Unwrapping the Christmas presents early: what to expect in SEO in 2017?

As the Christmas bells start to ring we start to prepare for new trends that will rock 2017. And SEO is no exception. While there have been uncountable changes in SEO policies and standards in the last year, nothing is enough to make up for all the changes that are awaiting you in 2017. The next year will bring a slew of new features that will make your head swoon and heart sing with delight.

If you are wondering what is waiting for you in 2017, here’s a small glimpse –

i. Richer snippets of answers and content –

"If Google is ever down we’ll never know the reason since we cannot Google it" – says quite a famous one-liner. And this is extremely true. From recipes to herpes we look for everything on Google. Very recently Google has started putting emphasis on local search results and very soon the focus will shift to displaying relevant information. This will be in the form of text, reviews, videos and websites.

Schema markup is the "little black dress" of online search now and it can help website owners land up in the hottest parties of the season. Keeping metaphors aside, schema markups assist SE to understand website content and allow them to display information that users are looking for.

Over the last two years, the volume of rich answers has more than doubled on Google and we have a good chance of seeing information rich content on our SERPs from next year onwards.

ii. The era for cross-channel marketing –

While many of us use multi-channel and cross-channel marketing interchangeably, they are different concepts and practices. Cross-channel refers to the use of multiple channels to market your services and products. In essence, this is an extrapolation of multi-channel marketing. This enables a user to swing from one device to another in a seamless manner to make purchases from your website.

As per the fourth annual report published by Econsultancy on Cross-Channel Marketing, 73 percent of all webmasters state that cross-channel marketing has had a significant impact on their CTRs and conversion rates. However, to establish your cross-channel marketing platforms you need to study your target audience closely and know their shopping trends.

There are three major challenges that you may face during this process –

• Finding the correct channel for your brand
• Finding the right time to advertise
• Figuring out the right content for your brand promotion

iii. Increase in the development of native appsand mobile optimized sites –

As mobile users have distinctly taken over PC users the past year, there has been a steady increase in the development of native apps. As a matter of fact, Google has updated its algorithms to read JavaScript codes that form the framework of most user-friendly apps. Google has been showing a steadily growing preference for native apps over websites according to relevance.

Most websites gain more traffic from mobile devices than desktops as per the report released by Google in May 2015. Mobile optimization was the cool way to declare your web presence till mid-2016, but very soon native apps and mobile optimized websites will become the only way of guaranteed organic SEO.

iv. Voice search and virtual assistants –

Just saying the magic words "OK Google" can get you anything from pizza to a pair of pearl earrings. Voice is search is big, it’s effective and it is here to stay. It is still an ongoing process and has not been perfected yet. But the appeal is based on its hands-free aspect and fast results.

With virtual assistants taking the place of personal assistants, it is evident that voice search will reach a new crescendo in 2017. All assistants are destined to become more invasive and very soon they will be able to access personal apps as well. The JavaScript APIs will not be hieroglyphs to Siri anymore and "she" will be able to call you an Uber and buy your mother a box of chocolates using Paytm as well.

This might seem a little scary at first considering all the conspiracy theories about using virtual assistants like Cortana and Siri to pool personal information for NSA and CIA. However,Google, android and iOS has very recently given public declarations regarding no intentions of doing so. But then again, when you can have all the luxuries of the world with just two magic words, would you really care?

v. Pimp up the security game –

This is the final chance for all websites with a HTTP certificate to upgrade their security formats. Google has already started labeling these websites as "unsafe" and very soon they will be pushed down the SRLs by competitor websites who already have SSL certificates. This does not involve any direct penalizing, yet; but that is quite a possibility. Google has gone for publicly shaming websites for not creating a safe environment for their users and if you are still working with just a HTTP certificate then it is high time you got yourself a good old share of SSL and upgraded to a HTTPS.

Although we have not spoken much about keywords, do not think that they will be taking a backseat neat year. Keyword settings will be more evolved and especially with Google algorithms’ ability to "understand" the context of words, complete sentences and the meaning of phrases, the search results are expected to be much more refined. 2017 will be a challenging year for brands who do not place enough emphasis on their intent.

My name is Sujain Thomas I am a freelance content writer. Also, I have written many good and informative articles on different categories like Technology, Business, Career, Travel etc