Two Search Engine Optimization Trends in 2019 to Consider for E-commerce Businesses
Tech companies that are controlling most of the search results, like Google or Facebook continue to improve their algorithms every year in order to deliver the best possible results to their users. As such, search engine optimization (SEO) trends and marketing techniques have to adapt as well.
At the same time, e-commerce businesses already have specific SEO marketing strategies in place and need to take these changes in consideration in order to maintain their position in the market. One simple mistake in your SEO efforts could mean a huge setback in your search results ranking.
Going into 2019, it’s important to understand what trends might develop so your e-commerce business is ahead of the competition.
Voice Search
One of the major developments throughout 2018 was the appearance of devices as personal assistants. Alexa, Siri and Cortana are becoming a common companion in the daily routine, as you can interact with them on your phone, in your car and at home.
By applying smart SEO techniques you can leverage the increased use of voice search to your advantage. When using voice search, users will usually formulate their query differently than when using text. For example you might type “tennis equipment New York”, however you would voice search it like “Where is the closest sports store with tennis equipment in New York?” As a result, you can structure your website content in such a way so to address these search queries as well.
More importantly, the voice-search result will usually take precedence to all other results, also known as position zero. To further optimize your content for featured snippets, remember to include the most relevant keywords in the page URL, title and H1 tag. Users tend to speak naturally when using voice search. Google shows that about 70% of voice searches are in a natural language, unlike the keywords people usually type.
Security and Privacy
Internet users have become much more knowledgeable about their own privacy and security of their information. If your website lacks standard security certificates (HTTPS), then expect a low number of visitors. Having a secure website is signal to consumers they can trust the website with their sensitive data like card details, name or address.
Moreover, Google will always give precedence to secure and safe websites in their ranking results. Concerning data privacy, it is important to have a clear policy on what kind of data pertaining to customers is stored and how it will be used. The policy has to be easily accessible to both the users and the search engine robots.
These are two trends that have started in 2018 and are sure to mature in 2019. E-commerce websites should take these into consideration when planning their SEO and online marketing strategy for the year.
