SEO in recent times is definitely going to present itself in a whole new different form, this is as a result of updates in algorithms and the fight against fake news and reports by different social media. This alone calls for all publishers, bloggers, or online marketers to up their game positively so as to blend with the recent trends. I know you might be abiding by all the necessary search engine optimization tips (both On-page SEO and Off-page SEO), but it is necessary you do some positive checkups so that your online reputation would not have a wrong signal in the forthcoming year, 2017.

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If you conduct research, you will discover that lots of articles have been written about the expectations and changes of SEO in 2017. So many search articles are based on search engine algorithms, they talked about how search engines and overall trends are going to evolve. But in this post, I want us to look at some ways I and you (as search engine optimizers) should evolve positively so as to blend with the coming SEO trends in 2017. Now look at the following tips:

Search Engine Optimization tips for 2017 (SEO in 2017)

Create a better mobile experience

By now, I am very much sure you must have heard about Google’s mobile-first indexing. It is going to be a very strong ranking factor come 2017. Google recently released another mobile-friendly update this year, and be rest assured that the mobile preference will definitely be at its peak in 2017.

From my point 1, you can see that I lay emphasis on “mobile experience”. This actually means that you should not just have a site that is responsive, but also your online interactions with your users should be convenient, accessible, and intuitive on mobile devices. Think mobile-first, then every other issue should be a second.

Measure and analyze more thoroughly

To achieve this feat, there is a various tool online that can assist you to measure, analyze and gain a proper understanding of your SEO efforts. Most of these tools are entirely free, or some are quite affordable and inexpensive. As a result of this, you do not have any excuse for not measuring your SEO efforts and everything you do on your site online, from the very start to finish. Now when I say “more thoroughly”, I am not referring to your increase in tracking more metrics. What I actually meant is that you should ensure that your findings are accurate, and try to turn such findings into more actionable insights instead of speculating hypotheses. Your data can give you an insight on everything you want to know, but there is a need for you to also ask the right questions from other geeks and also examine the right ideas.

Develop more long-form content

With the popular saying “content is king”, you will agree with me that Content marketing remains king of all online marketing strategies due to much competition among content marketers and the act to satisfy your users. Users and audiences are beginning to have trust issues, no thanks to fake news you easily find on the internet. At the same time, users are getting sick of seeing the same type of post titles and headlines, all offering short-form content with little or no value. The best way you can prevent this is by providing lower quantities of richer, more detailed, and long-form content. This means you will have to put more effort into every piece of content you produce. This act will definitely make you stand out from the competition, secure more conversation as a result, because you have to gain more trust from users.

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Get on top of rich snippets

There has been much analysis about the importance of rich snippets and Schema.org micro formatting for a few years now, but it is a thing of surprise that most business owners are still yet to get involved in this. Microformatting is a specific content structure that makes it easy for Google to parse your information, thereby making it accessible to the Google Knowledge Graph and other intelligent content displays in SERPs. Rich answers and rich snippets (the resulting SERP displays) are getting more frequent, which means in 2017, it is high time to get involved if you have not already.

Produce better videos

2016 was a big year for video marketing and interaction. With Facebook and other social platforms joining the “live video” bandwagon, increasing the hunger of mobile consumers for more visual content. If you will check, you will observe that more online businesses are jumping into this trend, which means that it is not just enough to make ordinary video content. You have to ensure that you make your videos better, with more production values, more creative ideas, more practical information, and most especially, more raw entertainment value.

Learn from your user’s experience

Over the years, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been an objective realm, where a focus on objective results and numbers is most important. But SEO in 2017 is definitely taking a new shape because you will need to reduce much of your analytical thinking and focus more on User’s subjective experiences. How your users interact with your site and brand online will dictate how successful your site will become, even in terms of rankings. Users who stay on your site for a longer period and visit more pages will assist you in earning higher rankings. This also means that the more users get engaged with your site, the more your likelihood of converting your inbound traffic.

Make frequent audits

Finally, in your pursuit to up your game for SEO in 2017, my last Search Engine Optimization tips for 2017 I want to make known in this post, is for you to audit more frequently. Search engines are not as volatile as they used to be, but that is no excuse to go months without checking your data or critically evaluating your current strategies.

Stagnation and ignorance are leading causes for the decay of SEO campaigns, but with a regular auditing strategy in place, you can easily spot and make improvements before they become problematic. Audit your strategy no less than once a month, and more frequently if you are a bigger online marketer with more investment in your SEO campaign.

All these tips are commitments you can easily handle, and they are not going to cost you much. They are not going to completely overhaul the strategic foundation you already have in place. Instead, they’re adjustments to how you think, how you incorporate information into your strategies, and how you consider SEO overall. Because of this, there is no excuses to make them and follow-through.

I cannot guarantee that these strategies for SEO in recent times alone will be enough to increase your site’s rankings in search engines, but for sure they will definitely make you a better online marketer in 2017.