Doing SEO in 2019 the Right Way

2019 is around the corner and as usual, it’s time to predict what the new year is bringing when it comes to search engine optimization. The current year has been pretty intense in this matter and it’s easy to deduct that next year is still going to have a focus on user intent and quality content. In this article, we will expand on these two traits and highlight some more details about SEO in 2019 that you as a marketer need to keep in mind in order to rank first on search engines results pages.

Content is King… So is User

One of the major changes that we experienced in 2018 in the traditional way to do SEO is a radical turn to really good quality content. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter texts filled with keywords that barely made any sense. Writing relevant and original content, optimizing it and use trusted links is now the ABC of any successful strategy.

We have to thank this turn to the evolution of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. An evolution that is very likely to continue next year. Google’s goal is to predict user’s search intentions instead of just bringing answers to questions. For this matter, an advanced level keyword research and choice is fundamental.

Aside to that, creating genuinely relevant content is increasingly challenging, as the competition increases no matter how specific your industry or niche is. Still, it’s not impossible to stand out. To do that, you should:

• Generate a recourse center that works as a content hub where you stock relevant, entertaining, informative content
• Write articles about this hub and interlink
• Promote those articles and trending topics related to them on your social media platforms
• Use images generated by yourself, even if they’re taken with a smartphone: they usually work better than stock photos.
• Update your old content SEO.  

Focus on UX, AKA User Experience

User Experience was one of the major issues in 2018 SEO and will continue to be next year. This practice is based on getting user’s insights, understanding and even predicting their needs, skills, values and limitations. It also focuses on business goals, hand to hand with client’s experience.

You can improve your platform’s UX by something so simple (or not so) as an easy to navigate website: a site where users can find what they’re looking for in an easy, intuitive way. Your content, aside of being original, needs to fulfill a need as much as possible. It should also generate an emotion to people, hit a nerve and move them somehow.

Quality link building is not only an important part of user experience but also, a major ranking factor. This is another trend that will continue in SEO in 2019. Quality will continue to overcome quantity and you need to generate not only good content but also do your linking carefully. As per your old content, identify any broken, spammy link and fix them immediately.

Technical SEO: Easier Than it Seems

Thanks to the different SEO tools available today, performing technical SEO tasks like an audit is not that challenging anymore. However, you need to capitalize that information in a smart way. When you perform your audit you need to:

• Make sure your site is mobile-friendly by implementing responsive web design.

• Correct any code error you may find. Same applies to robot.txt errors.

• Check your site’s indexing using Google Search Console.

• Make an audit of your site’s content and check their traffic stats in Google Analytics. Remove or fix those articles and pages that perform poorly.

• Search for duplicate headers and meta descriptions and fix them.

• Update broken links

• Submit your XML sitemap using Google Search Console.