For quite some time now, Google has continually been changing its SEO (Search Engine Optimization) algorithm in an attempt to better present the most relevant, quality information for the various searchers online. The user’s satisfaction is usually the main goal and considering the large pool of information available on the internet, the search engine is focused on separating the most useful from the least useful content for various keywords and rank them to satisfy customer needs. With that said, it is expected that there will be more changes in 2020 and the other subsequent years to maintain the effectiveness of the search engine and possibly improve their service delivery.

SEO predictions for the future

Combining SEO with (AI) Artificial Intelligence

At the moment snippets find relevant content in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) depending on the requirements of the searcher. It is predicted that in the future content that is not authentic will as well be recognized and automatically expelled from the SERP. It will be as well easy to detect spammy links with AI which may lead to a significant reduction in their use. Search Engines may as well automatically know what you are looking for based on your browsing patterns, buying behaviors and other information about you.

A.T will continue to be beneficial.

The acronyms E-Expertise, A-authority, and T-trustworthy are the most fundamental aspects of successful SEO strategies. Regardless of the various changes which are likely to occur, if your SEO strategy is executed based on E.A.T chances are high your website will still rank better among the SERPs.

Growth of voice searches

Voice searches are likely to make up over half of the total searches by mid of the year. This means that content creators will have to develop pieces that are conversational, relatively shorter sentences and easily readable language that can easily be comprehended by the target audience. voice searches are usually read conversationally; this makes them relatively longer compared to texted searches. Furthermore, when dealing with voice questions, the search engine prefers question and answer content types for voice

Focus on user experience

The search engine will focus more on the user experience on both the various mobile users and desktop users using the service.  The website owners have to ensure the content on their site is engaging enough to the users and the page load speeds are considerably high preferably 3 seconds or less for enhanced user experience on the site which will lead to a higher ranking on the search engine.

Longer articles may be less popular

At the moment relatively longer articles of about 1000 words show how search engine that the article has adequate content and therefore beneficial for the specific keywords. However, these long articles are likely to become less popular as google begins to prioritize direct content which fulfills the client’s needs as precisely as possible and the tailoring of written content to answer specific questions that you are likely to get from your target audience. Furthermore, the growth of industry-specific SEO companies may ensure high quality, precise but informative content from various professionals can be developed which may as well be ideal for voice searches.