The world of SEO is constantly changing, making it a challenge to keep up with the latest tactics that can work to boost rankings. To get a better handle on what a good SEO strategy looks like today, we surveyed 206 marketing professionals with a minimum of three years of experience.
These expert insights indicate what’s working and what isn’t in today’s SEO environment and what you can do to develop a winning strategy. Download it here.
Key Takeaways From Our Industry Study
- 50% of marketers surveyed saw an improvement in SEO after Google’s Helpful Content Update.
- Content is crucial for good SEO strategies, with most respondents (59.2%) finding content marketing to be “highly effective” in boosting SEO and 49% prioritizing it in their SEO efforts.
- A large portion of respondents (34%) stated that video content would be a top priority in the future, as more professionals recognize its importance.
- Machine learning and AI continue to be among the biggest threats to any SEO strategy, making it critical to stay up-to-date on innovation.
- Most marketers (82.5%) plan to invest even more in SEO.
Like every other aspect of digital marketing, SEO is always changing. New developments from Google and in the world of AI, among others, continue to influence SEO, which is why you must adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.
“To get the most from your SEO strategy and keep it working for you, you need to stay on top of industry trends,” Ignite Visibility CEO John Lincoln suggests. “This will involve keeping up with algorithm changes, continually creating and optimizing high-quality content, focusing on the user instead of search engines, and optimizing for AI.”
In our latest industry survey, marketers revealed that content creation played a huge role in SEO. When we think of content creation, it’s essential to remember content creation isn’t just about copy, it’s about creating valuable, multimedia assets. In particular, video content was particularly crucial, according to respondents, reflecting its necessity in marketing.
According to our Chief Creative Officer, Oscar Lutteroth, “Video stands out as the most engaging and persuasive medium. It captures attention quicker than traditional text and images, relying on various emotional experiences to resonate with viewers on a deeper level.”
While the study also revealed that AI and machine learning continue to pose big threats to SEO efforts, Ignite Visibility’s VP of SEO, Jen Cornwell has this to say on the matter: “Developments like Google Search Generative Experience and AI Overviews will revolutionize the way people interact with search engines and dramatically change the user search journey. Keeping your user front and center in your strategies and building your brand footprint are going to be more important than ever.”
To learn more about the results of our study, download it here today.
Crucial Ranking Factors to Consider in Your SEO Strategy
Certain key factors will influence SEO strategies in 2024 and the coming years, including:
1. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
While traditional SEO involves targeting Google and other search engines’ organic results, generative engine optimization (GEO) entails optimizing for generative engines that use AI to provide users with information. Typically, GEO efforts will focus on giving users high-quality, highly relevant, and helpful information that AI engines can summarize and source, expanding your reach.
2. High-Quality Content
Google continues to prioritize good content over highly optimized content when ranking pages, making quality essential to your SEO strategy. Focus on developing rich, fresh, and relevant content that provides users with valuable information that engages them. Subsequently, more engagement will signal to search engines that your content deserves a higher ranking.
3. Backlinks
A solid network of backlinks remains a critical ranking factor for search engines. The more links you have leading back to your site on authoritative, industry-relevant websites, the better your linked content will perform in organic results. In the process of link building, you should also monitor your backlinks, fixing or removing broken links that might otherwise hurt your backlink profile.
4. Technical SEO
Another key factor in any SEO strategy is the incorporation of technical SEO elements. These aspects can include optimized URLs, page loading speeds, eliminated HTML errors, the use of HTTPS, and others. One key component here is structured data, which can use schema markup to give search engines more context as to what your website is about.
5. On-Page SEO
In addition to technical SEO, certain on-page elements will help you optimize for search engines. For example, webpages could include internal links that supplement backlinking efforts, relevant keywords that naturally fit in with the surrounding content, optimized images with descriptive alt text, and titles and meta descriptions that summarize content in search results.
6. User Experience (UX)
The overall user experience will also contribute to your SEO performance. Factors here could include making your website mobile-responsive for smartphone and tablet users, fast page speeds that keep people browsing, making your website easy to navigate and browse, and maximizing accessibility for all users.
To read about other critical SEO ranking factors, download our study here.
Let Us Put Together an SEO Strategy For Your Website
Interested in enhancing your digital marketing strategy by creating high-quality content that appeals to the user’s search intent and is optimized for AI-powered search engines?
Our full-service digital marketing agency can help you with:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Generative engine optimization (GEO)
- Creative asset design
- And more
Don’t forget to download your own copy of the study and then contact us to get started.
