Search engines in 2024 are trending towards a more user-friendly, ethical, and technically advanced approach.
Some notable changes from the past year are:
- The Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in search engines enable search engines to comprehend the user’s intent better and deliver the right and relevant search results.
- Google prioritises Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), which means that they are promoting more ethical, high-quality produced content.
- Tools and software like ChatGPT are shaping SEO to be more conversational.
Here are the critical SEO trends to look out for in 2024:
Google Search Generative Experience (SGE)
This is Google’s AI-powered search experience that provides an AI-generated result to various search queries, which will appear at the top of the search engine results page. As this feature becomes more prominent, this will also change how sites can optimise to generate impressions and traffic.
An example of how SGE would appear on the search results page can be seen below:
SGE aims to enhance user interactions by delivering clear and concise answers to the user’s query that provide relevant visual aids where necessary. This answer will also provide the sources of the answer as well as additional links for the user to click on to explore the topic further.
Currently, this feature is only available in the US. This can be enabled through the user’s browser.
Preparing for SGE:
Whilst this feature isn’t readily available outside of the US, you can still focus on a few things that can ensure that your content is optimised for SGE. Here are a few things you can do to prepare:
- Ensure your content directly answers the user’s query.
- Provide expert data and analysis, or even opinions.
- Include primary source of information/data.
It’s good to consider including these in your current SEO and content strategy. It’s worth noting that you shouldn’t abandon the traditional SEO practices when optimising for SGE.
Video SEO
Creating video content that ranks on the search results page presents major opportunities for your Marketing teams.
Users have increasingly consumed video content with the number of video viewers reaching 3.5 billion at the end of 2023. Search engines have taken note of this and are now presenting video content as much as possible on search results pages.
Video content can help you improve your SEO by:
- Increasing your search engine visibility – video-sharing sites like YouTube which is owned by Google are more likely to show content that points back to its video hosting platforms.
- Greater keyword visibility – optimising your video content for your relevant target keywords will help it appear in search engine results pages.
- Improved mobile performance – optimising for mobile users should be one of your top SEO priorities. Over 60% of all searches are generated by mobile searches. With video content, you have more opportunities to reach your target audience.
How to prepare video content for your SEO
- Make sure you have a plan – conduct keyword research and ensure you are creating content that your users are actively searching for.
- Ensure you have a great video content-making tool/software and that you have a clear and relevant thumbnail.
- Include transcripts – this will help your video content become more accessible and where possible, include checkpoints to enhance the video viewing experience.
- Adding your target keywords to your video’s metadata & descriptions will help search engines understand what it’s about faster and will help you rank higher.
Search Engine Ranking Factors
Search engines are prioritising a site’s trustworthiness and expertise that gives the user the most relevant and best answer.
Here are some leading SEO factors that will help you rank globally:
- Machine Learning or AI
- Core Web Vitals
- E-E-A-T & trustworthiness.
Search engines have adopted this approach to deliver search results that answer the user’s query directly, whilst also providing additional value and information from credible sources.
Gaining an understanding and aligning with these factors will help you achieve and sustain higher SERP rankings against the ever-increasing competitive environment.
Preparing for these SEO Ranking Factors
It’s important that the foundation of your SEO is to improve the user experience. Though our vision of a great user experience has changed over the years, one thing remains constant – ensuring that the user is provided with the most relevant and accurate answer that they are looking for.
Here’s how you can achieve this:
- Consistently ensure that all your content gives clear and concise answers that help your end user. This will help you come across as an expert in your field.
- Monitor your website’s core web vitals, ensure that all pages and links are working as intended, it is secure (e.g. https://), content is easy to read, and the website’s load time is fast are a few to keep in mind.
- Implementing E-E-A-T by including primarily sourced or trusted data that will provide value to your users.
Implementing these key factors and optimising for your target audience will ensure that your website and its content remain visible, relevant, and authoritative in the eyes of search engines and your target audience.
