistants – Digital assistants were viewed as useless gimmicks when they were first introduced, but people today are relying much more on voice search. This has resulted in a panoply of digital assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google Now. The trend has been taken advantage of by e-commerce marketers who started offering colloquial phrasing and other rich answers that digital assistants can easily provide.
These changes may continue into the future or fade out as quickly as they ignited. That’s the nature of this crazy, changing world we call technology and the Internet of Things. Keep an eye open for exciting new advancements in the coming year, and be sure to use them to the advantage of your e-business.