Over the past decade, the SEO market has developed massively, inventing new and enchanting ways to reach out customers and users across the globe. The Search Engine Optimization market produces billions of dollars in revenues, and the trends in 2017 will definitely not going to change this.
However, with plenty of multi-billion companies worldwide and numerous other millions striving to reach customers and new markets, SEO remains the number one solution for both online and offline companies that want to make a difference and reach out their public. Here are the most important trends in terms of SEO to watch in 2017:
AMP
Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMPs or Mobile Marketing is bound to become the new hit in the year to come. With over 1 billion smart phones and tablets connected via Internet worldwide, it comes as no surprise that more companies are investing in new ways to reach their clients on their phones.
From aggressive marketing paid to YouTube every time you watch a video to GPS and optimized ads according to your web browsing history, companies struggle to reach new clients and markets from mobile devices.
And why not try to do so if nearly 50% of the global Internet traffic is now made through mobile devices? Google already announced that it will start its SEO indexing based on websites optimized for mobile screens. It is believed that, by the end of 2017, mobile optimization for companies that want to remain relevant in their industries will become mandatory.
HTTPS
It has already been a few years since Google, the biggest search engine in the world used “https” as a ranking factor. Since then, more and more companies switched from the older form of HTTP to the latter. Websites and markets that will not force themselves into the new and improved era of HTTPS will be soon forgotten, beginning with 2017.
Unfortunately, switching to HTTPS is not all milk and honey, as you will require that your HTTTPS website to pass referral data to the older versions of HTTP sites. In the process you may risk to lose some of your ranking established by Google.
Artificial intelligence
For decades scientists tried to develop and come up with good versions of robots and intelligent tools using artificial intelligence. It seems that 2017 is finally the year where AI can be used in the search engine optimization industry worldwide.
Again, Google is the leader of the movement, struggling to implement artificial intelligence in its optimization algorithm. This new way of SEO may push marketers to rethink their optimization strategies and invest less in heading tags and more in the actual relevance of the content they are providing.
In addition, it is expected that marketers will also move their focus towards intent more in 2017.
Voice search
Apart from artificial intelligence, voice search represents another pilot project that might become a major hit in profile markets in 2017. Google has already developed an algorithm in this sense, but until the error rate in the voice is more or less fully eliminated, voice search remains a utopia for those gifted with perfect English speaking skills.