Incorporate schemas into your code
If your website uses data—for example, rankings, ratings, or categories—structuring that data within the website’s code can help search engines better understand your content.
These code structures, called schemas, can help you highlight details for search results, put your information in a particular industry context, or add clues that help search engines to categorize your information. And the more easily search engines can categorize your information, the better you’ll rank in search results.
Schemas are recognized by Google, Bing, and Yahoo! SEMrush says, "As Google continues to build a more semantic web, these markups become increasingly valuable in effective Internet communication."
Look at your data
Think about how data can help you characterize information, and talk to your web developer to implement any relevant schemas. What properties or data can you highlight to make it easier to find, or set it in the right context? Start by considering:
- Creative work and publications: Is this publication for a particular industry audience? Does it have an ISBN number? Do you list the author name?
- Events: What type of event is it? Who is the audience?
- Organizations: What industry are you in? Which industry sub-categories fit?
- People: Which industries, organizations, titles, rankings or other data might apply?
- Places: Which addresses, functions, ratings, or people are associated?
- Products: Are there any ratings, categories, or other data to tie in?
Consider accelerated mobile pages
Because people consume information differently on desktop computers versus mobile devices, you may consider creating mobile-friendly versions of key pages. These super-fast mobile pages, called Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), get a “fast” designation on search engine results pages and are often ranked more highly. Since 2018, Google has publicly backed the practice—making it a great tactic for SEO when you focus on pages and keywords used heavily by your mobile audience.
Accelerated mobile pages are particularly good for news sites, blogs, or content-rich pages. Take a look at some pages of other website who use AMPs so that you understand what they look like. Work with your web developer to evaluate if AMPs are right for your website. Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to get started.
Don’t forget voice search
Mobile phone voice assistants and smart home technology continue to widen the opportunity to capture voice search. This fast, hands-free search option delivers quick results—and they’re increasingly accurate.
- Because three of the top four voice assistant technologies use it to power their searches, Bing currently reigns supreme in voice search—a fact you may want to consider when it comes to paid ads.
- Voice searches use natural language, so they return results on longer, question-based terms rather than the short terms used in text searches.
- People often use voice queries to ask about local businesses, and priority results go to businesses with easy-to-find contact information
Take steps to capture growing number of voice searches:
- Check your analytics to see if people are using long-tail, question-based queries to find you.
- Add a question and answer section to your site to answer a few important long-tail keywords.
- Make sure your business information is updated, especially in your Bing Places for Business listing.
- Optimize your content for voice search.
Source: SEM Rush
Integrate social media strategically
Recent algorithm changes have shifted how we understand social media influence on SEO. Old tactics may no longer serve you as well as they did before. You’ll need to be more strategic in the ways you integrate your social media into your overall SEO plan.
While Google has signaled that social media isn’t part of its ranking decisions anymore, Bing—the second most used search engine and the leader in voice searches—has made no such claims. Whether or not the search engines directly use your social stats to determine your place in search returns, you can still use social media to influence the factors that do play a central role in your results.
- Use social to get links. When you post great content, your followers link and share it—and links are one of the top SEO ranking factors.
- Use social to build brand recognition. When people know your brand, they’re more likely to click through when you show up in search results—and click-throughs influence your place in future results for similar searches.
- Use social as a search engine in itself. People frequently use social media platforms to search for answers and information. When you structure your social posts as potential search results, you’ll likely see better engagement and conversions.
As in all content—online and off—quality matters. Don’t think of social media as a volume game. Your followers won’t click through or share information that isn’t relevant and helpful, so invest in high quality, search-focused content in your postings.
Reorganize your content into pillar pages
Algorithm changes weight clusters of content with greater authority than pages optimized for single terms. Using your content audit, think of ways to reorganize your content into several “pillar pages.” Each pillar page should cover one big idea, with links out to related posts on your blog that use long-tail keywords. Here are some ways to do this: