What Future Innovations Are in Store for SEO?

The ever-evolving nature of SEO can be hard to keep up with. Not only do the methods of how SEO is done change. So to the tendencies of what people search, and what the Google algorithm views as top-notch content. Who knows, the methods to write an amazing blog today may be completely outdated in a few years’ time!

While keeping up with the times can feel like a chore, it is a necessary one to support a competitive practice. But, even then this isn’t always enough. In order to really stay ahead of the pack, we must often plan for the future. So, today we are going to talk about what may be next for the future of SEO, and how you can make the most of these innovations within your practice.

SEO and Video

There’s a chance you’re already familiar with how videos are becoming a more prominent part of SEO. Our team has had many interesting conversations about what this could mean for the future of SEO. We even have an entire blog dedicated to video and SEO you can read as well! I mention this because video SEO is an entirely independent avenue of SEO. But, some of the information and techniques you’ve already learned about improving SEO for other forms of media like images and text will apply, while others will not. We won’t be going over every part of video SEO, but here is a helpful guide for you to learn more!

Yet, learning about video SEO is very much worth the work!

Embedding videos on your site is a great way to engage viewers with your content. The use of videos is something that is becoming more common as Google incentivizes the practice. This may be facilitated by the presence of their massive video hosting platform, Youtube.

Keeping Up with Video SEO

Did you know Youtube is actually the second most popular search engine after Google? Yep. It’s more than Bing, Yahoo, and AOL combined. While you don’t need to become a video SEO expert to have a competitive practice, understanding aspects of optimization for different sites such as Youtube can help supercharge your optimization abilities. When it comes to video SEO, many principles remain the same, including:

Major focus on finding specific keywords based on your location
Optimizing content for your ideal audience
Maintaining a unique brand related to your practice

However, the ways one may accomplish these goals differ from what you may already know. With this avenue, there are a variety of entirely different factors that must be considered when optimizing video content. This can range anywhere from the length of time an audience is watching your videos, to the type of schema markup included. That said, learning how to make the most of your videos isn’t necessary for a successful practice. But, video SEO is becoming much more important over time, and the stats don’t lie. In fact, blog posts that have videos usually see a 157% boost in search traffic!

What Sets Video SEO Apart?

In many ways, video SEO is a close relative to the kind of “on-page” SEO our team at Simplified does on a daily basis to boost website rankings on Google. But, understanding the differences will help you tell between what will help your overall website SEO vs. your video SEO efforts.

Check your Keywords!

One of the main things to keep in mind when dealing with video SEO is that the keywords you’ve picked out for Google are not going to be the same for Youtube! The ranking factors that influence how Google decides what is “top-notch” content is not the same for the world’s largest video platform. So, learning why video rankings differ may involve different techniques or tools from what you may normally use. As a result, it is important to be familiar with other keyword research tools that can help you to recognize search trends. A few notable examples include what youtube auto-suggests in the search bar, the stats available from Youtube Studio, and VidIQ.

Same Principles, Different Methods

Depending on what you are hoping to accomplish, there can be many factors that go into your video optimization. This can range anywhere from how long people watch your videos to the video schema markup you include. Or, how you choose to market your practice’s brand to potential clients.

Many of the major points of focus of optimization for your website also remain the same. This may include things like:

How long you are retaining visitors to your site
What pages they are visiting
Conversion rates
Branding

But, the methods to improve these aspects may involve learning more about video SEO, and what influences rankings. So, ask yourself:

If you want to retain visitors on your videos, what can you add or edit into the video to help increase watch-time?
What videos are people watching the most, and how can you replicate the elements that are working in other videos?
Which methods work best in a video format to convince viewers to click?
How are you choosing to showcase your brand, and what level of engagement are you going to have with your audience (subscribers)?

If answering these questions isn’t a possibility for you, taking that dive into how to optimize your videos may help! As mentioned before, there can be a lot to optimize for video SEO. But, learning how to make the most of this opportunity can do wonders for SEO.

Voice Search SEO

When it comes to describing voice search SEO, it’s best to point out the big players. Some of which include Alexa, Google Home, Siri, and Bixby. While we are focused on the future of SEO in this blog, voice search data already shows how widespread this technology has become. In fact, voice searches on phones are 3x more likely to be for something local than a text search. This may not be much of a surprise with the added convenience of having answers without the push of a button. But, as a result, it becomes very important that clients find the right info about your practice when using these AI companions. Plus, it shows potential to reach an even wider audience on a local level! Failing to optimize your NAP may even hurt your SEO as a result.

Keeping Up with Voice Search SEO

When dealing with voice search optimization, many of the same principles stated above still apply. The main difference that arises comes from the fact that people often use these devices to have their questions answered. As a result, focus keywords are often centered around common “who, what, when, where, why” questions. So, it’s safe to assume these will often be in demand, regardless of what your practice offers.

Providing Responses

In addition to having keywords that are related to answering questions, creating responses that offer informative answers to these questions becomes important. The auto-generated responses provided by these AI’s may not provide the level of detail about your practice that you want. So, creating your own can offer more support for your practice. Think about your practice using these questions. How would you answer a potential client over the phone? What other questions might they ask about your practice, and what would be your response? Being able to answer questions like these will not only help improve rankings but also improve trust with Google!

What’s Next for SEO?

We can never know what the next big innovation for SEO will be for sure. But, there are a few things to keep an eye on that may help you stay ahead of the curve. One thing that may become more important is the use of content distribution networks (CDN’s). These services help keep sites fast and responsive by optimizing load times, caching content for easier retrieval, and other services. As SEO becomes more competitive, using services like CDN’s may become a more common practice to help get that edge over competitors.

Another thing to consider is the content that Google (or Youtube), likes to see. While we have an understanding of what effective copywriting for SEO looks like now, that may change completely over time. All we can prepare ourselves is by searching for what new happenings are occurring in the world of SEO and adapting to the changing times.

Begin Working with Simplified SEO Consulting

You don’t have to keep track of everything SEO by yourself. Our team is happy to offer the tools you need to keep track of your progress and help you be aware of what could be next for SEO. We offer a variety of services to help you climb the rankings on Google. To start SEO services with Simplified SEO Consulting, please follow these simple steps:

Schedule a free 30-minute consultation
Learn more about our team
Start becoming more visible, and helping your ideal clients!

Other Services Offered with Simplified SEO Consulting

Simplified SEO Consulting provides several services to help private practice owners thrive. We offer Done for You SEO services and a la carte services. For those who have completed our program, we also provide alumni support. If you are curious about learning more about SEO, we offer training opportunities as well. We also offer an SEO strategy package for support with reaching your ideal clients. Contact us today to learn more about our services, and start rising the ranks of Google!

About the Author

Sterling Humburg-Cage graduated from the University of Missouri with a BA in Psychology in 2020. He integrates what he learned in school into his work as an SEO Specialist with Simplified SEO Consulting. Sterling prides himself on helping current clients & alumni problems solve difficult SEO issues. He’s great at giving clients multiple options about how to approach a situation and responding quickly to client concerns. Since he started, Sterling has met frequently with our alumni and provided them extra problem-solving support, often going the extra mile to do outside research and make sure private practice owners have everything they need to rank well on search engines long term for the keywords their ideal clients are using!