There’s much for a hot debate on the trend and tips of SEO in 2021. The changing trend of SEO has impacted the online business irrespective of the size or type of business. The entire world has opted for digital presence and digital promotion with effective and growing digitization. Since e-commerce runs on an increased phase, to highlight your presence in the global market, you have to promote your business on a much faster phase 24×7. And that’s where the part of SEO appears. It’s time to explore new SEO strategies and tactics that would help you generate organic traffic and rank in SERPs.

Here are some important SEO trends, which would help you earn more visibility, engagement, and revenue in 2021.

GOOGLE PASSAGE RANKING

What is Google's Passage Ranking ?

Google introduced a new technological term called ‘passages’ in October 2020. This allows Google to specifically rank certain page sections. Another interesting fact is that Passages will impact at least 7% of all the searches online, which is a huge share.

This feature enables ranking important and relevant passages from a particular page.

How Google Passage Ranking Works?

Google’s Feature Announcement stated how the feature works: It individually evaluates every section of the content for ranking. However, the old method of evaluating the entire page for ranking is not outdated. Hence evaluation for on-page SEO, UX, backlinks, and other page ranking factors will remain the same. The new feature is an additional ranking factor. The significance is that single pages can rank with the new feature, hence every page should be organized and optimized.

How to Optimize Page for Google Passage Ranking

Google’s Feature Announcement stated how the feature works: It individually evaluates every section of the content for ranking. However, the old method of evaluating the entire page for ranking is not outdated. Hence evaluation for on-page SEO, UX, backlinks, and other page ranking factors will remain the same. The new feature is an additional ranking factor. The significance is that single pages can rank with the new feature, hence every page should be organized and optimized.

Group the content into independent sections

Every section of a page is considered a mini web page.  Divide the whole content into topics, and subtopics, with multiple sections. Google considers every passage for evaluation. So, it is advised to create relevant and grouped passages, to get ranked easily.

Double down on long-form content

Earlier, Google used to rank the page, if it used to be 100% based on a particular topic. This was because, to Google, such pages were providing a better User Experience, but this will change in 2021. A single piece of content is divided into many passages, where google ranks for each section. The long-form content already had rankings edge in Search Results, backlinks, and generating shares across social media. But for SEO in 2021, this would work more efficiently.

RISE OF VISUAL SEARCH

Invespcro says that more than 36% of online shoppers have used visual search. The most interesting part is that the majority of them vote for visual information over text information. There are more than 600 million visual searches done on Pinterest every month. Google lens is used 1 billion times, which is an interesting part. Although visual search is at its initial stage, it works pretty well. Visual search is ideal for purposes like searches for shopping, retailers, landmarks, reviews, destinations, Directions, translation, nutrition information, and recipes. It is also interesting to find that young consumers go for visual searches. However, the traditional image SEO, which includes filename and alt text can be still applicable.

Invespcro says that more than 36% of online shoppers have used visual search. The most interesting part is that the majority of them vote for visual information over text information. There are more than 600 million visual searches done on Pinterest every month. Google lens is used 1 billion times, which is an interesting part. Although visual search is at its initial stage, it works pretty well. Visual search is ideal for purposes like searches for shopping, retailers, landmarks, reviews, destinations, Directions, translation, nutrition information, and recipes. It is also interesting to find that young consumers go for visual searches. However, the traditional image SEO, which includes filename and alt text can be still applicable.

Target Mobile Phones

About 90% of the searches in Google lens are made through mobile phones.
It means Google favors mobile-friendly websites.

Make your pages Content Rich

Let your web pages be content-rich. They must contain 1600 words on average.

 

In this way, you can rank in Google Lens results. The text content on a page plays a major role in image SEO.

A featured snippet is a block that appears in the search results that provides an exact answer to your query.

This steals a lot of clicks and increases the page ranking. About 8% of the user clicks are bagged by Featured snippets according to Search Engine Land. If you are serious about giving a boost to your organic click-through rate, then you should be capable of getting content there.

Do keyword research

You need to consider the keywords you already rank for and also the keywords that have featured snippets.

 

To get a place in the featured snippet spot, you need to rank in the top 10. 

 

About 99.6% of all featured snippets are from the pages that rank on the first page.

Adding snippet bait to your page

Most featured snippets have a length of 40-60 words.

Go for a 40-60 word called snippet bait that helps you to rank in the featured snippet spot.

Format content for different types of snippets

Apart from the regular snippets, you may also try formatting content for paragraph snippets, list snippets or even table snippets

CORE WEB VITALS

Google says that the Core Web vitals are going to create an outbreak as a ranking factor in May 2021.

 

Core Web Vitals constitutes a set of three specific web page metrics, such as:

  1. Largest Contentful Paint(LCP)
  2. First Input Delay(FID)
  3. Cumulative Layout Shift(CLS)

To be more clear, the above points mean loading, interactivity, and visual stability. These three factors impact rankings directly. Hence, plan and spend some time working on them.

How To boost Core Web Vitals Score

Open Google search console and click ‘core web vitals’.

 

Analyze how your website works on it.

 

Mobile scores weigh a lot, hence Google’s mobile-first index should be considered as a priority.

Never compromise on URLs

Poor URL s will work adverse and google might punish you for it.

 

Work on the stability of your pages if you have a poor CLS score.

Page Speed Vs Rankings

There is no correlation between rankings and the speed of the page as per Search Engine Factor Analysis.

 

Google doesn’t look at the page loading speed. But keep in mind that it measures the User Experience directly.

VIDEO SEO

It is said that by 2022, 82% of online traffic will be dominated by Online video.

 

According to Hubspot, 43% of people wish for more videos.

 

This is where the advantage lies, make the best by making relevant and prompting videos.

How to use Video for SEO ?

Make best with youtube

Youtube is an extra source of traffic. It converts visitors to leads and finally to customers. If you wish to drive more traffic from SEO in 2021, focus on youtube videos. Create an SEO optimize youtube videos without compromising on quality.Since the majority of marketers don’t find time to create consistent videos, it is pretty easy for you to use this technique and be noticed soon. Since Google owns Youtube, you can find more youtube videos pop up in SERPs in 2021.

 

Video featured snippets

Get your content organized into independent sections. This helps Google to figure out the content in your video. Google can also use clips from your video in a snippet.


SEO Optimize your video

Let your video speak about what it is all about. Make the best use of SEO features like title, description, and tags and let Google understand it.


Upload a Transcript
You might have come across automatic captions on youtube. This is fine, however not ideal. However, uploading a transcript is an ideal and perfect choice.

 

Note: Try to embed video-based content to text-based content, like for example, a blog post.
This will help increase your bounce rate.