The 5 Most Important SEO Trends for 2019 You Can't Ignore

SEO is a vital component of any company's business plan.

Search Engine Optimization allows your brand to get seen on the Internet - not an easy feat. Experts predict that by 2020, U.S. businesses will spend $80 billion on SEO services alone!

And that's for good reason. Investing in SEO is like investing in your products, goods, or services. The money you spend on SEO comes back in the form of ROI, a loyal client base, and/or better exposure.

And since many (we mean many) businesses are using SEO's powers, yours can't afford not to. If you're not showing up on the first pages of search platforms, your internet presence is as good as dead.

With a new year comes new SEO trends. What should you be paying close attention to?

Keep reading to find out how to not get left behind!

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1. Create a Killer Content Marketing Plan

Quality wins here. For people (and Google) to see you as trustworthy, you need to put out content that is worthwhile and honest. It needs to meet the standards of E-A-T:

  • Expertise
  • Authority
  • Trust

Part of the way that Google ranks its pages is through this system. When it comes to page quality, E-A-T is the third method of determining what yours is. A lot of low-quality content is worth less than fewer amounts of high-quality content.

One way to do this is by focusing on link-building.

The more respected websites that link to your page, the more reputable you'll appear. This association is a major factor in determining your Google ranking. It also helps your reputation with Internet users.

2. Get down with Video

One way to reach your audience that not everyone is doing? Video marketing.

Videos have a 41 percent higher click-through rate than regular text. They also have high conversion rates and ROI. This, combined with their amazing reach, and you're more likely to rank on Google.

Use the same tactics as above for video content, too.

3. Optimize for Mobile Use

57 percent of your website's traffic is coming from mobile users. Google may even focus on crawling mobile sites over desktop use soon. Make sure your mobile site:

  • Is interactive and navigable
  • Loads quickly
  • Has appropriate, easy-to-see text, images, and video
  • Has a clean and clear layout
  • Uses minimal pop-ups

Have someone unrelated to your company view your mobile site and give an honest review of its look and feel.

4. Be Speedy

The time it takes for your page to load, both in desktop and mobile, is a major factor in SEO. If you're not optimized for speed, people may never get to read your high-quality content.

There are many tools available to help you check this. GTmetrix analyzes your page speed and performance and gives you a rating. It then offers actionable ways to fix your lags.

5. Do Competitor Analysis

Any good SEO service knows that competitive analysis is a vital part of SEO. Hook Agency includes it on every one of their SEO packages.

This means seeing what the competition is doing.

What's working for them, and what's not? What are their past and current strategies? What type of media do they use, and how much time do they put into it?

Use them as an example to grow in your field.

Keep Your Eye out for More SEO Trends

We're only at the beginning of 2019.

There's no way to know what changes could come. We can only predict so much. With algorithm updates, new technology, new SEO trends, the best thing you can do is stay awake - and hungry.

These 10 must-have SEO tools will help keep you up-to-date!