People keep asking me ‘what are your top SEO tips for 2020’ and to many peoples surprise, I simply say content. Some blog posts go over the top with elaborate technical search engine optimisation tactics that will earn you five extra sessions a day. I ignore that, opting for a philosophy of keeping it simple and when it comes to selecting an SEO tactic, sticking to the simple fundamentals is essential.
So why is content still king and why is it the most important thing to focus on in 2020.
The Signs Were There Bert!
If you have been keeping up with the SEO news in the last year you would have most certainly heard of the Google Bert Update. For those who haven’t, it was an update release last November and helps Google to understand natural language better.
This will give huge benefits to websites that promote natural conversation but one of the biggest benefits it will have for Google is the ability to understand questions and answers better. This is absolutely key for when Google displays rich snippets, more on rich snippets a bit later!
Bert was a bit more complex than we originally thought though, for those who would like to learn a little bit more, Search Engine Journal have a great post about it here.
And Then The Core Update Happened
In December 2019, fluctuations continued to happen and by mid December we saw another shake up in the search engine rankings. At the time, SEO guru’s were a little unsure of what exactly was going on. Well established websites were loosing rank, other websites were seeing gains.
Little did we know, this was the start of the organic shake up, where well established (but older) content was about to loose authority, making way for a new age of informative and well optimsied content.
In January this continued to happen and we saw a few more shake ups. Websites that promoted well structured and valuable content really started to shine through, leaving older pages struggling to hold on to their position. More information from the Round Table here.
When the Rich Took their Snippet
In early January, Google had another core update, this time cleaning up rich snippets. What is done was instead of showcasing the number one result as a rich snippet, it turned the number one result into a rich snippet, meaning that there were no duplicates within the search engine rankings.
So over the last 6 months, we have seen quite a lot of attention put into content quality and how that is displayed which seems a little weird right? There has always been content updates, especially those to remove poor quality content, so what makes this any different?
Well it would seem to me, that Google is moving into the next generation of content – and we will find out why….
So Why is this the Next Gen of Content?
For years now, video content and high quality content has been pushing hard, grabbing as many views and reads as possible. All so that someone can make an extra penny for their pot and with the influx of greater, better content, Google must have felt the need to keep up to date with this.
So with regards to the content shake up’s we saw, this would really help to showcase this new generation of high quality content – and about time too, I quite often come across posts from 2011 and as well written they are, they are dated and are not as relevant any more. (This is why you should update your content often people).
So the most important thing I think we should be concentrating on is quality of content and finding areas in which we can vlog and blog about. Make the most of these recent updates and put some effort into your content – you will be greatly rewarded for it in the long run.
