The Biggest SEO Trends of 2020 So Far

With constant updates across search engines, SEO is always changing. You have to adapt and learn SEO techniques so that you and your website maintain traffic and success. To be ahead of the change we want to show you the biggest trends in SEO so far in 2020. 

1. SERPs

We have all seen the changes over the last few years with Google’s search engine results pages, especially featured snippets, video carousel, and the ‘People also ask’ snippets. This has increased the competition for the top spot as results become diversified.

With these updates, it is now estimated at 50% of searches are zero-click searches. Meaning that people are finding the answers they need without even clicking on any results!

Therefore, adapting and content creation for featured snippets or rich snippets is an important SEO trend for 2020. Although, even as a featured snippet, you may not obtain the clicks. This position still has more potential for organic clicks than other, lower-ranking positions.

2. Bert Update

The Bert update was released by Google in late 2019 and was the biggest algorithm change since Rankbrain. This algorithm is all about context and natural language processing of search queries to give Google a better understanding of searches.

Additionally, this search function will be evaluating the context of your content in relation to queries. This update can be difficult to target through your content, however, your SEO should be more focused on how your customers are finding your product/service.

What kind of questions are they asking and what is the context? Are you answering all of their queries effectively?

3. Content

As the Bert update has been introduced, it makes sense that your content is going to be even more important. Content using E.A.T principles can find better results.

• Expertise
• Authority 
• Trustworthiness

These features of content have always been important for SEO and are trend to focus on in 2020. Your content and website should have high-quality content, expertise or an expert writer with authority on the subject, and authoritative and trusted links from other websites. 

4. Voice search

The Bert update is also very important for voice search. It is estimated that in 2020, 50% of searches will be voice search. This means that more searches will include more conversational terms and not just keywords. 

Therefore, your content needs to be contextual for Bert and specific for the questions. Voice searches tend to focus on navigation, shopping, email and calendar management, phone calls, and playlist management.

With voice search providing clear questions and answers, the top spot on SERPs becomes the only spot. Although voice search is still developing, it is something you can start to optimise for as it becomes more popular in the future.

Final Take-Aways

These 4 trends are key to SEO in 2020 and definitely not to be ignored. Some may seem obvious, like optimising content, but now with new algorithms, content is important in different ways. 2020 SEO is adapting to more conversational and voice search queries which are completely different from a traditional web search.

Ultimately, SEO is always changing and these trends are a hint at the future of SEO.